Right on the edge of purchacing a 1970 250C. What should I look out for?

[jeffr0000]

Found what appears to be a really nice survivor, it's got 43,000 documented miles, all records including window sticker, four-speed manual transmission, A/C, crank windows, manual locks, burgundy red exterior, black interior, no body-rot, great paint, also drives great but a little scary under the skirt. CV boots are hard, driveshaft is rusty, transmission crossmember is rusty, rear diff cover seal leaks, oilpan gasket leaks.

I had a couple of specific questions:
Carbs; What are they? Are they decent? Hard to sync?
Ignition; Points? If so how to eliminate? Or should I not bother?
Fueling; Fuel pump is where? Electronic or mechanical? Does it need leaded gasoline?
Any other common problems to know about?
How the hell do I work the HVAC controls? I thought my 1982 240D was confusing.

This will be my first W114 chassis car, I'd really appreciate any help.

[Palolo]

Originally Posted by jeffr0000

Right on the edge of purchacing a 1970 250C. What should I look out for?

Look out for little old ladies in big Buicks and Caddys who will drive in to the side of your nice classic and ruin your day.

Post a pic and enjoy your find.

[JimFreeh]

Originally Posted by jeffr0000

Carbs; What are they? Are they decent? Hard to sync?
Ignition; Points? If so how to eliminate? Or should I not bother?
Fueling; Fuel pump is where? Electronic or mechanical? Does it need leaded gasoline?
Any other common problems to know about?
How the hell do I work the HVAC controls?

Carbs are Zeniths. Known to have warped bodies due to heat risers sticking. Notorious to get running correctly, quite fiddly. Fix is a pair of Webers, but not cheap. I've owned several 250Cs, my current one has weber carbs, and yes, they are worth every penny.

Original is electronic ignition. The control box is near battery on left fender. Good control boxes are not common. You can convert to more modern systems. I've got a not so modern crane conversion on mine.

Mechanical fuel pump. Lower left forward on engine block. System is designed to be constant flow, excess fuel is routed back to the tank.

Common problems? Coupe specific: Ensure drain holes are present at bottom of quarter panel behind the door, just above the trim strip. Coupe door glass oftens goes out of alignment. Folding seat frames crack. Plus all of the sedan issues....

HVAC. Three dash vents, each can be switched off. Four levers, two of them regulate the heat for left and right sides by adjusting a valve on the firewall. One operates the outside air flap. One directs air to the floor or the windshield. Green knob on console rotates to adjust A/C temp and also acts as a switchover from A/C to heat. Early cars had a mechanical lever to do this, late cars use vacuum to switch between A/C and heat (two separate blowers). Round knob between the 4 levers is for blower speed.

Jim

[jeffr0000]

Thanks guys, I've bought it. Pics to come up soon after I pick it up. Maybe a couple of days.

[Calspeed]

Congratulations!

Your life is about to change. Get the tools ready.

Miguel

[meltedpanda]

yea great car!

[jeffr0000]

I like to spend my lunch breaks looking at classic and specialty-interest showrooms. I gawk at cars I like and get offended at the prices I can't afford.

Last week I was at Fastlane looking at the lower lot and about to enter the lower showroom when I saw an older Mercedes down the street, it had it's blinker on and turned down the road leaving. Bummed I wasn't going to see more of it, I entered the lower showroom and looked about. Not much interested me and some of the cars were familiar, I had seem them there before, but they seem to turn inventory fairly quickly. Upon heading up to the upper showroom where they keep the really expensive stuff, I saw the red Mercedes parked outside of it.

This is basically how it looked the first time I saw it.



I spent a few minutes looking over one of the nicest W114 cars I've ever seen. It's a 1970 250C. It was wearing plates and had no window sticker or anything else to indicate it was for sale. I then went inside the upper showroom. By the time I came back out, the car was marked like this.



As it turns out, someone just sold it to them the day prior, it had been sitting the last 14 years under cover in a heated garage, and the belts had dry rotted. The mechanics had just finished putting new belts on and test driving it. One of the salesguys asked if I'd like to drive it, so I did. It drove great, so after going back and forth for a bit, and bringing my wife up to check it out, I bought it. Here it is at work last Wednesday just after picking it up.





Now the asking price was rather high, but I'm happy to state I managed to haggle them down several thousands of dollars. I'll still admit this was more an emotional purchase than one of strict logic. I paid good money for it because I wanted it. The red paint, the black interior, coupe bodystyle, the factory fog lights, the four-speed manual, the excellent condition of the exterior and interior, everything screamed to me "buy it!".

I'm not the greatest photographer, but I've been taking shots of it in different locations trying to come up with some good ones.

