Top Gear video of Merc 600 v Rolls Royce

A couple of things on the 600: It was never known in Germany as the "Grosse" as Clarkson calls it, it was known as the "600". The engine was originally a 6.3, which was meant to beat Rolls' 6.2, Rolls countered with their now famous 6.75, Mercedes replied later with the 6.9, still the biggest engine they have built since the war. Mercedes lost money on every one they built, it was more an image thing for them.

In 1976 during Operation Entebbe, an attempt was made to free hostages on an Air France plane en route to Tel Aviv that was kidnapped and taken to Entebbe in Uganda. It was well known that Idi Amin had a white 600, so the Israeli secret service borrowed one off Mercedes in Germany, flew it to Uganda and used it to distract the hostage takers on one side of the plane by giving the impression that Amin was in it and was willing to talk to them. The special forces used this diversion to attack the plane and end the siege. The car was flown back to Germany afterwards.