The 7th Wonder of.....my backyard.

[Andrew280SEL]

I present the 7th W116 to join our fleet......















Just brought her over this morning on the Spirit of Tasmania, from Melbourne.

1979 450SEL 6.9.
My dad and I bought it together, almost like an early Christmas present for each other
We got it here, washed it (which is why the pics are all over the place as I was taking them as we were moving the vehicle around) then after checking things, quickly shoved it in the shed to keep away from those pesky cats who happen to like climbing on cars
Unfortunately that meant pulling my 280SEL out of the shed to make way for the 6.9, which means my 280 will have to endure the weather until the other shed gets built However it's a painful necessity.

The car is great in pretty much every area, EXCEPT, unfortunately, the suspension isn't right... which we knew about when buying, it seems to be a leak of hydraulic oil somewhere near the hydropneumatic oil reservoir. The hydro oil is low, however the hydropneumatic warning light hasn't come on (probably doesn't work) and you may or may not notice in the pics it's sitting VERY low (looks cool too). Somehow the tires don't rub, but it's certainly too low for our pothole filled gravel driveway. It seems ok on the road, except because of the problem it tends to "bounce", if that makes sense. Hopefully won't be too much of an expensive fix.

The rest of the car's mechanics are, well, amazing to sit behind and drive. It feels like a new car (except for the suspension of course). Steering is tight and lovely, starts first time every time, doesn't blow any smoke, superb oil pressure, brakes are great etc. Power is obviously amazing. The paint except too minor spots (boot scratch from some punk kid, apparently, and left hand door lower side mark probably just from a flying pebble) is pretty much immaculate.

Reason being is it's had at least $35000 spent on it back in '95 for a full rebuild; we even have the quote papers listing all the parts and labour amonsgt the log books.
So it's no secret that it's not 100% "every single rubber from '79" originality, but when it drives like it does who am I to complain

I was going to detail more, but I have to go to dinner right now. I'll be back, but if someone might be able to tell me how I can find out the "production number" of the car in the meantime it would be much appreciated

 

[GreaseMonkey]

OK, now I AM getting jealous!
C.M.

 

[HansKruger]

nice looking car

That trick suspension will drive you mad keeping it right.

 

[Michel]

Oh Andrew, it's great news that this car ended up with you guys.
It has a god home

Congratulations..

Now Des will come and visit..

 

[Andrew280SEL]

Thanks Michel, yes Des is welcome anytime..speaking of which, where is he....

BTW though, this is not the Milan Brown 6.9 recently shown here and on the .ORG on Ebay for $25000 or how ever much it was... this particular car was, interestingly, about half that price. In fact, we were lucky to discover it and pay the first deposit, because apparently someone rang up the now previous owner and offered him about $25k cash on pick up
The PO, quite a wealthy man in any case, was gracious enough to decline, and declare it was already committed to us....

I'm surprised this car didn't appear on these forums....unless I missed them or something.

EDIT: Actually might be because it was on CarPoint and not Ebay I suppose

 

[Des]

A non cracked dash 6.9?

That has to be rare,

looks a good car Sir!

 

[BenzBoy]

Well done Andrew. I am so pleased you have a 6.9 - you will have enormous fun and I truly hope it returns the attention you give it by behaving like a good 6.9 should. Life is far too short to settle for anything less than 7 w116s. Good on you.
Regards,
BenzBoy

 

[Andrew280SEL]

Oh there he is...

Yes, I was surprised about the dash too. Quite a protected life it's had I guess, but still with the mileage it has you'd think the dash would still have seen it's fair share of the Aussie sun.

 

[HansKruger]

get adash mat and have some backing added fir protection.

 

[Michel]

Thanks Michel,
BTW though, this is not the Milan Brown 6.9 recently shown here and on the .ORG on Ebay for $25000 or how ever much it was... this particular car was, interestingly, about half that price.
EDIT: Actually might be because it was on CarPoint and not Ebay I suppose

I simply recognised the distinct number plates.
It has been for sale, on and off, for a while

 

[oscar]

Andrew!!!!!!!!!
GTF outta here!!! as Axel Foley would say You sly dawg.
We got Des' 6.9 back to the mainland but now you've tipped the ledger by taking one off us. Congratulations!!!!!!!!

FWIW I think you've got the most roadworthy, registered or not, w116's.

You know I was only looking at PHD600 the other day and amazed how much the price had dropped. I remember seeing it at $18k some time ago and it might have been higher but it's steadily been dropping to about $11something. I kept thinking that it was a good buy whilst knowing the suspension was in need of attention.

