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1980 6.9

Started by marku, 06 June 2017, 12:55 PM

nathan

ha ha Rum, sometimes its hard to understand how other people think!

Its an interesting conversation point on this thread. Everyone has a valid point, and opinion. 

To suggest 116s are unrestorable is far from the truth, but you do need to be resourceful. Having done a pretty large 6.9 restoration seen by most here, the bits are out there, you just need to find them.  As noted, non 6.9 116s can be had in most countries (maybe not Taiwan by the sound of it!) for next to nothing.  Even if you cant find new parts, you can find excellent old ones.  I must have bought about 10-15 116s (not including the 6.9s) and wrecked them for parts.  Its fun and provides bits for me and many local 116 colleagues - I am not a car wrecker by trade, but an enthusiast.  One should not use Floyds efforts as an analogy to explain a difficult restoration or parts availabilities for our 116s.  Most of his difficult items (boots, sowing kits, wheel chocks...) are not required for a restoration, but certainly interesting to an enthusiast!  If you live in a country where MBs were sold at 'normal' prices, 116s are out there for the picking and the cars can be brought up to a very high standard if you can't find a nice one.  Alternatively, companies pop up for demand.  I recently went and looked at Kienle in Germany, who have a whole specialist department for m-100s!




I agree with Floyd on the plastic coffins many drive around in.  A recent service car e200 was a very mundane car which did it all perfectly but was bloody boring (and completely devoid of power and emotion!).  I certainly love my 116, but would not want to drive my 6.9 on a daily basis. I love it too much and people don't respect our cars. Trolley dings, door dings, vandalism - there are many people out there with a lack of respect for others.  So I drive an AMG around for day to day.  Yes it will depreciate and I am aware of this, but I enjoy it a great deal.  Modern cars provide phenomenal advances making day to day driving a piece of cake.    But living in Australia when its 40+ degrees (Celsius) in summer, you would not last long in a 116 every day!  When an uninsured twit cut me off a few months back and drove straight into me in oncoming traffic, I am certainly happy to have been a modern car which took off much speed before the imminent collision, with an airbag amongst other aids.  I would be pretty happy driving around with a badgeless 63, and it gives the same joy a 6.9 probably gave owners in the 70s!
1979 116 6.9 #6436
2018 213 e63
2011 212 e63
2011 463 g55
2007 211 e500 wagen
1995 124 e320 cabriolet
1983 460 300gd
1981 123 280te

floyd111

"foot partially in mouth" ;D

daantjie

I second the non practicality of daily driving a 6.9. The gas bill alone will drive you to the poor house :o of course it can be done but it's far from practical. My next "new" Benz will be a W211 E55 if all goes to plan  ;D
Daniel
1977 450 SEL 6.9 - Astralsilber

Squiggle Dog

Well, I've daily driven a W116 for 10 years. For the last 5 years it's been in the Phoenix valley in Arizona where it can get over 120F/48C. Yesterday it was 121F/49C here in Surprise. For over a year I was using it to commute 1 hour each way in stop-and-go traffic (US-60 has stop lights and gets congested). Did I mention the air conditioning has never worked since I've owned it? :o
Stop paying for animal cruelty and slaughter. Go vegan! [url="https://challenge22.com/"]https://challenge22.com/[/url]

1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Heated Seats, 350,000+

marku

I don't know what justifies "Mercedes has no interest in the 116". The AllStars site has one illustrated between a 190SL and a 560K they are also restoring them. Classic Mercedes, the MB publication has also featured it. As for parts I have never had any problem. Every part I have bought new from Mercedes. Sure not a lot of trim is available but then neither is it for a lot of others but surprisingly I did get some chrome trim from them which was not expensive either. I would say again I do think rising prices are a good thing. Yes people will be priced out but although they might be a real enthusiast and enjoy owning the 116 it is doubtful that everybody has the inclination or indeed could afford to restore one. That would mean that more would get scrapped and with numbers beneath a critical level there would be no market at all. That surely would have a detrimental effect on parts availability. 
1974 450SE silver green/bamboo velour/green vinyl roof

s class

I drove my red AMG6.9 daily for about a year.  Its well sorted with new injectors, new chain, new ignition parts etc etc, and even with the k-jet very nicely set up, it was a little heavy on fuel in daily commute ;)


