Look what followed me home on the weekend ....

[zabenz350se]

Hi guys,

just fetched and paid for a 76 W114 280E from a deceased guy's estate - going to need a bit of work,valve stem seals , tranny sluggish to shift gear and a new coat of paint -but got a nice suprize in the boot - 4 xcomplete used dash clocks , 1 x new complete gasket set, 1 x new boxed valve stem seal kit , 2 x complete boxed new oil , petrol , air filters , 1 x new boxed transmission filter kit , 2 x new rear light lenses , 1 x used manifold/injection chamber , 1 x used starter motor ...felt like a kid in a candy store when I saw all the goodies . The deceased previous owner planned a lot of work for this baby but never got round to it.

Lets see if I can post a few pics of it  :

[Andrew280SEL]

Nice one!

And what a bonus, having those parts already there in the boot. Bound to save you some $$$

Does she drive nice, except for the sluggish 'box?

I reckon the M-110 motor must be pretty fun in the smaller bodied Benzes

[116Benz]

The slugish tranny could be down to the fluid and needing a fluid and filter change. Once they are running really well, they fly! 2 Family friends have 1 each, (one of them has got a factory sunroof). Theses things really fly when theyre set up right.

[zabenz350se]

Hi guys,

yip she does fly , the M110 motor is well suited for this smaller body. Just need to sort out the tranny - luckily got the filter set with all the goodies in the boot, that lucky packet is for sure going to save me a lot of $$$. 

[alabbasi]

I have a 71 250CE back in England, it was lively and handled really well. The 280E's have 15 hp more then my 250CE so I can only imagine it being better. You'll really enjoy driving this car.

[kolin]

hey zabenz350, does it have a rusted bonnet,ie,flakes of paint that have left it.
can you trace the previous owners??

[zabenz350se]

Hi Kolin ,no the bonnet seems to suffer from some heat damage , the paint is all dull and discoloured, but I will have the whole car resprayed in any case especially with a red there always seems to be fading after a time , if only one panel was resprayed .There is some rust on the left back outer wheel arch and in a small spot on the right back door but it seems to be only surface rust ,will be fixed with the repaint . The previous owner is deceased - heart failure ,had the benz in his possesion for about  10 years and was a family friend to my brother in law, this car was his other baby besides his two English Bulldogs -whom I also adopted and all three is back together at my house now !

[kolin]

interesting.i bought a 280E like that some years ago.
the story went like this.
an old lady,then in her early 70's sent her car in for a service coz it was smoking badly. To be told that it needed to be overhauled. So she said go ahead, it was done and it came back worse. The old lady asked the man to do it again and he gave all sorts of excuses. he was paid and didnt want to incur more expenses. She sued, and it went to court, in those days, supreme court. she won and the guy had to do the engine agin to spec and it would be checked by whomever to ensure that a good job was done. she collected the car and drove it home,16kms. And then left it and never drove it again. She advertised and and my friend bought it for 2k. he then sold it to me for 6k after putting on new tyres and doing a service oil change etc. It was like getting a new car. man it was great. That it could spin wheels when changinjg from 1st to 2nd, and do donuts no problem. Actually really sorry i sold it. Heavy on juice, but still, what a car.

[CraigS]

and my friend bought it for 2k. he then sold it to me for 6k after putting on new tyres and doing a service oil change etc.

Some friend !

[kolin]

well he was.then.

[scraf]

That looks like a real "handbrake" as opposed to a "foot on" "hand off " handbrake.

[huck280]

I had a 123 with a 110 in it - what i loved most was the howl on acceleration. Was very sprightly, and the straight six gives a wonderful sound when you open it up, then settles down to an easy 100mph. Which I tried about 3 times, because in fact, i drive like an old lady...