But I'm really happy for you and your dad and slightly envious at the same time. Congrats once again

 

[Styria]

Hi Andrew, that's certainly a very nice looking and well cared for car. Milan Brown and Orange Bamboo are a nice combination.

It'll be interesting to see who will get the lion's share of the driving - you or Dad ? Don't forget what Mercules once said - the 6.9 is an old man's Subaru WRX !

The money you paid, for a good example, was not excessive - it begs the question, and I am digressing, that my Astral Silver 6.9 advertised on topklasse, is probably too cheap at $6600.00........Regards Styria


N. B. Good luck with the car.

 

[Anthony 350 sl]

Congratulations..very nice looking car

get adash mat and have some backing added fir protection.

Where can you get one of these thay are a good fit?

 

[116Benz]

Andrew, Congrats what a car! all you need now is RONIN plates. A nice addition to your 116 family.

 

[Andrew280SEL]

We got Des' 6.9 back to the mainland but now you've tipped the ledger by taking one off us. Congratulations!!!!!!!!

FWIW I think you've got the most roadworthy, registered or not, w116's.

Haha

True, I'm not sure how many 6.9's there are in Tassie... I'd imagine very few and I remember thinking Des' car might have been one of the only 6.9's in the state before it went off to 13B/Ian. I've certainly never seen one before, in fact this is the first 6.9 I've ever seen/driven/touched
Doesn't mean there aren't any down here, but I certainly have never seen one.

As for the roadworthy collection of W116's, I'd say your pretty right. 6 out of the 7 W116's are capable roadgoing cars, while the non-going car is the yellow 450SE parts car which has been stripped of certain parts and doesn't go anyway. The red 280SE will be stripped for the track however, so that will leave 5 roadgoing W116's

It'll be interesting to see who will get the lion's share of the driving - you or Dad ? Don't forget what Mercules once said - the 6.9 is an old man's Subaru WRX !

Well, it's a good question. After the suspension issue is sorted, we will find out


Also, how does one find out the "production number" of their car? I was looking at the compliance plates and what not and I thought I found a number "5360" but figured it can't be right because, the car is a 1979 model and I would've thought it would be around the 7xxx range, but I could be wrong.

 

[TJ 450]

The production number is the last few digits of the chassis nr. For example, mine is 116036 22 001432, where 1432 is the nr. You will see it stamped into the firewall in the centre as on all W116's.

Also, the date on the compliance plate doesn't always correspond with the build date, on my car it is 1-78 even though the car was built in 1976.

Tim

 

[B13]

I was looking at the compliance plates and what not and I thought I found a number "5360" but figured it can't be right because, the car is a 1979 model and I would've thought it would be around the 7xxx range, but I could be wrong.

If the production figures are to be believed, and I have no reason to doubt them, then I would make yours a very late 1978 model.

Reason being: them made 7380 cars all up
In 1980 they made 129 of them (cars 7251 to 7380)
In 1979 they made 1839 of them (cars 5412 to 7250)
In 1978 they made 1665 of them (cars 3747 to 5411)
which numerically puts your car at the tail end of 1978.

However, it has to spend some time on a ship on the high seas on its way to Australia so I have no doubt it was 1979 by the time your car arrived here and was dealer prepped and registered.

Ian.

 

[Andrew280SEL]

Wow, ok thanks guys. Well after properly checking the chassis number (on the registration form, hopefully it's correct...car is in the shed ATM) the car is #5190

 

[Des]

Haha

True, I'm not sure how many 6.9's there are in Tassie... I'd imagine very few and I remember thinking Des' car might have been one of the only 6.9's in the state before it went off to 13B/Ian. I've certainly never seen one before, in fact this is the first 6.9 I've ever seen/driven/touched
Doesn't mean there aren't any down here, but I certainly have never seen one.

I know of 4 other 6.9's in Tassie
another green one like mine, a metallic blue UK import, a gold rusty UK import and a white 6.9


I doubt there would be many more,

 

[Lukas]

Congrats Andrew (& father of) - they are great cars to blast around in, and like many others here have said, once you get the suspension sorted you can really put the boot in - the car goes better for it, and you will be happy too.

Another thing you have yet to experience is the feeling of driving around in one with good suspension - described by someone here as the 6.9 magic carpet ride.

Maybe we should form some kind of Topklasse garage building consortium - I need one too, and others have cited lack of covered parking as the reason for not having more cars.....

Is there anything special in the option codes?

Lukas