Bonnet Star

[Des]

Hello


I have been cleaning out my shed and found this, brand new bonnet star, can't remember which Benz I got it for, ether a W116 or W123,

has never been fitted to a car, just taken out of the packet to photograph it.



$25 and I'll post it to you.

 

[WGB]

PM me a payment method and what you want for postage if it's still for sale and I will relieve you of your burden.

Bill

 

[Des]

Sold to Bill!

 

[WGB]

Pleasure doing business with you Des.

 

[SEL_69L]

I acquired a spare 116 bonnet star with clip from Pick 'n Payless for $10, a couple of years ago, thought it was cheap. I'm happy! Just a spare in case I need it. If I ever have to part with my car, I just may keep it for a momento.

 

[Des]

SEL_69L, respectfully Sir, an old bonnet star may not be a lot of use,

I do not completely understand the particulars of how these work, they have a spring, as I understand it, that holds the star in place.

If you try pushing or moving a star on a brand new Mercedes, or on a car that has just had a brand new star fitted to it, you will understand what I mean, it is very stiff and hard to move at all.

At the other end of the scale, get a 30 year old Mercedes, that at highway speeds the wind will push it out of alignment, and if you adjust it, back to highway speeds again, it will flop over to one side. No doubt caused my countless brainless idiots trying to break it off and steal it. Eventually the mechanism wears out.


The single most annoying thing about driving a Mercedes is a star that is not perfectly aligned, I could tolerate dents, engine smoke, broken electricals, smashed in rear end, groans, but you cannot mess with the star, it has to be perfectly straight and standing to attention at all times.
It is like a battleship without its colours flying high in the wind,


Fit a new star to your car, the shiny new chrome work will give you endless hours of pleasure admiring it as you drive along with the sun shining down upon it.

 

[Michel]

SEL_69L, respectfully Sir, an old bonnet star may not be a lot of use,
I do not completely understand the particulars of how these work, they have a spring, as I understand it, that holds the star in place.
If you try pushing or moving a star on a brand new Mercedes, or on a car that has just had a brand new star fitted to it, you will understand what I mean, it is very stiff and hard to move at all.
At the other end of the scale, get a 30 year old Mercedes, that at highway speeds the wind will push it out of alignment, and if you adjust it, back to highway speeds again, it will flop over to one side. No doubt caused my countless brainless idiots trying to break it off and steal it. Eventually the mechanism wears out.
The single most annoying thing about driving a Mercedes is a star that is not perfectly aligned, I could tolerate dents, engine smoke, broken electricals, smashed in rear end, groans, but you cannot mess with the star, it has to be perfectly straight and standing to attention at all times.
It is like a battleship without its colours flying high in the wind,
Fit a new star to your car, the shiny new chrome work will give you endless hours of pleasure admiring it as you drive along with the sun shining down upon it.

I wonder if you miss the "Star" in your vision when you drive the VW Sir Des?

 

[Des]

I wonder if you miss the "Star" in your vision when you drive the VW Sir Des?

A perfect world for me would be a Beetle with a fully auto transmission, that is the only sticking point I dislike about the Beetle. Other than that it is fine, oh and the fact a cement mixer nearly blew me off the road the other day and killed me.

The Beetle lacks that rock solid steering and suspension that you take for granted in a Mercedes,

I am not a good or expert driver, but a Mercedes is a car that you can easily drive fast and safely.


You know in a Mercedes you can take a corner quite quickly and apart from a bit of body roll you are fine, the car acts quite predictably. Unless it is a 6.9, you never feel like you are going to loose a 4 or 6 cylinder model.


Coming from driving these sort of cars, Mercedes, Volvo, Audi for years, it is quite a shock really, how poor a Beetle really is,

steering...........rubbish
body roll...........terrible
brakes.............very rubbish
lights................virtually non existent
cabin space.......poor
noise................loud.
gearbox............painful



somehow I still enjoy it, even though it is really quite rubbish.
Somehow I want to drive it, drive it purely for driving it

 

[BenzBoy]

Oh, oh....reading between the lines here makes me think Young Des may soon have an announcement to make...
Regards,
Benz-Boy

 

[Styria]

Hi Des, I guess we have gotten away a little from the original Bonnet Star conversation, but it matters little.

When you put a Beetle and the Mercedes side by side, you have to ask yourself which segment of the market they catered for. The Beetle for the masses, the Mercedes for the well healed and that difference is evidenced in the design, manufacture, interior furnishings and the end product when it is presented to the buying public. So it really would be somewhat unfair to compare the two makes side by side - they were diametrically opposed. At least, that was the situation starting from the early fifties. We need to ignore the pre-war products in this discussion.

Thus, one needs to have a special feeling and affinity for whatever we drive, and be prepared to forgive various shortcomings. Perfection, in an old car or classic, is not easy to come by. Regards Styria

 

[John S]

Des commenting on his VW Beatle said: "somehow I still enjoy it, even though it is really quite rubbish. Somehow I want to drive it, drive it purely for driving it" which brings up the question of what makes a car fun to drive?
Years ago in Popular Classics or a similar magazine they were doing comparisons of earlier cars (1950's) of which a Ford Pilot was one. In the comparison it had the worst steering, worst handling, worst brakes etc, but rated very highly in "Fun Factor" - and I wondered how? Anyway my wife bought an automatic Datsun 1000. It had no performance compared to the Holdens, Falcons or Valiants - but for some reason it was real fun to drive! SO now I must confess, I once owned a VW and I enjoyed that too.

 

[WGB]

Anyway just for the record I think it is a 123 badge and doesn't fit a 116.

Looks nice in my collection of parts and a nice momento of Des

Bill

 

[Des]

which brings up the question of what makes a car fun to drive?

Your car is a bit like your partner, you have to "connect" with it.

You may very well enjoy a fling in it, but can you live with it?

Take a Gullwing for example, its nice eye candy, but could you live with it?

I could give some people the world's best Volvo or Saab but they would feel completely bored and uninterested, you cannot have a happy relationship like that.

We all like and except different things from a relationship, same with cars,


You need to find that connection, something that makes you smile, something that you want to be with in in 10 years time.

 

[SEL_69L]

I wonder if anyone has seriously tested and compared the cornering capabilities of a 6.9 against it's lesser stablemates of the 116 range? Does the hydraulic suspension more than allow for the extra weight over the front wheels? Is there any published comparison tests? I was there when Michel drove his 6.9 in anger around Oran Park. Quite impressive.

 

[Des]

I have owned a W116 in 280S, 280SE and 6.9 form

the 6.9's trump card is the off the line torque, a Q-Ship, although you need bigger and wider wheels to get any sort of decent grip, otherwise you are just spinning the wheels through the intersection.

I prefer the lower engined Benzes for their road holding, you can turn into a corner and the car just holds to the road, I remember once in the 6.9 I went to take a L shaped corner and the back went to step and slide out, a very quick flick one way than the other brought the back, back in, but that's not the sort of thing I like in a car. No warning, just road holding, then no road holding, I enjoy twisting and rolling the body around, rather than rolling off the road into a tree.

I prefer a car where you can toss it into a corner and the other side will touch the guard on the wheel, it is rolling over that much, but holding on.