As a youngster of 12 in australia my best friend at schools mother brought a new w123 300d (non turbo in aus) it was love at first sight. now 23 yrs later i have my own a w116 280sel and its still love. i read on one of the posts that someone had to have a wagon because of the tv show dallas, i remember the episode
that the car appeared in for suellen as she drove of down the south fork drive. what do others remember of their first sighting and then desire to own a mercedes of their own.

gullwing when I was 16.driving thur beverly hills with my dad on
our way to auction, it was that cool blue-gray.

When I met the "future" wife the first time her roommate owned a 1959 220S that did not run at the time. I got it running (cleaned fuel system up and new battery) and borrowed it to go from Atl to Savannah one weekend - around 400 miles round trip. Anyway, that car cruised at 80 mph all the way and got really good fuel mileage 25+ mpg. I wish I had purchased it from her now. She wanted $3500 and that was in 1984. It obviously had that MB drive to it too.

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Jim

incredible handling and build quality: on a country road we came upon an unexpected 90 degree turn...and the car took it "like it was on rails."

Another friend bought a well cared for "finnie" from a family living in Dobbs Ferry NY (right out of a John Cheever story)...still remember driving/riding this immaculately thought-out car home to Baltimore, and many other hours in it.

Have loved my '83 240D for almost 10 years...always finding something else to praise...the "almost perfect car".

Age 16 worked at Fiat dealership.... saved all Summer to buy my first car - 8 yr.old Triumph Spitfire mk.2 somebody traded on new Fiat Spider 124.

Bought my first Benz 3 yrs. later, after destroying the Spitfire engine driving helaciously fast. Also blew the Triumph clutch while racing an MGB. Maybe switching to Heckflosse Benz saved me from an early grave, i dunno...

Always done my own repairs..... nothing is easier for DIY work than is the vintage Benz. Owned one old Merc after another over 24 yr span. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but have spent hundreds of hours under the hood of my own cars without getting lost.

Faith??? its about predictability and knowing what to expect... Easy repair and maintenance while figuring things out as you go along.

Vintage Mercs are cult classics for anybody who enjoys automobile mechanics, even at the hobbyist level. No surprise that independent MB mechanics are among the most dedicated and satisfied people in their profession.

Even if you've got a rusty car, or one with 150k+ on the clock... you always know what to expect - and you dont mind spending the extra dollar for new parts to keep it on the road.

These are not sucker cars for rich folks. They are honestly the most practical and well thought-out vehicle anybody can own.

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'80 300SD/ w116
'79 240D 4-spd
'71 750cc Guzzi

previously owned:

'83 240D 4-spd
'77 280SEL 4-spd
'74 280/8
'72 250/8
'65 220Sb 4-spd
'63 220Sb 4-spd
'63 190c 4-spd
'61 220Sb 4-spd
'60 190b 4-spd

For me, love was found when I was in high school in L.A. in 1973-74. I got a job parking cars in a swanky New York-style apartment building in Beverly Hills (OK, it was Westwood but SEEMED like Beverly Hills!). There were a number of 70's vintage 280 sedans (long, short, 6 and 8). I loved driving them and once got to drive a resident's brother home to Bel Air in a '71 280SEL (6 cyl with a skinny floor shifter). After I dropped him off, I put it through the paces on some windy roads. It was the beginning of a love affair that's lasted me until now (mostly from afar, alas!). I finally bought my first one a year or so ago (73 280C, not my first choice but at $700 I couldn't say no!). I've enjoyed learning about them (again) and I've vowed I'll find that perfect 280SEL to adorn my driveway someday.

Catrinus
Portland, OR

It was 1974, and it was a navy blue '72 250C that belonged to a guy who moored his sailboat at the same place we moored ours in Seattle. When I got a real job with the government and moved to DC 5 years later, I was able to buy my first Mercedes - a light blue '72 250C.

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

I first saw really nice examples of vintage Mercs at MBCA concours in Boston/Brookline, MA when I was pretty young. The 108/109/111 cars were the most amazing things I had ever seen, and I vowed to get one. Of course, in New England, with salt and all, there weren't many of these cars running around as daily drivers. I bought my first Merc, a 70 280SE 6-cyl. 6 months before I even had my driver's license. Pawed over it for months in frigid winter weather, before it was even registered. I learned some car repair knowledge on that car, and drove it for 4 years.

After a random BMW and VW or two, and several Merc diesels, I have finally returned to that car that struck me at about age 10- I have found the 108 of my dreams, and it is my primary car.

