Hi there, I thought I'd pop in here to re-introduce myself back to this good forum, as I'm now a w116 owner again. Here's the short story, if you have time...
As a 20-something, I bought a 280SEL with my heart, and not my head. It was a real dog, although to be honest, I didn't care, it was so cool driving this great big car around, and it looked ok from a distance. In the winter of that year, we moved to a bigger house, and I realised I'd never get a chance to do anything to the car, so I sold it on ebay for pennies.
Then came the wedding, and for transport, I knocked on the door of a local Mercedes enthusiast, who had a lovely silver 450sel, and asked if he'd drive me and the best men to the wedding. He'd never done anything like that before, but agreed nevertheless, and so we turned up in style. This was about five years ago.
In the intervening years I went through a number of newer BMWs, a Porsche, a w212 estate (stolen!), but I often mentioned that i'd really like to buy that 450 if the owner was ever selling.
By quirk of fate, I was randomly looking at houses for sale on the internet one night, when I came across the house owned by the Mercedes guy with the 450. It looked as though he was already moving out, so I sped round there with a note asking about the car. Sadly, it turned out that the owner had died. His son was dealing with the house sale and loose ends, and told me that his father had passed the car on to him. It wasn't for sale, but he did have a price in mind, as a number of others had asked him in recent weeks.
By some miracle, my wife agreed that we should try to buy the car, partly due to sentimental reasons, and so on Saturday I went to the back and came back with a wad of cash, which turned out to be sufficient. It was a difficult sale for the son. His father had clearly lavished a lot of attention on his three big Mercedes saloons (he had a W115 and W126 as well) and each had a 3-inch thick A4 ring binder with history, servicing, maintenance schedules and relevant articles. I think the fact that there was some connection with my wedding day helped somewhat.
Anyway, the car itself looks great, although I think there may be some trouble hiding under the waxoiled underside, and a number of the panels have little bits of rust here and there. It's running on non-original steels with the metal hub caps, but the original Mexican hats are there, and I will probably fit them at some point. It will need a few bits of trim - my impression is that there are fewer spares for sale on ebay than five years ago when I last looked, but may be just me.
But, its a great looking V8 with a bit of a history, and so I'm looking forward to bringing it back up to scratch!
Thanks for reading and apologies in advance for some basic questions!
Welcome to what is hands down the best 116 forum around.
Plenty of posts on start up after a long sleep so if you read up and follow the advice you should be golden 8) also fill out your profile as it might help if folks are close by to lend a hand.
Hi Will and welcome to the forum, that's a nice story and its sounds like you have a car that will be worth the effort. Post a few photos and I'm sure everyone can help guide you in the right direction for parts etc. Cheers
Where ya from Will?
Looking at historical posts on the forum, sounds like Essex, UK or thereabouts.
Welcome back Will.
There's a good bunch of UK folk here these days, and at least three from Ireland too.
Hi guys, thanks for the welcome! I'll get round to the profile and get some pics up ASAP. I'm in Brentwood, Essex, so look out for me around the area - you may hear me first though!
I went for a 20 min spin around the block last night and identified a few issues: the seat has collapsed, although still comfortable, slightly jerky up shifts at first, but better with time, and passenger front door sounds like it's open when it isn't. But, the air con works, the windows work, it's pretty quick, and basically drives very nicely.
I'm going for a slightly longer drive tonight, with backup, so we'll see how that goes.
Anyway, nice to see this place is still going strong!
I thought I would see if I can upload some photos.
