Tremendous thread and does illustrate well what is possible in a non rust belt area. That particular model basically rusted out very easily in our climate.

I have always wondered what your car would give in fuel milage at a steady 70 mph. Speeding even on bare roads is out of the question here. Twelve miles over and above can get you into some serious difficulty and money with the current laws. Speed traps are set up regularily.

That picture of your son looking at the snowy grill is a classic photo in my humble opinion.

Thanks, Barry...

When I went to the 2.47:1 and started evaluating mileage over several tanks of fuel, I finally realized that my fuel economy (25-27 for the most part) did not change. Instead, where I used to get 25-27 at 60 mph, I can now get 25-27 @ 80 mph.

At a steady 70 mph I seem to get around 22-25 mpg...

That snowy grille was taken near Wolverton, California lat one Christmas Eve...

There is no rust in the car...anywhere, it needs the seats recovered and new door rubbers, plus there has been a lot of new sand damage to the new parts we replaced last year on the front end from daily driving in the desert, but that's a way of life here with almost daily sandstorms.

I got a couple of local guys interested in the car, but I wanted to see what kind of offers this would fetch from 'people in the know' so to speak...we haven't really talked hard numbers just yet...

What made you decide to try and sell it again?

I have the opportunity to get us into a much, much newer Benz. We are still recovering from a $1/4 million dollar 2011 foreclosure loss, so I have to weigh out how much I will have to come up with out of pocket, and secondly, my wife doesn't want us to have a used car lot at the house...:)

This car is a legend (at least in my mind)... I wish I could...

It's a good car, it's not perfect, but it's not rusty anywhere and it runs good, plus it comes with things like a brand new extra climate control amp, a new pushbutton/temp wheel unit, spare glow plugs, injectors, cruise control servo and a entire box of small, assorted parts.

We just did new front calipers, (4) new Balo rotors, new master cylinder, PBR organic pads and switched the system to non-hygroscopic DOT 5 silicon brake fluid. It has new Hankook P215/70R14 tires with less than 5,000 miles on them, a new battery, new aluminum climate control servo, new MBZ/Conti belts, freshly serviced R-12 system and of course the new 2.47:1 differential and new axles.

On the downside, the door rubber is starting to go bad and needs to be replaced, it has needed the seats redone for quite sometime, although the interior (other than the seat covers and a few dash cracks) is in fabulous original condition.

Other than that, it is a super-solid car with several trips to Arizona under it's belt. It is currently my wife's daily driver so it has be maintained in such a condition as to make it 100% reliable, which means I use only genuine MBZ stuff...

I just happened upon this thread, and I am sad to hear about the selling of your car. It is quite incredible that it has that many miles on it and is still in nice shape. The high mileage may have something to do with the lack of buyers, but around here, high mileage is like a trophy! I miss my 1980 W116 (same color in and out as yours), but I am full up on 'Benzs right now, so I don't need another one. Good luck selling it, and I hope the buyer appreciates it as much as you do....Rich

I'm sorry you have to sell. I'd love to own that car. Just a pity I can't do so right at this moment. Good luck with a sale. Hope it goes to someone else who appreciates it the way you do and others should. I wonder if it could potentially become the first two million mile Mercedes?

- Peter.

Thank you all for the kind words...

Peter, we do not 'have to sell' the car, I am just evaluating an opportunity to get into a much newer (2000+) Benz E320 from the original owner, with less than 90,000 miles and fully documented.

Greek taxi driver Gregorios Sachinidis from Thessalonica handed over his 1976 Mercedes Benz 240 D to the Mercedes-Benz Museum Collection in 2004. Mr. Sachinidis is a multi-kilometer millionaire. Having covered all of 4.6 million kilometers, making it the Mercedes-Benz with the highest recorded mileage known to date....:)

I'm entertaining 3 legitimate offers right now....

Let us know if they fall through...

If you still have the car next week, I'd seriously consider selling the Buick. I've kept the Buick envisioning that I could start bringing it to cruise-ins 5-10 years from now -- as my own cheap version of a collector car, I guess -- but this would tempt me.

What would shipping from California be? $800?

It'll probably sell before I can do anything anyway :).

Edit:
Rats -- airfare + shipping + food + reasonable price for the car = too much $$$, it appears.

Are any of the offers from forum members?

I have no idea what shipping would cost on something as heavy as a W116...

Pending sale - Meeting buyer this afternoon - A forum member, so the car will get to stay in the 'family' so to speak...:)

Yay ! :)

I hope he drives a lot :).