[color=blue]'76 6.9 Euro[/color], [color=red]'78 6.9 AMG[/color], '80 280SE, [color=brown]'74 350SE[/color], [color=black]'82 500SEL euro full hydro, '83 500SEL euro full hydro [/color], '81 500SL

floyd111

The fuel thing is indeed a thing, if one compares a 2017 civic to a 1077 W116 6.9.
My point was not to suggest tin can drivers should switch to a vintage 7000CC V8, haha!
There are alternatives, even non-W116, believe it or not. Lovely 70's 2-seaters from France or Italy, for example, that are cheap to restore, and even cheaper to drive.

ptashek

Quote from: floyd111 on 23 June 2017, 10:12 AM
The fuel thing is indeed a thing, if one compares a 2017 civic to a 1077 W116 6.9.
My point was not to suggest tin can drivers should switch to a vintage 7000CC V8, haha!
There are alternatives, even non-W116, believe it or not. Lovely 70's 2-seaters from France or Italy, for example, that are cheap to restore, and even cheaper to drive.

To be honest Stan, there's a limit to nostalgia. At least for me.

Old cars are gas guzzlers, regardless of engine capacity. Good luck getting any petrol engine from the 1970s below 10l/100km.

Diesels are better, but they've earned their reputation for being smelly, smokey and slow as snails on valium for good reason. I still remember the W123 200D in my family - it was barely able to propel its own weight, let alone four passengers and their luggage. Zero to hundred took about a month ;)

Not to mention safety features like crumple zones, disc brakes all over, air bags and what not - even if Benz was always at the leading edge even in lesser models.

I drive my 450SE mostly long distance, like the recent 1600km roadtrip around west coast of France, or the 4000km roundtrips to Poland. I'd not use it as my daily, after having tried for a month before the resto. It's economically pointless however one looks at it.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

Squiggle Dog

Ha! I like having pretty much vintage everything. I don't plan on ever owning a car newer than my W116. In fact, one day I want to restore my 1967 Universal fintail wagon (in which I have put a diesel engine) and daily drive it. I could never see myself in anything newer. I just do not like the styling of newer cars, they way they drive, nor the way they are constructed. Even the fintails were pretty decent safety-wise.

I used to daily drive a 1968 W110 200D and I never felt that it was a slow car. I had no problem merging into 70 MPH traffic and was often flying past people in the fast lane. I felt like I was always tailgating other drivers. I used to drive it across several states and it would do 80 MPH all day and even maintain at least 40 MPH up steep grades. I only got rid of the car because it was so rusty. I kept hearing how slow these cars were and expected to only use it around town, but was surprised at how peppy it was and wondered what people were talking about. I think it had more power than some of these newer 4-cylinder rental cars that can barely pass another car in time to avoid a head-on collision.

Maybe it's just that I'm not afraid to put my foot to the floor and run the engine hard? I'm still trying to figure out why the diesels I've owned seem so much faster than everyone else's.

Think of it this way: daily driving a vintage car is cheaper than owning a new car as a daily driver AND maintaining a vintage car at the same time.
Stop paying for animal cruelty and slaughter. Go vegan! [url="https://challenge22.com/"]https://challenge22.com/[/url]

1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Heated Seats, 350,000+

rumb

seeing Rolls Royce Silver Shadow going for this low of price makes me feel a whole lot better about my W116

https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/rolls-royce/silver-shadow/1967672.html?refer=news

'68 250S
'77 6.9 Euro
'91 300SE,
'98 SL500
'14 CLS550,
'16 AMG GTS
'21 E450 Cabrio

Squiggle Dog

I've seen quite a few dirt cheap Rolls-Royces in my area in decent condition. I could have bought a 1985 Bentley Mulsanne in driving condition for less than $1,000. In fact, the seller even suggested to me that if it didn't sell by the end of the day, they'd let it go for the $40 in gas it cost them to drive it to the swap meet.

However, I think Rolls products are a different ballgame than Mercedes. While they appear to be extremely nice cars, I get the impression that they are not at all economical to upkeep as a daily driver. I hear there are many special expensive tools necessary and that some surfaces need to be precision machined because they do not use gaskets. They are probably money pits compared to our W116s despite the values being not far off.
Stop paying for animal cruelty and slaughter. Go vegan! [url="https://challenge22.com/"]https://challenge22.com/[/url]

1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Heated Seats, 350,000+

floyd111

A car like that could only make some sense if one were to live in the UK, or some other High-density Rolls country. God forbid you are relying on official parts supply..
The electronics are also known to be a mind-boggling quagmire. Magic carpet suspension mysteries are not for the weak of heart either.
And, if you pull it all off affordingly, finding yourself behind the wheel of one of these, in the wrong country, could make you look like a dick first class.
I would be one of those suckers though, if they'd let me, haha!
BTW.. that Hemmings Rolls might end up selling for 5000 bucks in the end