Lending the 350 to Mom

[pompy]

Hi Guys,

This last Friday I had to hand in the Hilux for a service at Mom's hometown (260km away) on the North Coast - as I had to use her Silver/Beige '91 300EA for a day's work. With a 100kgs of Solubor in the boot I was flying back upto the Berg where I live. While cruising at 140 and marveling at its good roadholding I glanced at the rearview mirror and got the fright of my life. All I could see was blue smoke coming from behind the car and it was so dense that I couldn't see any traffic behind. Oil pressure and temp was fine so I shifted to Neutral and pulled of the highway. I got out and noticed that the smoke was actually coming from underneath the car - I checked under and saw a stream of oil spewing from the gearbox onto the exhaust - it was clear I wasn't going anywhere!
...long story short... organised a tow truck and arranged a lift to collect the 350 from home where it has been resting for a good 5mnths - during which time it has done less than 400kms. I checked all the vitals and headed South from home to the North Coast which is a descent of @1800m.
And MAN I havn't had so much fun in ages! It performed faultlessly, getting better as I approached the coast. The road going down through the Natal Midlands is very entertaining and I was flying down those long winding descents at between 140 and 160km/h - it was fun having more modern cars move out the way so I could zoom past. I guess that aggresive front end styling still has wat it takes to intimidate anyone looking in their rearview mirror. Fantastic.
Anyways, before I get carried away - Mom will be using the 350 for a few days untill the 300 is fixed...
I don't doubt her diving skills even though she has a much heavier foot than me and is much more impatient on the road than me - I worry about other fools driving into her in city traffic, as here in SA we have a lot of unlicensed baboons on the road. I guess anything can be fixed.
At least I know she's safe in a tank such as that.
I've realised that taking the old benz out once in a while, and burning the snot out of her, is as good for the car as it is for the soul.

Cheers

[pompy]

Sorry buggers - this should have been posted in Test Drive

[OzBenzHead]

Go Pompy!  Sounds like an adventurous (and perhaps a tad tiring?) day!

But please: what is a "300EA"?  The "A" leaves me confused.   

[pompy]

Hi Ozbenzhead!

Here in the Southern tip of darkest Africa, when advertising or writing about these cars,  it is generally acceptable to add an A at the end which denotes Auto Tranny. As S-Class mentioned before this has been general practice since the 60's/70's untill today, ie 200A, 200EA all the way upto 500SEA, 560SELA or even S600A.

Cheers

[OzBenzHead]

Thanks, Pompy!   

I like to learn something new every day, no matter how insignificant; that way I feel the day wasn't entirely wasted.   

[pompy]

Cool beans! BTW, it was a tiring day - but having a legit excuse to drive the Benz so far was a reward in itself!

[CraigS]

Here in the Southern tip of darkest Africa, when advertising or writing about these cars,  it is generally acceptable to add an A at the end which denotes Auto Tranny. As S-Class mentioned before this has been general practice since the 60's/70's untill today, ie 200A, 200EA all the way upto 500SEA, 560SELA or even S600A.

Using that reasoning, it would be safe to assume then that you also have 200M's, 200EM's, 350SEM's, S600M's etc. True/untrue ?

[Andrew280SEL]

Certainly sounds like a adventurous time

You never know, your mum might fall in love with your 350...

There's just something about being behind the wheel of a W116, I never get tired of it, if I take either my 350 or the 280 out somewhere it's always a very enjoyable time for me

[pompy]

CraigS - untrue - the M is not used as when there is no A in 200, 200E it is generally accepted as a manual.

[kolin]

actually
in the 70's when autos where few and far between some cars had an automatic sign on the back.
why , to show off, let the other drivers know its pull off is slow,you have a car with an impediment,why i dont know.
then some cars had an M on the back
like the M5, M3 but not on the mercs,
and i think the practise of mercs having the EA on the back has gone out the window now.