Mercedes-Benz anyone?

[bfam4t6]

If you didn't already know from my avatar and my signature, I'm a young Mercedes-Benz enthusiast. Right now I spend the most time learning about 70s, and 80s models. I do love the older classics as well, I simply can't afford to like them too much yet Later in life I may or may not have a house, but I will definitely have a large building full of Mercedes-Benz.....there will likely be numerous work benches around the room covered in model projects as well. Luckily, women tend to like older Mercedes because they're "classy" and make a good accessory to "wear" when they drive to go shopping. I'm hoping this luck will keep me from being a SINGLE bastard with a bunch of cars and model airplanes. :D

Anyways, first car was a 1982 380 SEL when I was 17. Paid $1,750 for it...initially......car made me go broke eventually. BUT, it was a great learning experience. A 380 SEL is a w126 or an S-class Mercedes. The w126s were built from 1980 to 1991 (1992-93 in a few rare instances). They are an amazing vehicle. Mercedes made several versions of the w126 which varied in size and engine, but basically they made a sedan and a coupe. Mine was obviously a sedan. The coupes, or SECs, are incredible machines. If you're bored you should look some up. My favorites are the 560 SEC AMG widebodys and the 560 Koenig Specials. There is a HUGE variety of w126s due to their long production run and due to the number of after-market companies which modified these cars back in the 80s. Today you'll look to pay anywhere from $500 to well over $50,000 for a w126 depending on condition, history, and rarity. Coupes fetch more than sedans, and Euro versions (grey-market vehicles if they're in the States) fetch more than U.S. spec cars.

Shortly after I bought her.






There was a switch next to the window switch on each back door which would activate a motor to recline the rear bench seat....very cool thing to have in hich school





These are some of the last pictures I took of her. She hadn't been washed or waxed in months, but you can still see the brilliant shine of that 040 black paint. I'll try to find some pictures I have of her right after I buffed the paint last March or so. It looked amazing!








Now to bore you a little more, I recently bought a 1976 450 SEL. It is a w116, the predessor to the w126. This car is a gem. I'll try not to belabor the whole story, but basically she has 69,000 original miles, all maintenance records, optional fog lights, lowered, BBS rims, and I bought it from the mechanic who maintained the car for it's original owner ......oh yeah and a 4.5 litre V-8 engine When I say it's mechanically flawless I mean IT'S MECHANICALLY FLAWLESS! The only issue this car has is the paint...it sat outside for 7 years after the original owner got too old to drive it and gifted it to her mechanic. Thus, the paint now looks like crap. For now, I just plan to keep her in good condition until I'm out of college and can afford to drop about $8k to have her professionally repainted by a Mercedes authorized shop.....something I cannot wait to see!

Here she is with my 1997 Saab 900s. If you buy a Saab, just remember that GM now owns the company...need I say more?




















And a few more that I took with my camera phone just after I bought her.

[bfam4t6]

Dirty Engine Bay




Original Mercedes-Benz Tool Bundle




That's an original virgin spare tire folks!! 32 years old and counting!!






I would also like to share some pictures I have of the burled walnut trim that I started to restore from my 380 SEL. It was quite the task, but very enjoyable. If I can find them I'll post them too. Burled walnut is such a pretty wood when finished right.

[Barry]

I still miss my 500 SEC but hey with the price of petrol maybe I can get a cheap one correction very cheap one.

[bfam4t6]

Here you go Barry. A 560 SEC. High miles, but it looks to be well maintained. Despite oil prices, I've actually noticed that SEC prices seem to be appreciating a bit. Great for owners, bad for shoppers.

eBay Motors: Mercedes-Benz : 500-Series (item 120308691851 end time Sep-29-08 08:00:00 PDT)

[Rick Thomson]

I dearly love my 2001 C class Sportcoupé, and am trying to convince She Who Must Be Obeyed that one of the first generation SLKs would be a nice second car for us...

No luck there sofar...

Rick

[Zathros]

I own a 1973 450 SL. One of the first in the country. It has written in the original Valve cover "USA" in grease pencil. I am hoping to restore this car which needs a little motor work and only has 160,000 miles. I have restored a 1975 250C, a 1975 450SLC (my favorite car) and a 1964 SL (which I sold to my brother in law and have kicked myself in the ass ever since). I really do like the older Mercedes but they are over priced and rarely can you make a profit or justify even driving them. I also have a 1973 MG with a blueprinted ( plasti-gauged ) motor with DCOE 40 Weber sidedrafts and 10 degree Kent cam and 3 ring forged pistons. That will be my next restoration (body). It has 8,000 on the motor.

[bfam4t6]

Rick...forget the SLK. IMO that's when Mercedes were bad. You should spend a little less and get a good second generation SEC. No convertible, but still a coupe and still fun as hell if not more fun to drive.

Very cool Zathros. Like I said, I love the look of the older cars, but for now I can only drool. I'm also more of a big sedan type guy than a two seater, but the old SLs and SLCs are very cool. If I could afford an SLC it would be right next to my SEL. I'd also like to get a Ponton and an old 300 at some point in my life. 300s are very charismatic in my opinion.

[blueeyedbear]

My first wife and I fell madly in love with a Red 300SLR in a showroom in Corpus Christi. On a teacher's salary we settled on a second hand MG 1500 (that's the one with the HUGE 1500CC engine!

Bob

[Zathros]

Most of the big V-8 Mercedes suffer valve train damage as the towers are lubricated with a plastic tube that either gets clogged or is inadvertently broken when the valves are adjusted. The other cause ( I have found) is that the tensioners for the over head cam shafts much be replaced the instant the cam chain becomes loud. They get clogged and do not hold pressure causing the cam chain to jump which is fatal on these interference type valve trains. If you have a single row overhead camshaft chain it is advisable to convert it to double row. K and K manufacturing (www.kkmfg.com) has sheet metal for a lot of these cars and is a authorized manufacturer for Mercedes-Benz. I have used them often and they are great to deal with. You will saved aout 40% on costs vs. the Benz dealer. I really loved my SLC. It is a better car than the 450 SL. They are relatively cheap compared to the 450's as I have a couple of them for around $4000 IN Connecticut (needing some work). My wife would never allow me to get another one. She surprised me recently when I expressed concern over the 450sl, I was considering offing it as a parts car but she said we should "hold off" on that and maybe restore it. Sounds good to me!!

(for some reason the above link does not work (www.kkmfg.com), it is leaving out the "m" in .com. This link does!?

[bfam4t6]

It's also a good idea to replace the cogs. I've heard their teeth can get worn down and cause additional stretch. I was constantly worried that my 380 was gonna crap out on me as she had over 200,000 miles. Never did though....the engine that is. The rest of the car had given up well before I bought it. My engine needed a complete overhaul, but I couldn't justify the money. The chain guides, although quite brown and therefore brittle, hadn't started to break when I removed the valve covers at probably 198,000. But yeah having the single row scared me....of course I didn't know that until after I bought the car. Learned a lot from that piece of crap.