Bought my first 450 SEL

[Ilike300sd]

79 450 SEL.  Sorry for crappy photos taken in the rain.  Bought from second owner who had it for 3 years.  Has been garaged all it's life until the last 3 months.  Wisely, owner sold it rather than let it deteriorate outside.  I found moisture in the rear side carpet which tells me probably 90% chance that sunroof drains need to be cleaned.  It's been super well maintained by our local MB specialists.  High mileage but motor has been rebuilt.  Lots of power and runs and shifts good. Zero rust.  Has same issues as my 300SD did.  ACC is set to "always hot", sunroof drains need to be cleaned.  Also rear seats are very sagged out.  Front leather is good except armrest.  Dash is good.

It has a black first aid kit whereas my 79 300 SD's kit is white and has different contents.  They must have switched suppliers mid year or is this perhaps because they come from different factories?

Interesting car.  Only driven it back from purchase this morning but it has a different feel than the 300SD.   The 450 SEL suspension feels firmer and the steering is tighter.  This may be due to the tires?  Does the 450 SEL have a different suspension than the 300SD?

One thing I am really wondering about is the paint.  I don't think this can be original because I find no door dings or clearcoat fade and only a few rock chips.  It is nearly flawless.  But it is still drying in the garage so hard to tell until it's totally dry.  Also the pinstriping is perfect.  I can't see any way pinstriping could last that many years in this condition.  Does anyone know did these cars come with pinstriping? 

I guess I've joined the W116 gas owner club ha ha.  Trying to decide if I should sell this car or if I should repair the back seats.  Can I just get replacement foam for the back seats or is it a big deal to repair?  Leather appears good on them but I didn't look real close yet.  Thanks for any thoughts!

[motec6.9]

Nice car it looks good enough that it should make a nice driver. Now to change your name to ILIKE450sel 

[s class]

Very nice.  Love the colour combo.  Looks like a keeper to me. 

[Tony66_au]

Excellent find!

Welcome to the world of V8 Benz's!

[oscar]

LOL, I second the name change.

I love that interor and as for pinstripes, it's been discussed before and from memory they were original on some NA delivered W116s.  Not sure if its all w116s or begining from a certain year or not but many had them.  As for the paint, you'll definitely have to wait until it's wiped down and dry before you can evaluate it properly as the water beading can hide so much, but it does look great at first glance.  Congrats on the purchase

[Ilike300sd]

It's dried out now and it's definitely been repainted.  Really hard to tell though.  Looks like a high quality job and looks like a lot of things were removed when painted because you don't see any overspray on anything.  I'd rather have a high quality repaint than poor original I guess ha ha.  Does anyone know what these "portugal" and "espana" badges are?  Are these MB badges or just some random badges?  The guy I bought it from had a very ethnic spanish or portugese sounding name so he must have put those on there.

[TJ 450]

Nice find!

Some random badges would be correct. I guess it's sort of like the standard black and white oval nationality marks/decals.

Tim

[Squiggle Dog]

No, you joined the dark side! Nice car, though. I think silver with black interior is supposed to be the highest-valued color combination.

Those badges came from http://www.cometproducts.com/. I purchased their Saudi Arabia badge for a 200D I used to drive because I lived there for almost 12 years. I'm getting another for my 300SD.

[jbrasile]

Ilike300sd,

What a nice 450! Congratulations and welcome to the club, hehehe...

I would keep it since it looks like it is in great shape and they are so hard to come by.

You can replace the rear seat cushion with one from GAHH, I also  noticed the driver's seat leather is a little loose and it would be a good idea to have that repaired to avoid any splits or tears.

Tks

Joe