Been a goodly number of years now since I sold my 73 280, which was my first and only gasser MB. I came across an interesting late W124 last week and made an agreement to pick it up this coming Tuesday after having looked it over a bit Saturday. It's green!
The car has 170ish K on it, 2nd owner, is being sold by a family friend on behalf of that second owner since he is nearing the end of this road we all travel.
I hope to maintain what was apparently his last love and hobby.
So, the car. The most interesting feature is it has a documented dealer rebuilt engine under 20K ago. The poor guy apparently hit something in the road and removed the lower portion of the oil pan, and consequently all the oil, and killed it. Hence the rebuild. The engine is noticeably clean underneath with the exception of some (very clean and recent looking) oil leaks. It hasn't been driven very much in at least the last year. I've never been around or driven an M104 but it started quickly, idled well and seemed to run and accelerate smoothly. It was fairly dramatic, for a mercedes sedan, when it came up "on the cam" at higher RPM. Far cry from CIS and Solex carbs.
The AC system also appears to be all new, hoses, compressor, and I haven't looked through all his records but I imagine after all that and at this point in it's life the evaporator has been replaced. AC and heat work but I couldn't remember exactly how the dash controls work to test all the vents but it does blow and such. Keeping my fingers crossed there.
The wiring harness looked alright what I could see of it just looking, surely if the dealer had the engine out they'd have said something if the harness was bad. I hope.
Suspension looks to have been serviced pretty recently, Boge shocks with stickers visable, boots intact on joints, paint still present on suspension arms, etc, etc. I'll know more when I get it on the lift but it seemed to be pretty well intact. I did hear a thunk going into reverse from the rear once that I assume is subframe bushings, no biggie.
Due a brake job, stops straight and well, pads are thin, warning light not on.
Looks like whatever he ran over tagged one of the front wheels, there is a visible bend on the inside lip of one of them and a shimmy at around 40mph that I blame on the wheel for now. Alignment is also off, whatever he hit busted the slatted lower part of the bumper and bent the sway bar which was all replaced. i think the poor guys health deteriorated while he was in the midst of repairing things after the engine was back in.
I believe it's been repainted the stock color at some point and garaged after, but there is some clear coat fade on top and a number of dings around it, and the door mirrors are a little rough I suspect from an elderly driver. Car looks better in pictures but it's still handsome in person, and the interior is a good 8 our of 10(just as a Mercedes that has been remotely well cared for should be imo), wood is good, etc. Sunroof didn't work, tach stuck at 0 till I blipped the throttle, throttle pedal was way stiff right after take up, original radio present but non-op.
All in all, I'm pretty eager to get it on the road to being excellent again. I always wanted a W124.
There is not any history on the transmission that I see, and it had the usual delay into reverse but it shifted well enough on the test drive. Hopefully it'll last till I can round up the parts to put a manual trans in it. Once I can get it home and to my Fathers and on the lift I'll see what else was hiding from inspection and form a plan of attack.
Right now, I need a wheel(unless it has a good matching full size spare which I forgot to check), a tire, an alignment, a brake job and to fix the sunroof.
Anything else I should put on my to-do list? I have a pretty good background in W123/126 cars fwiw.
Glad to be back.