Doesn't look too bad at this distance:
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p139/willmatthews84/IMG_0010.jpg) (http://s127.photobucket.com/user/willmatthews84/media/IMG_0010.jpg.html)
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p139/willmatthews84/IMG_0009.jpg) (http://s127.photobucket.com/user/willmatthews84/media/IMG_0009.jpg.html)
But (un)surprisingly crusty around the sills:
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p139/willmatthews84/IMG_0016_1.jpg) (http://s127.photobucket.com/user/willmatthews84/media/IMG_0016_1.jpg.html)
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p139/willmatthews84/IMG_0011.jpg) (http://s127.photobucket.com/user/willmatthews84/media/IMG_0011.jpg.html)
I do like the colour combination though, and the interior is in really good condition:
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p139/willmatthews84/IMG_0015.jpg) (http://s127.photobucket.com/user/willmatthews84/media/IMG_0015.jpg.html)
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p139/willmatthews84/IMG_0014.jpg) (http://s127.photobucket.com/user/willmatthews84/media/IMG_0014.jpg.html)
My current plan is to get the rust attended to first, and then start on other things. So if anybody knows a good welder/bodyshop in the Essex/East London area I am keen to know!
Hi Will,
except for the rust the car looks great!
Is that crank right to the steering wheel the hand brake release?
Never seen it that big!
Sven
Hi Sven, thanks! Yes, the rust was a lot worse than it looks in the pictures, so the car has been away for a month having it worked on, and there is another month or so before I get it back. Yes that's the handbrake release, you think it looks like it is out too far?
Yours looks great too by the way
Welcome (back) Will :) Nice-looking 116, and not many people can say that they subsequently bought the car that they went to their wedding in.
The handbrake handle looks ok to me - if you're interested, count the clicks as you pull it out slowly (should probably be single digit number).
For those LHD owners who don't know, RHD W116's don't have a foot-operated parking brake with a release knob on the dashboard - the RHD handle does both jobs - pull it out to engage the brake, and then twist it (either way) away from the horizontal to release it.
Quote from: Type17 on 29 October 2016, 04:34 PM
For those LHD owners who don't know, RHD W116's don't have a foot-operated parking brake with a release knob on the dashboard - the RHD handle does both jobs - pull it out to engage the brake, and then twist it (either way) away from the horizontal to release it.
Interesting, I didn't know that. Does anybody know why Daimler-Benz changed this for RHD?
The handle shape is different, but the lever parking brake setup is the same on the W108 chassis for all models.
It's a space/rigidity issue - the parking-brake pedal would have to be on the tunnel side of a RHD (away from the accelerator/gas pedal), and issues with space around the heater/aircon and the rigidity required to hold the pedal mechanism means it was easier to have an all-in-one design by the door. The RHD R107 Has no pedal either, but it has a traditional handbrake lever behind the gear selector. Later MBs managed it though - RHD W124s have a pedal by the tunnel and a release handle on the dash.
Our current RHD Mercedes has the parking brake pedal against the tunnel and the release where it is on the RHD W116. My 450 has the headlight washer pedal where the parking brake pedal should be although it looks a bit of an after thought.
Quote from: marku on 03 November 2016, 12:42 PM
My 450 has the headlight washer pedal...
Must be another difference between LHD and RHD. I have headlight washers too, but no pedal. It is always triggered together with the windshield washer, just like it was with my w126 420 SEL.
Quote from: Sven450SE on 04 November 2016, 01:33 AM
Must be another difference between LHD and RHD. I have headlight washers too, but no pedal. It is always triggered together with the windshield washer, just like it was with my w126 420 SEL.
My RHD 450 has the same setup as yours - a secondary electrical pump feeds water to the headlight washers, and is triggered at the same time as windshield washers.
Lots of interesting points here - I had never really considered the difference between LHD and RHD. In the meantime, here are a few pics so you can see what has been happening to my car. I had to buy new sills, new old wings, and rear arches. Currently the car is being painted (only the lower areas affected :() but hopefully it will be back in a few weeks. Ideally the day after pay-day, rather than the day before!(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p139/willmatthews84/w116%203.jpg)
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p139/willmatthews84/w116%201.jpg)
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p139/willmatthews84/w116%202.jpg)
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p139/willmatthews84/w116%202.jpg)
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p139/willmatthews84/w116%206.jpg)
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p139/willmatthews84/w116%207.jpg)