OK. So I've got to pull the head on my 230 to deal with glycol in the oil, but how about just one more drive before it goes down. Off I go, using the manual shift on the old fluid coupler instead of the automatic setting. I push it. Hard. The car positively leaps into the gears! It roars. Straight as a rail. Contained. Competent. Dare I say civilized in a way that is now unimaginable to today's driver. This car is an absolute dream when pushed to its limits.

Of course, I'm consuming my grandkids' inheritance as I push the gas pedal, but what a feeling! This is a car that was built forty-five years ago and it still rocks. Bigtime. What character! I would like to meet the Mercedes engineers who designed the w110. What were they thinking? What were their standards? What magic did they possess that went into creating such a marvelous machine? Where did they get the aesthetic taste to create those wonderful fins and sleek front end?

The 230 is as thrilling to drive as it is to look at. And that is saying a lot. Maybe it's my age talking, but this car is marvelous.

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1981 300TD 310k miles
1970 280sel 172k miles
1966 230 Fintail 162k miles

"Where are we going? And why am I in this hand basket?"