Sunday driver

[enjoymentman]

Still have a lot of work do but I'm enjoying getting there......

[Palolo]

Very nice!

A U.S.-spec W108 in Nigeria... I wonder if it was originally imported by his eminence Prince Akeem Joffer of Zumunda after reclaiming his lost millions through the help of some unsuspecting senior citizen? Seriously, I wonder how it got there, as I would have thought a Euro-spec would have been more likely to have been imported back in the day.

Enjoy it well. Looks like it is in great condition.

Is it a 2.8, 3.5 or 4.5?

[meltedpanda]

wow , love that color combo, nice ride!

[Tomguy]

I love that color! looks to be a 280SE or 280SEL, almost surely a 4.5 based on other cues that say it's US-Spec. The badge is on the right rear in that pic so it's got to say 4.5 (my assumption of course).

[WANT '71 280SEL]

That is a great color. I think Paul (Suginami) has the same color on his 108 4.5.

Best Regards,

David

[Marrs]

Hi, where are you located? That's a great set of pics, did you snap them with an iPhone or something more pro? Just beautiful and the car too of course. Enjoy it my friend!

[joshhol]

An audaciously beautiful color!
Love the wheel arch chrome on that color too

[tyl604]

Could it be a '70 6.3?

[Palolo]

Originally Posted by tyl604

Could it be a '70 6.3?

It doesn't have the A-pillar chrome trim, but does appear to have rear headrests. (I've often thought of adding rear headrests to my 108.)

[enjoymentman]

Thanks guys it's a '72 4.5. I got it from some guy in Denver. It didn't look anything like this then. Shipped it home to Lagos and have been slowly putting it back together. My brother takes photographs as a hobby. So we went out last Sunday with a friend's '64 Morris 1100 to take some photographs.
Glad you guys like them.

[enjoymentman]

A few more if you guys don't mind.

[Palolo]

So what's the old benz scene like over there?

I imagine there's a few 600 barn finds secretly tucked away... maybe a bunch of 123s and 126s from the heyday of the 80s?

[enjoymentman]

Funny you ask Palolo, there seems to be more than there were a few years ago. There are still quite a number of W123s about but we don't quite consider them classics. I see the odd W114s and W116es. There used to be a number of W126s about but they are much fewer and far between now. Aah barn finds.....there are but that's a story for another day.

A friend of mine's got quite a few old Benzes including a W100 600 SWB, no he's not a retired head of state, 2 W108s, an A170, a Ponton, a W110, a W116 and a W126. So compared to him I've just started . There's also an acquaintance with a 190SL that he brings out once in a while.

So yes, there seems to be a growing number of people over here who see what we see in these things.

[Palolo]

Originally Posted by enjoymentman

Funny you ask Palolo, there seems to be more than there were a few years ago. There are still quite a number of W123s about but we don't quite consider them classics.

I'm from the Philippines originally, and we share many parallels in the old benz scene. Friends own a bunch of everything, from 600s and Gullwings to 108s, 116s 123s and 200D 115s.

I would consider the 123 chassis "modern", yet in comparison to what came after, it is also possibly "the last of the classics". Not quite vintage, maybe ever, but certainly not disposable like the ones that came after...

Pretty cool that you're bombing around Lagos in a red 108 4.5...

I'm cruising Honolulu in a halfway decent Tobacco Brown 108 (M130). Nothing says "from the 70s" like a brown car with lots of chrome. Hahaha!

Cheers,

Pat

[tyl604]

Gullwings?