Andrew280SEL
New Member
Hello everyone!
I picked up my new (new old? old new?) W123 230E yesterday that I was talking about buying in the other thread. I've already fallen in love with it.
That's something I love about these old cars - what should be, I guess, a fairly "vanilla" model as far as Mercedes cars go will still have it's own character, charm and possibly a story to tell in it's history.
Naturally, pics follow
Exterior 1: http://i.imgur.com/TIHtnQc.jpg
Exterior 2: http://i.imgur.com/gNgFBqm.jpg
Interior 1: http://i.imgur.com/M84U915.jpg
Interior 2: http://i.imgur.com/fXH3dr7.jpg
Interior 3: http://i.imgur.com/mkGpCA4.jpg
It's a 1984 model, done about 271,000 kms. It looks very tidy all round, including a blue interior which feels and smells very regal somehow. It drives beautifully and has very good road manners. Including, thankfully, the little bit of city driving I've already had to do with it where it did all the usual things well - stopping, taking off and idling at intersections. As well mannered as any car should be in that situation.
The torque at low-mid rev range does surprise me with this little engine. Although it shouldn't really - it wasn't long until I realised this engine is the same basic engine MB used in models like the W201 190E, which I've had a little experience with.
It really only does one slightly off thing: whether it be starting cold or warm, it seems to like about 10-15% blip of the throttle as I crank it. It doesn't really start "cleanly" on it's own. With that knowledge, it's always easy enough to start but I am aware it's something that could probably be improved/corrected. Once started, it runs perfectly. Being K-Jetronic (I believe), it shouldn't be too difficult to fix I don't imagine.
I was also initially tempted to do the usual "chuck a CD player in there" kind of thing, but well, it occurred to me I haven't used a CD in a car since about 2008 Nowadays generally I use one of those FM transmitter/adapter things that plug into your MP3 player/smart phone and all you have to do is tune the FM radio to the desired frequency.
So I figure I may as well leave that nice old Becker Grand Prix radio in there, it works fine after all And probably will for many more years.
-------
Alright, so update on everything else
I couldn't help but smile to myself when I saw one of our fellow forum members, Oversize, thread called "Progress" and then started off the body of the post with "...or lack thereof!".
Sadly that's much the case with me. In between work, and moved in/out a couple houses over the past few years, it's been very difficult to get all that much done with any of the Mercs. Mercs generally being the "fleet" of W116s in my family.
I may as well list the cars I can think of below and the status of them..
Milan Brown W116 1979 6.9: Basically wrapped up in cotton wool, so to speak, most of the time. The suspension was never truly sorted but that's okay as it's had very limited use. Until it gets the full treatment it deserves, it pretty much just gets started and moved around every so often. That and the starter motor tends to get that electrical whir going on cold start but that's nothing major. It's a lovely car though and we try to protect it the best way we can. Would be good to fully sort it and have more driving time though Most likely will try to get Special Interest rego on it.
My white W116 1979 280SEL: Ahh my old "faithful" and the car for which my username originates from. Sadly old faithful is off the road at the moment, until I eventually decide exactly what to do with the engine. Some of you may remember this 280's M110 engine has done almost 600,000kms The engine itself is a little tired as one could imagine. However this car will still start almost first time after sitting 6 months with a good battery and fresh juice. On the other hand it has vacuum leaks a plenty and uses almost the most fuel of any of the W116s including the 6.9 now, so I eventually let it's registration lapse and parked it. An engine rebuild may not be too cost efficient, so whether I just put another M110 engine in as a swap remains to be seen... I'm still very attached to the old car and it doesn't do much else wrong despite it's mileage.
White 1973 W116 350SE: Old "smokey", once an $800 "bargain", was a fun vehicle for a while and was my first W116 V8. Unfortunately, I was probably a bit optimistic on it's health, as the engine went from simply being a bit smokey to actually badly fouling spark plugs within a week and, combined with a few other little issues, became fairly unusable. As such it was relegated to being a parts car.
Red/Burgundy 1974 W116 350SE: The red 350SE was/is a dual-fuel LPG/Petrol Benz (already converted when I bought it). Besides a slight issue with starving at high revs on LPG, the red 350SE was a nice smooth and reliable vehicle. Strangely though, I could never really get attached to it and I'm not entirely sure why (can anyone relate to this). My dad actually liked the vehicle more than me, so I gave it to him.
Yellow W114 280: One of the few non-W116s, I only got this a year or so ago as a freebie. It's had a bit of tidy up but still has an extreme case of "sap attack", which I tried various solutions to remove but had little success. Suspect this one could be a long term project anyway and I'm in no rush. I like the shape and "classic" styling of the interior.
A couple of non W116s in my family or were in recent years:
W124 260E - dad's missus likes this one. Burgundy colour, all the options including a sunroof. Nice enough car all round.
W201 190E - lovely car, unfortunately was rear-ended and written off No one hurt thankfully.
W124 230 station wagon: Had a chronic overheating problem for a while and one of very few engines I've known to survive being cooked to within an inch of it's life. Testament to the strength of the engine, because it had no right to survive that really. Gearbox is a bit shonky but once that's sorted I think my dog-mad sister might inherit this one
Regards,
Andrew
I picked up my new (new old? old new?) W123 230E yesterday that I was talking about buying in the other thread. I've already fallen in love with it.
