Last night I went to the local watering hole, and I saw a guy getting out of a gold 380SE. He came into the bar, and after a while I asked him how he liked his Mercedes. He told me that he loved it, and got it from the son of the original owner who bought it in Germany in 1984 and imported it to the U.S. in '86. In the course of our conversation, he told me it had "double overdrive" that kicked in at 85 mph, and that this feature only came on certain Euro cars. I've never heard of that. Anyone have any idea what he was talking about?

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Double Overdrive is when the second Double Scotch kicks into your brain...if he had one.

Yep. Did he mention it got better mileage at 85 than at 55 too?

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

That sounds like "Double secret probation."

Sounds like a double up shift occured? I know on my 420SEL I can have a double down shift..one if i squeeze the throttle to near the kickdown switch and two if i hit the switch...provided in at an appropriate speed.

There were no factory overdrive units that I am aware of.

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82 300SD 145k
89 420SEL 210k
89 560SEL 118k
90 300SE 262k RIP 5/25/2010
90 560SEL 154k
91 300D 2.5 Turbo. 241k
93 190E 3.0 235k
93 300E 195k

No. I would not bunk with him.

What type of bars are you going to?

MV

My car has double overdrive every time its on a flatbed

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FWIW:

The impetus is to minimize overdrive use and provide a higher ratio first gear, which means more gears between the first and the last to keep the engine at its most efficient speed. This is part of the reason that modern automobiles tend to have larger numbers of gears in their transmissions. It is also why more than one overdrive gear is seldom seen in a vehicle except in special circumstances i.e. where high (numerical) differential gear is required to get the vehicle moving as in trucks or performance cars though double overdrive transmissions are common in other vehicles, often with a small number on the axle gear reduction, but usually only engage at speeds exceeding 100 kilometres per hour (60 mph).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdrive_(mechanics)

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

How many overdrives does a 722.9 have? For that matter, how many reverses does it have?

MV

Two and Two.

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

Did the person define what double overdrive is?

Uhhhh, its like uhhhh, Warp speed, man.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

All he said was that the transmission shifted a fourth time at 85 mph.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

That would have been shifting into 4th.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Assuming it starts in first, a fourth shift would be into fifth.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.