I recently purchased a mb 1985 280ce. I am unable to find anything about it on the internet. all the manuals only go to 1981. it has a 110 engine and I guess it was called a grey market car sold in the uk only. In 85 there were only 665 made. any info would be appreciated thank you

Dave, you don't seem to be having much luck with replies here..try using the 'search' button with '280CE' and see what it turns up. -J

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'79 280SE
'87 560SEL
'83 280CE
'01 Nissan Micra
'98 VW Passat
'83 911 turbo

Dave, if it's an '85 it's a W123 coupe, the generation sold in the US from 77-85. BTW, is it right hand drive (UK model) or left hand drive (Euro)? Here's a couple of associated W123-specific sites that you'll find more info. at:

http://groups.msn.com/W123Club
www.w123.net

Also try the "Vintage Mercedes" and "Featured Cars" forums on this site; they cover cars built before and after 1979, your generation overlaps both. You could also post questions in the "Diesel Discussion" forum on this site; most of the W123s sold in the US were diesels, and there's a lot of W123 knowledge in that forum. In particular, posts on the 300CD will be useful; that's the turbo-diesel form your coupe took in the US. For technical questions, post in "Tech Help". You'll get more feedback in any of those than you will in Open Discussion.

What do you want to know?

The engine is a hemi fashioned twin cam 2 valve per cylinder unit with EFI. It is revered as perhaps the most durable I6 Mercedes has ever made.

In Euro form, it puts out 185 hp @ 5800 rpms, and 177 lb/ft of torque at 4500 rpms. So you won't feel the most power until you're past 90 - 100 mph.

The S-Class 280 gearing was 3.46 :1. Not sure about the Euro W123.

I used to get 20 - 21 mpg on regular unleaded in the W126 280SEL I had. This was mostly highway driving.

The top speed potential is higher than an American 500SEL.

Top speed of a W123 sedan 280E is 124 mph. Man would I LOVE to see a W123 sedan going that fast, lol!

In fact, my dad's got one on the lot that I can play with in the future. It is US spec, however, but it is an M110. Imagine a W123 body with a US spec speedometer of 140 mph and no tach. Ratio of gearing in the US spec is short. 3.69 :1 in top gear.

Ah, but that 6500 rpm redline was so fun to listen to and peak everytime I pulled out on the open road.

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1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

1996 Nissan Pathfinder R50 (201000)