That's something I love about these old cars - what should be, I guess, a fairly "vanilla" model as far as Mercedes cars go will still have it's own character, charm and possibly a story to tell in it's history.
Naturally, pics follow
Exterior 1: http://i.imgur.com/TIHtnQc.jpg
Exterior 2: http://i.imgur.com/gNgFBqm.jpg
Interior 1: http://i.imgur.com/M84U915.jpg
Interior 2: http://i.imgur.com/fXH3dr7.jpg
Interior 3: http://i.imgur.com/mkGpCA4.jpg
It's a 1984 model, done about 271,000 kms. It looks very tidy all round, including a blue interior which feels and smells very regal somehow. It drives beautifully and has very good road manners. Including, thankfully, the little bit of city driving I've already had to do with it where it did all the usual things well - stopping, taking off and idling at intersections. As well mannered as any car should be in that situation.
The torque at low-mid rev range does surprise me with this little engine. Although it shouldn't really - it wasn't long until I realised this engine is the same basic engine MB used in models like the W201 190E, which I've had a little experience with.
It really only does one slightly off thing: whether it be starting cold or warm, it seems to like about 10-15% blip of the throttle as I crank it. It doesn't really start "cleanly" on it's own. With that knowledge, it's always easy enough to start but I am aware it's something that could probably be improved/corrected. Once started, it runs perfectly. Being K-Jetronic (I believe), it shouldn't be too difficult to fix I don't imagine.
I was also initially tempted to do the usual "chuck a CD player in there" kind of thing, but well, it occurred to me I haven't used a CD in a car since about 2008
Nowadays generally I use one of those FM transmitter/adapter things that plug into your MP3 player/smart phone and all you have to do is tune the FM radio to the desired frequency.So I figure I may as well leave that nice old Becker Grand Prix radio in there, it works fine after all
And probably will for many more years.-------
Alright, so update on everything else
I couldn't help but smile to myself when I saw one of our fellow forum members, Oversize, thread called "Progress" and then started off the body of the post with "...or lack thereof!".
Sadly that's much the case with me. In between work, and moved in/out a couple houses over the past few years, it's been very difficult to get all that much done with any of the Mercs. Mercs generally being the "fleet" of W116s in my family.
I may as well list the cars I can think of below and the status of them..
Milan Brown W116 1979 6.9: Basically wrapped up in cotton wool, so to speak, most of the time. The suspension was never truly sorted but that's okay as it's had very limited use. Until it gets the full treatment it deserves, it pretty much just gets started and moved around every so often. That and the starter motor tends to get that electrical whir going on cold start but that's nothing major. It's a lovely car though and we try to protect it the best way we can. Would be good to fully sort it and have more driving time though
Most likely will try to get Special Interest rego on it.My white W116 1979 280SEL: Ahh my old "faithful" and the car for which my username originates from. Sadly old faithful is off the road at the moment, until I eventually decide exactly what to do with the engine. Some of you may remember this 280's M110 engine has done almost 600,000kms
The engine itself is a little tired as one could imagine. However this car will still start almost first time after sitting 6 months with a good battery and fresh juice. On the other hand it has vacuum leaks a plenty and uses almost the most fuel of any of the W116s including the 6.9 now, so I eventually let it's registration lapse and parked it. An engine rebuild may not be too cost efficient, so whether I just put another M110 engine in as a swap remains to be seen... I'm still very attached to the old car and it doesn't do much else wrong despite it's mileage.White 1973 W116 350SE: Old "smokey", once an $800 "bargain", was a fun vehicle for a while and was my first W116 V8. Unfortunately, I was probably a bit optimistic on it's health, as the engine went from simply being a bit smokey to actually badly fouling spark plugs within a week and, combined with a few other little issues, became fairly unusable. As such it was relegated to being a parts car.
Red/Burgundy 1974 W116 350SE: The red 350SE was/is a dual-fuel LPG/Petrol Benz (already converted when I bought it). Besides a slight issue with starving at high revs on LPG, the red 350SE was a nice smooth and reliable vehicle. Strangely though, I could never really get attached to it and I'm not entirely sure why (can anyone relate to this
). My dad actually liked the vehicle more than me, so I gave it to him.Yellow W114 280: One of the few non-W116s, I only got this a year or so ago as a freebie. It's had a bit of tidy up but still has an extreme case of "sap attack", which I tried various solutions to remove but had little success. Suspect this one could be a long term project anyway and I'm in no rush. I like the shape and "classic" styling of the interior.
A couple of non W116s in my family or were in recent years:
W124 260E - dad's missus likes this one. Burgundy colour, all the options including a sunroof. Nice enough car all round.
W201 190E - lovely car, unfortunately was rear-ended and written off
No one hurt thankfully.W124 230 station wagon: Had a chronic overheating problem for a while and one of very few engines I've known to survive being cooked to within an inch of it's life. Testament to the strength of the engine, because it had no right to survive that really. Gearbox is a bit shonky but once that's sorted I think my dog-mad sister might inherit this one
Regards,
Andrew
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