Here it is at a local German biergarten




In front of a rather Germanic looking home.



Interior shots.



Yes, it really has only 48,000 miles.


Anyway, that's my new 250c. I really like it.


Here's an album of all my shots thus far, feel free to see and laugh at my poor photography skills. I tried to use all the best shots above.
Photo Album - Imgur

Here it is at home, it's getting crowded around here. There's an Integra I'm flipping and a Scout II in the garage, not pictured is my other Integra sitting in storage.


You may have noticed that in many of the pictures, the driver's door appears slightly different in color. That's because it's the only part of the car not wearing original paint. In 1997 while the car had accrued only 47,000 miles, it suffered a vandalism attack. From the records I have it appears the driver's door was kicked in, the paint on it deeply scratched, the doorhandle and lock mechanism ripped off, the mirror ripped off, the rear emblem was pried and bent but not removed (they're bolted on from behind!), and the wiper arms destroyed. I just don't understand why someone would do that, but there you go. The rest of the car wears original paint.

Along with the service records, I got a box full of period literature. All sorts of stuff was included, stuff like this...



...as well as vintage Mercedes sales literature, paint samples, period car pricing guides, all sorts of things. I think there's even a brochure on the 600 in there somewhere.

[suginami]

Beautiful car.

My 280SE 4.5 "the Red Baron" is the same color combo: black interior / red exterior.

[meltedpanda]

wow , that is one fine machine , good job on the purchase. If its worth it to you - its worth it ... Have fun

AND - we need engine pictures - kinda like the centerfold

[jeffr0000]

Engine shots taken with my phone.

[meltedpanda]

IMHO - THAT is better than a centerfold

[jeffr0000]

So, any hints to getting my radio working? It didn't work when I checked out the car. Then suddenly did for one drive, then never again. That usually leads me to think faulty grounds, but this doesn't seem to be the case this time. I was hoping maybe the unit just wasn't getting power, so i took it out and tested at the back of it. It was getting power just fine on key-on. I tested the unit to ground and found good connectivity.

The car has a strange fader knob in the dash and I found a wire with a unique two-prong connector disconnected, but the fader knob already had four of the same plugged into it and no room for more. Because the car was dealer-equipped with a stereo unit, i surmised that this loose connector was for the factory speaker in the top of the dash and just a red herring.

So then I chased the thick grey wire bundle out of the back of the unit and found it goes to a silver box on the firewall in the passenger footwell. It terminates there with a round plug and it's tightly seated but I gave it a good wiggle test to be sure. This box has more of the unique two-prong connectors and I'm guessing it's an amplifier.

The radio unit itself is marked "Becker Europa Stereo". It is not a Europa II. It has five buttons, three of which are marked "BC" and two marked "FM".

My questions right now are; What is the box on the firewall? If it's an amplifier how do I test it from the head unit? I'm guessing one or the other is bad.

Edit: Oh yeah, one more thing. The doorjambs have little vacuum/electrical switches that tell the dome light to go off/on and lock the seatbacks. The door itself has little plugs that seal the vacuum switch when shut. I need those plugs, can't find them anywhere. My car thinks the doors are open all the time.

[crojack]

Very nice! Wish my enging bay was that clean!

I noticed the Internationals in your sig, I had a '73 Travelall for awhile. Loved that thing. Another vehicle I wish I had never sold!!!

[jeffr0000]

Originally Posted by crojack

Very nice! Wish my enging bay was that clean!

I noticed the Internationals in your sig, I had a '73 Travelall for awhile. Loved that thing. Another vehicle I wish I had never sold!!!

Oh yeah, that 100 pickup I had was a real peach. It was a fullsize IH like your Travelall. Everyone is hot on the Scouts anymore but I swear they don't stand up to the build quality of the fullsize trucks IH made. My 100 had an AMC 401 in it instead of an IH motor and double wishbone independant front suspension. 74 was the only year that combo could be found. I had the 401 rebuilt/warmed up, bored .030. Was making 380hp and boy did that truck boogie. With that front suspension it rode and handled like no other IH either. It was such and odd feeling driving that truck, most IH trucks ride like jackwagons and the engines shake like paintmixers, tough as all get out but they were punishing right back at ya. Not that 74 100 though, it was the Cadillac of IH trucks. I miss it but I guess I don't regret selling it. I would have never gotten into a Mercedes if I hadn't.

[Marrs]

This is what owning a vintage Benz is all about, you are clearly enjoying this car so much already that the purchase price is meaningless when you account for the years of joy and memories you will be creating. Good on you my friend, enjoy that lovely ride!