Y'all might be stuck with me... 75 450SE
 

Hey,

Bro-in-law stopped by this afternoon to pick up my wife for a trip to MO. I showed him what I have found in the engine, showed him the Mercedes Data Card which proved it was the original engine, and needless to say he is quite pi$$ed at his neighbor.

The bad news is that he has backed off his earlier willingness to buy back the car but I guess the good news is that he said he would find another running engine (that we could verify it's condition) and be willing to split the cost with me. I hate seeing this good, straight, no-rust body body go to the junkyard so I'll probably take him up on it. Hopefully the city's "code gestapo" won't look into my backyard for a while and make me "prove" to them that it's NOT a junker.

BTW, I borrowed a friends Snap-On precision straightedge and measured about .012 warp in the head I have off. I'm wanting to think I've read someplace that .005 is about the limit. Any comments? The only spec I could find in the Merc manual was for a freshly milled/new head.

More to come, someday...

Justin B.

Yahooooooo!

You are saving a W116 fron the trash heap of history!

I was hoping you'd find a way to ressurect this car.

Thanks, it's still not 100% decided yet, will have to see if he can come up with a well maintained engine and what it will cost.

I'm sort of at a crossroads here. If the car was running good and the interior done I suppose it would be a #3 car, worth maybe between $2000 - $3000? I've got probably $1600 into it, plus about a million hours of my labor! :-p If he can find a good tight engine for $500-$600 then I'll probably go for it. I figure that, other than engine, I'll need to invest another $300-$400 into it for little BS interior stuff and it'll be a pretty decent ride.

He had replaced all of the door weatherstripping (OEM Mercedes) and I have new OEM rubber for the windshield, rear window, and sunroof. I need a couple door panels, recover the center console, dash cover, and the ol' lady needs to finish the back seat and it'll be presentable. I tried posting a pic a while back, spent some time in PhotoShop to get it under the size limit, but for some reason it didn't upload.

Here's another try...


How 'bout that, it worked this time! Guess I shoulda put the other hubcap on... ;-)


Regards,

Justin B.

Wow, I know that digital images can sometimes hide flaws, but your car really looks nice in the jpeg.

Thanks. The paintjob has a few flaws, and chips, but all-in-all it's in pretty fair shape, on the outside. That is the only reason it's not already in the boneyard!

Justin B.

i hope it works out for you, your cars australian cousin (my w116)
is currently waiting for new front suspension approx $1400 australian dollars. with some other stuff i have had done iam to far in now to give up thats my story anyway. good luck.

Justin - stick at it, looks great and'll be worth it when done..I spent years fixing mine up and it's very satisfying in the end. Best of luck.

Jack

Thanks, y'all, for the encouragement. I figured I'd better post a picture of it so folks would believe me that it really exists and why I don't want to see it wind up in the boneyard...

Justin