Cool thread, by the way.

Cheers,

JAS

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94 E320
71 350SL

I was 24, just back from Nam and was visiting with a friend when a pal of hers shows up with a brand new 72 6.3. I think it was the first Mercedes I ever saw. He took us for a ride and reluctanly asked that I join in the back seat. Soon I did not mind it was the most exciting car I have ever been in. Forest Green with tan leather, stately and tiger fast. Oh what a ride! Soon I did not care about the girl, I wanted the car. I will post pictures of my 300SEL 4.5 any day now. I really do not think I could live with a 6.3, not very long that is.

great thread;
i have a few questions for the members
1. in terms of driving dynamics(fun) which is better: a SE or SEL

2. which cars (SE or SEL)have the C pillar reading lights beside the rear passenger seats ?

thanks

In terms of drving dynamics, the shorter wheelbase is certainly more manueverable. The limo-like SEL has the reading lights in the rear.

JAS

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94 E320
71 350SL

A relative question..... "driving dynamics"

Jury is still out on whether I'll keep my recently purchased Euro 280SEL 4-spd.... Gearing is off the wall with top end that wont quit, making it difficult to keep the beast under 80mph in 4th gear.

Seems unsuitable for crowded East Coast highways.... 3rd is useless below 45mph where most driving around town is done because of traffic.

Meanwhile the 240D is more fun than barrel full of monkeys, paddling through the first 3 gears at zero to 50, shifting at 15mph intervals on narrow power band, dropping gears for slowing down and slamming into corners. With 4th gear available for taking the car from 60 to 85max.

Gotta be honest with yourself regarding what kind of driving you do...... then think about "dynamics" as contingent upon road conditions in your neighborhood. The same features that offer long-legged high speed glide will bother you on smaller streets.

Otherwise, if you want to enjoy high-speed driving and riding dynamics - get yourself vintage 'boxer' opposed-twin BMW motorcycle in combination with *any* Mercedes sedan.

Am constantly recommending to folks that BMW builds better motorcycles than they do cars...... great fun reminding BMW automobile owners of this fact.

Could have been listening to that mysterious diesel noise when I was 5 and my neighbor's mom came to visit in her 240D 115... could have been the ride in the 1979 300SD about a year later... could have been the 230SL Dad bought when I was 11 (he became displeased, but I loved that old roadster)... could have been all the fun I had in college tinkering with 108s and 115s with a buddy who drove a 1972 220.

Finally, this year, it happened, 126 SD. And it's fun when you see the look come over someone's face of just how nice this 25 yr old sled really is. This one kid I know (he's 21 and I'm 30) got a ride home one evening, and started exclaiming how cool the MB was, and as I shouldered it into the left lane and started passing cars with that 80 mph huff that 126s are so good at (yes, even the diesels!) he just muttered "someday... I will own a Mercedes-Benz..."

Are the new ones nearly as impressive for what they are as a nice old MB? I can't imagine so. I've gotten more compliments in my 1981 (per day) than when I drove Dad's 2001 SLK for a week. (He couldn't stay away from the Star either...)

Though my father had owned a 300 CD and 450 SEL prior, it was when he brought over a gray market 500 SEL from Belgium. I believe it was 1981, perhaps 1982; I didn't see another one in the city for months and months.

The cats were deleted and a few other goodies were added-apparently my father and his friends were adept at clandestine modifications. They tracked it and ran it up to 170MPH+. It must have done sixty in the mid to upper fives. I remember quite clearly riding shotgun and obliterating 911s on many Saturday mornings.

Lapis blue with bone leather, adjustable height, gauges definitively not for American market. I remember on a hard launch the car made no fuss other than a high pitched, muffled jet noise. Quite distinct.

I was hooked at 11 years old.

Taking the plunge on the last model year W202 was easy and has rewarded me for five plus years. I have always wanted a W111 3.5 and when a van ran a red light and totaled my GS400, I was almost immediately looking for that or a 6.9. So far it has exceeded my high expectations. If only time, money and space allowed for a 6.3...

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71 W111 3.5 coupe, European 4 speed
01 LX470
15 Yukon XL Denali
15 E63S Wagon

1973...a friend owned an Oldsmobile/Pontiac/GMC Dealership. He called me and suggested I should look at something he'd just taken in trade that morning on a new Olds. I drove down to the dealership and immediately bought a spotless 1969 230/8 sedan. My first Mercedes and I still have it. It's not perfect, but darn close.

230/8