1970 Mercedes 280SE with Manual Transmission

[snp8990]

Hi,
I am looking at a 1970 280SE (W108) with a manual on the floor transmission.I havent seen any other ones with this transmission,are these rare?How are the 280SE's with the six-cylinders?
-Thanks

[300SDog]

Is this car black with red interior by any chance? There was one kickin around ebay couple of yrs ago at/near PA. Highly desirable 108 variant notso common, wanted to buy it myself.

[t walgamuth]

very very rare and desireable to stick lovers.

Tom W

[Mark DiSilvestro]

A friend and onetime owner of a manual 280SE once told me "These cars feel 500 pounds lighter with a stick-shift!"
Look that one over carefully for rust!

Happy Motoring, Mark

[JimFreeh]

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

A friend and onetime owner of a manual 280SE once told me "These cars feel 500 pounds lighter with a stick-shift!"
Look that one over carefully for rust!

Happy Motoring, Mark

I had a 67 250SE with a floor shift manual back in 75-77. The car was a blast to drive with the stick shift, felt quite peppy.

Really cool car to drive, except...... it did not have power steering. Now that was real biceps builder!

An odd spec'ed car too, no ps, but had A/C and power sunroof, and rollup windows, plus the more expensive injected engine. Black with a tan tex interior.

Also had the 14 wheels with the separate trim ring and old style hubcap that snapped on the three spring loaded balls.

Love to have a nice manual W108 again someday.

Jim

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Originally Posted by JimFreeh

I had a 67 250SE with a floor shift manual back in 75-77. The car was a blast to drive with the stick shift, felt quite peppy.

Really cool car to drive, except...... it did not have power steering. Now that was real biceps builder!

An odd spec'ed car too, no ps, but had A/C and power sunroof, and rollup windows, plus the more expensive injected engine. Black with a tan tex interior.

Also had the 14 wheels with the separate trim ring and old style hubcap that snapped on the three spring loaded balls.

Love to have a nice manual W108 again someday.

Jim

About the time you had yours, my Dad bought a grey, Euro '66 250SE. That car had the factory manual floorshift, foglamps, 4-band Becker Grand-Prix signal-seeking radio AND power steering, but no AC or sunroof. It also came with factory Kangol front-seat shoulder-belts, WITHOUT lap-belts - very strange. The original grey-blue cloth-vinyl seats were in tatters, so we replaced it with a pristine 280SE saddle leather interior, including matching door panels, from a salvage yard for $350. Those WERE the good old days! After moving to Virginia Beach, Dad got the rust patched and a new paint job, then sold the SE in 1980 to buy a '72 250C, which I own today. Wish I had that SE though!

Today I own a manual column-shift '60 220S Fintail. Steering IS a muscle-builder at parking speeds but does lighten up when the car gets moving. The car is very basic though and didn't even come with a radio when I acquired it, so it's probably somewhat lighter than your '67 SE was. Though it probably isn't really quicker, with a manual-shift my Fintail just feels more responsive than any of the automatic Benzes I've owned.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[wbain5280]

Better than a Hydrak too!

[Mark DiSilvestro]

I never drove a Hydrak, but the 'Benz that got away' had one. Back in the mid '70s, I went with my Dad to see a '58 220S Ponton coupe advertised with 'automatic tranny' for $500. My Dad agreed to buy it, but when he returned with the money, someone else had snatched it for $1200!

More recently, I worked on a friend's '58 Auto Union 1000S coupe with a Saxomat - basically the same automatic clutch without the refinement of the Hydrak's fluid coupling. Upshifting could be pretty frustrating because often, by the time the engine revs and automatic clutch finished doing their thing, you needed to downshft again.

The Saxomat was also an option on the late '50s German Ford Taunus, and I believe a version was availible on some '60s Porsches.

Aside from being a 'poor man's automatic', I believe the Saxomat/Hydrak automatic clutches also became popular in Germany due to the number of surviving WWII leg amputees.
My Auto-Union/DKW factory repair manual has an entire section devoted to the fitting of hand controls to Saxomat-equipped models.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[snp8990]

Hi,
I think im gonna pass on this one.I just dont want the six-cylinder.A 4.5 would be nice.Now,if this car was manual on the column,it would be a different story.

[t walgamuth]

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

I never drove a Hydrak, but the 'Benz that got away' had one. Back in the mid '70s, I went with my Dad to see a '58 220S Ponton coupe advertised with 'automatic tranny' for $500. My Dad agreed to buy it, but when he returned with the money, someone else had snatched it for $1200!

More recently, I worked on a friend's '58 Auto Union 1000S coupe with a Saxomat - basically the same automatic clutch without the refinement of the Hydrak's fluid coupling. Upshifting could be pretty frustrating because often, by the time the engine revs and automatic clutch finished doing their thing, you needed to downshft again.

The Saxomat was also an option on the late '50s German Ford Taunus, and I believe a version was availible on some '60s Porsches.

Aside from being a 'poor man's automatic', I believe the Saxomat/Hydrak automatic clutches also became popular in Germany due to the number of surviving WWII leg amputees.
My Auto-Union/DKW factory repair manual has an entire section devoted to the fitting of hand controls to Saxomat-equipped models.

Happy Motoring, Mark

LOL at the description of shifting and having to shift down immediately because the shift was so slow!

Those electric clutch thingies were offered in Ramblers too for a few years. It is one of those things where you read about it and it sounds ideal....kindof like the f1 shifters they have now, and you drive one and HOLY CRAP! It's awful.

Tom W

[Tony H]

My first Mercedes was a 250SE with a stick shift. Very enjoyable. Unfortunatly someone ran a stop sign and totaled it.