Market Find: 1983 Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL 6.0 AMG “Red Baron”

What: 1983 Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL AMG
Color: Orient Red (orientrot; non-metallic UNI; 501/3501; Mercedes-Benz)
VIN: WDB12603712032484
Mileage: 41,200 miles
Location: North Chicago, IL
Sealed Bid Auction Listing: RM Sotheby’s

The story of this 1983 Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL AMG, better known as the “Red Baron,” begins with color. It’s Orient Red—a shade that set this long-wheelbase W126 apart from the sea of silver and black S-Classes of its era.

That someone was William “Wild Bill” Witz, an early AMG North America insider and close associate of AMG co-founder Hans Werner Aufrecht. Ordered in March 1983 through AMG’s Affalterbach headquarters, the car was conceived as a fully personalized flagship. Period photographs taken for the 1984 AMG catalog show the car already wearing its monochrome look—body-color bumpers, lower cladding and mirror caps—creating a seamless, almost concept-car-like silhouette years before such treatments became mainstream.

The exterior presentation was further defined by color-matched 16-inch AMG Penta wheels, their flat faces painted to harmonize with the Orient Red bodywork. Combined with the deeper front air dam, side skirts and rear apron of the AMG aero package, the sedan took on a far more assertive stance than a standard 500 SEL. Even before later updates, the Red Baron projected the visual language that would come to define AMG’s Gen-II aesthetic in the United States.

Inside, the contrast was deliberate and theatrical. AMG partner Gemballa retrimmed the cabin in palomino leather, extended across seats, door panels and much of the lower dashboard. Red piping and contrast stitching echoed the exterior color, while bespoke door cards and rear compartment details elevated the interior beyond anything available from Mercedes-Benz at the time. The effect was pure 1980s high style—warm, rich and unapologetically custom.

Over the following years, as the car passed to Canadian industrialist J. Paul Fingold, the Red Baron’s look evolved while staying true to its original drama. During this period it received the U.S.-spec Gen-II AMG body conversion it still wears today, including the distinctive deeper front spoiler and revised side treatments. Importantly, the car retained its signature color combination, preserving the visual identity that made it recognizable in period and still stops viewers in their tracks today.

The interior also saw subtle changes under Fingold’s care. The original rear curtains were removed and period accessories such as a Clifford alarm system were added, but the core Gemballa-trimmed palomino scheme remained intact. Even the AMG metric gauge cluster—temporarily removed during federalization—was modified and reinstalled, a small but telling detail that underscores how this car blended European flair with North American usability.

Today, following recent recommissioning overseen by AMG North America figure Richard Buxbaum, the Red Baron’s color and trim combination remains its defining signature. Orient Red over palomino is more than a striking palette—it is a direct link to AMG’s freewheeling early years, when customers like Witz could collaborate with tuners, trimmers and engineers to create machines that were as much personal statements as performance sedans. In that sense, this car’s hues, textures and finishes tell its history as vividly as any document ever could.