Introducing: My new '74 280 Sedan (w114)!

[Ten13]

Hey everyone - about a year and a half ago, I jumped headlong in to the vintage MBZ realm (coming from Porsche / VW) with the purchase of my 1978 280ce - a car that has captured my heart and is now my daily driver. Thanks to everyone here for helping me make what was a very sound decision!

Well, the Mercedes bug bit me again last week. I found for sale locally (SF Bay Area) a '74 280 sedan (w114) with only 73k original miles, original Aqua Blue paint and california blue plates. This car was picked up in Stuttgart by the original owners, and still wears the badge on the grille. It was then shipped to San Francisco, where it lived in a climate-controlled garage since. It's in absolutely fantastic condition, overall (see photos).

My six year old named it late yesterday afternoon while on a pleasure cruise around the East Bay hills, with dappled sunlight coming through the canopy of massive oak trees: "Skyy"

While it runs pretty well, it starts hard in the morning, taking sometimes a minute or two to run on all six cylinders. Next week, as soon as I get my '73 VW Thing out of the garage, I'll roll it in and do a valve clearance adjustment, install new plugs, wires, and the Pertronix Ignitor II I just ordered. I think the vacuum pump is making noise, so I might inspect that (although it is working well enough as best I can tell). The air pump is also making some noise and probably introducing some load to the engine. I'll start by removing the belt to see if things improve (and replace the smog pump, of course ;-) )

This car had the steering box / frame member reinforcement plate installed (looks to be the 'official' repair from MBZ), but has four broken spot welds that I will also address in a few weeks before driving it any more.

The PO is looking for the original Becker Europa, but I am not holding out much hope, as it has an Alpine cassette deck from the 80's installed right now. Even the dashboard speaker grille is solid!

I'm looking forward to addressing the small issues and using this car as weather permits. I don't think it's been out in the elements much, given it's cosmetic condition. Just a lovely car to look at and drive...

[Tomas7]

What a gorgeous car! Congratulations! In 1993 I had a 220 that was identical to that car. I bought it with 63K back then and later sold it in OH. Great name by the way.