My New Ride: A Silver 1977 350SE

[macarose]

Here it is... a truly beautiful car in every respect. By the way, are there any other W116 enthusiasts in Atlanta?

[arootbeer]

Very pretty! Congratulations

[rs899]

A beauty! Does it have the neat velour interior? A stick? I really need to changeover mine to euro lights and bumper ( both of which I have) and put a decent color of paint on her....

Rick

[macarose]

Yep she does... here are a few more pics...

[macarose]

Does anyone know of a W116 enthusiast around Atlanta? I really wouldn't mind having someone take a peak at this and letting me know what I have... and what I should do.

I'd be happy to pay for the time. I'm actually an auto auctioneer and this vehicle was in a friend of mine's inventory. My penchant for W124's has pretty much made me a point man for those vehicles at this sale.

[250 Coupe]

Very nice car!

It looks like there are a lot of Euro parts on it. The heater controls, bumpers and headlights are all Euro.

The velour interior was special order in the States but standard in other countries. My 450SEL had velour originally.

All this means that it may have been imported into the US and that there will be some parts that won't show up at first glance in the parts catalogs. You can get parts, but it may take a bit more effort.

Head over to www.w116.org I think there are some folks near you.

Michael

[alabbasi]

Originally Posted by macarose

Does anyone know of a W116 enthusiast around Atlanta? I really wouldn't mind having someone take a peak at this and letting me know what I have... and what I should do.

Hey there, Sorry I missed you, I recently moved from Smyrna GA to Dallas TX. I will probably be back for a couple of days this month as I need to get my house ready for rental.

I own a few W116's, namely.

1973 350SE with a 4 speed, no A/C and manual windows.
1976 450SEL 6.9
1979 450SEL 6.9.

You should have a lot of fun with this car. There are also no shortage of parts car at the local http://www.pullapart.com .

Good luck with your new find, it looks like a winner.

[macarose]

Darn. I wish I hadn't missed you. Let me know whenever you're in town.

Thanks to the both of you. I guess the first order of business will be to get the a/c running again. I am so completely psyched up for this vehicle. I literally see tens of thousands of vehicles go through the auctions every year and this is the first W116 I've seen that's this nice. Apparently whoever had decided to install Sirius and an upgraded sound system as well.

I found out that the prior owner was a teacher in North Georgia. It appears that it may have been passed down through the family. Before that time, it was owned by a fellow who lived in a Country Club community. It was barely driven. In fact, the 116k may actually be right on this vehicle. Before then it spent a brief time in Cincinnati (rust is virtually non-existent underneath, and for at least 12 years it was in Germany.

I'd love to track down the history of this vehicle. I may just actually call the fellow who owned it in the Carolinas just to see if I can find out more about it.

Thanks, and please feel free to reach me anytime. I get more than my share of W124's and W126's at my sales.

macarose

[MunichTaxi]

I recently bought a W116 280S Euro spec. The owner's manual was in German, and all maintence was stamped Zurich, Germany for the first 56,000 kms.

I believe when these cars are imported, the American speedometer starts at 000,000.

I have decent compression at 143 psi to 154 psi. However my 'sweet' purchase was a little tarnished knowing the speedometer was off by 35,000 miles.

[royalpagoda]

I wish I had been that lucky! Finding a W116 Euro in the southeast is literally "needle in haystack" material. I live in Charlotte, NC and have had a US model 450 SEL for about two years. You will LOVE this car! Heads will turn wherever you go. Nice Find!

[macarose]

Thanks!

I would love to find other W116 owners from my neck of the woods. I feel like this represents a wonderful challenge and opportunity. I believe it's been driven only about 10k miles over the last 13 years and I'd like to get everything in tip-top shape. It was driven about 250 miles in the past couple of weeks by a friend of mine who really liked it. Still, I think this would be my one chance to turn a true classic and make it a credible daily driver. Heck, it's even got a Sirius system in the thing.

Let me know if you know of any W116 owners or enthusiasts in metro-Atlanta. Powder Springs is not really far away.

macarose

[Dee8go]

Looks very nice from the pics you posted. Congratulations.

[macarose]

Thanks a bunch. I guess the next question is whether there may be anything I should look out for (weak spots, heavy maintenance needs, where to get parts)... and the types of quality products I should use to keep it in tip-top shape. I'm sure those topics have been covered a few times between here and the W116 site. But I guess I'll be giving myself a Cliff's Notes version of it between these two sites..

Thanks folks, if I find any W116's in my travels I'll definitely clue you in on them.

Oh, and before I forget... here's a couple that will be up for bid this weekend.

71 MERCEDES 250C 11402312002500
74 MERCEDES 280 (BILL OF SALE) VIN# 11406012110592

Steve

[alabbasi]

Fuel injection system is k-jet and should share parts with the 450SEL and other cars. Same with electrics and interior parts. Watch out for rust, especially on the drivers side floor underneath the insulations.

Check out the 10 phases in my 6.9 restoration to see where the rust lives.

http://alabbasi.net/450SEL.htm

[250 Coupe]

Originally Posted by macarose

71 MERCEDES 250C 11402312002500

Steve

Hmmm. My '71 250C is 114.023-12-002300 or something like that. Just a few hundred cars apart. My needs paint so bad I'm asking $1500 for it.

Michael