1970 250 Sedan

Hi,

I am looking at buying a 1970 250 sedan from a relation of mine. It has been very well looked after and will cost me ~$600 (USD).

Any opinions? It'll be my daily driver - around town plus a 140km (return) commute once a week. It sports a 4 Speed manual, stock condition, very little rust (only surface rust under the trunk), brown in color with a vinyl roof.

I'm not too sure about the looks yet, but all my mates think it looks wicked.

The only problem with the car is that it has had a good shove in the back, pushing in the rear sheetmetal so that the boot (trunk) lid overshoots the latch and won't lock. The metal has been pushed in about 3-4 inches. There's also a wrinkle in the metal on the right hand rear, about 1 foot forward of the tail-light. My relation as a spare, undamaged chrome bumper they are going to thrown into the deal.

It drives smoothly - my only concern is that it has a mad whine in reverse. This could be normal though. (?)

I've never looked at Mercedes before, but this one just sorta came along and jumped out at me. I'm growing a little tired of driving japanese racing cars and thought a Merc would be a change of pace for a while. Also, the Merc has lots of space to fit a fine sound system into the stock locations (and trunk).

Any opinions sought,
Regards,
Ben

PS: LOL @ my 6foot mate, sitting in the front seat with his legs stretched out and crossed, unable to touch the firewall.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

A friend once told me "These cars feel 500 pounds lighter with a stickshift!". Manual tranny 250s are hard to find here in the USA. I wish my '72 250 was a stick. I wouldn't worry about the whine if the trans and axle fluids are OK. If you don't care if the car looks perfect, you might be able to find a body and frame shop to, inexpensively, pull that 'boot' out until the lid latches. The vinyl roof sounds like a typical, mid '70s aftermarket add-on. The twin Zenith carbs give many people fits but if that one runs OK it may be a keeper. Check the oil pressure guage readings after it's well warmed up (with fresh oil). It shouldn't idle much below halfway on the guage and should read at the top, at or slightly above 1000 RPM. As to your mates' legroom, the Diesel versions of these cars were the worlds most popular taxi!

Happy Motoring, Mark

Can the vinyl roof be safely removed? So the entire car is paint?

I found a neat website with a car like the one i'm looking at.

http://images.jaimekop.com/Red250S/pages/120-2087_IMG.htm

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Benn,
Unless you're planning a restoration or the vinyl is in bad shape, I'd leave it alone.
The adhesive has probably affected the paint and you may have a mess if you try to strip it off.

Your picture shows the 108 body 250S, produced from 1965 to 1967, when it was replaced by the 108 body 280S. It's a somewhat longer, more luxurious car than the 1970 250, which is the 114 body, produced from 1967 through the mid '70s.

Happy Motoring, Mark