Why did you decide to purchase your w116?

[Andrew280SEL]

The options may not be great, but basicly I'm just interested to know your stories! My answer: I just like the car (maybe I'm even in love with it!!), but I guess also I knew what people would think when I'd drive by.

[Des]

Hi Andrew
Good to see another Tasmanian here, we need more of us represented, to me the 450SEL 6.9 is the greatest Mercedes Benz ever produced, this comes about from the total driving package, the way the car makes you feel when you drive it. The handling, the power, the comfort. I don't need millions of buttons and features, luxury is wood, leather and shagpile. To me luxury comes from a simpler time, like the Rolls Royce cars.

[s class]

When I was about 15 I used to sit in school and draw sketches of W116.  It was always my dream car.  In 1997 at age 23 I got my 280SE.  280S, 280SE and 350SE are the only versions readily available in South Africa and the 280SE was for me (a student at the time) the best blend of economy and practicality.  Now after driving it every day for 9 years, W116 is still my dream car.  Just now I lust after an SEL version, preferably of the 6.9 flavour. 

On a related topic, I've mentioned in several threads on this forum in the past that 6.9's are very very scarce in South Africa - I fancy there must be only 5 to 10 in the country.  Well anyway, last friday I stumbled across one in a parking lot.  It looked like a tatty daily driver, but with only 140 000 miles (it was LHD).  I hung around waiting for the owner, but one can only lurk so long in a parking lot, and eventually I left a note offering to make a generous cash offer for the car as it stood.  He never called me.   

Well, the search continues....

[robgee]

I saw my first W116 in 1973 it was a white 350SE and it looked so ahead of its time bear in mind I was a car mad youth who used to buy magazines such as Autocar and Motor with regular alacrity.Then when I was twenty years old in 1977  I finally had the opportunity to be a passenger in a brand new 450SEL Burgundy in colour with parchment interior ,what I  remember most is the overwhelming smell of the leather I have never forgotten it to this day.As i progressed through my business life I have owned a number of Benzs' but always longed to go back to that W116 nothing else rides like a W116 or has the same character in my opinion.
I also have a W140 S500 very competant modern car and I would think what would probably be closest to the W116 as a modern alternative much better on fuel (but then that's what 20+ years of technological inovation can provide) but having said that the W116 still has that wonderfull floaty ride that only cars from a bygone era can but I'm still amazed by the handling of such a heavy car very impressive it makes you realise just how far advanced these cars were in their hayday.
Regards,
Rob.

[Denis]

Hello gentlemen

Backin 1974, my uncle Robert has a new 450SEL. Being a rich cool person, he tended the keys to me, age 22 and said with a grin : see how she drives. So I saw, pedal to the floor and one smooth swoop later the needle was at 210 and what amazed me ? the railroad car stability of this beast.

I just had to have one. Back in  1976 I was also in love with the Beomaster stereo with real touch sensitive controls and the danish design, my ears were flattered by big expensive British hi-fi loudspeakers. Uncle Robert also had a nice tpe deck called Revox A77. We would sit and he would open a cuban cigar case (I used to smoke in another life)... Unfortunately, all this was beyond my dreams.

And today, I all all of that stuff - quality and style, precision and craftsmanship. Simple excellence it is.

Denis

Paris, France

BTW, I also spent a weekend with the Mercedes-Benz importer for the french Martinique territory in the carribean around  1979 - it was all W116 talk !

[dizzyD]

I lucked out finding this one, I was after the wagon version of the early 80's. Basically I got her for the diesel economy and for my family. The way people drive hear in California also adds the need for accident protection, which MB seems to have really high stats for post crash surviving.

[michaeld]

Good topic question

I have to give two answers:
1) Why did I decide to purchase my w116?  Because it was cheap.  I paid $851.51 USD for a one-owner Mercedes with a full service history (on eBay).  I figured I could pass it along and make some quick cash.

2) Why did I decide to keep it?  Because of the drive home the day I bought it.  She was like an agile, responsive fortress of solitude.  By the time I drove the 40 miles home, I decided maybe I'd keep her and sell my other car.

Unlike most of you, I have no history with Mercedes-Benz, and was totally ignorant about "w116s" and "450SELs."  When I was young, I was into motorcycles.  And to the extent that I was into cars, it was mainly 60's American musclecars.  It certainly was NOT big heavy luxury sedans.

A bad wreck got me out of motorcycling and into big heavy sedans at the same time.  By the time I had that wreck, I'd done the jet-set "party" scene, and was no longer impressed by people who flashed a lot of money; I'd seen what kind of people many of them were.  Also, in the day of leasing, EVERYBODY has a flashy new car.  Frankly, I'm more impressed by how far someone can spit than I am by how fancy a car someone drives.

I don't buy new cars because I have no intention of losing a quarter of my investment by driving off the dealership lot.  All I used to want was good solid reliable transportation and a lot of metal around me for safety.  If such a car was bargain-priced and looked solid mechanically, I didn't really care how old or how cool it was. 

My 450SEL has forced me to change my mind in some respects, even as it solidified my opinion in others.  As to the former, I now have a much better understanding of what ride and mechanical quality are, and I find that I like it.  I'm not so sure that a lesser car will "satisfy" me now.  On the other hand, my opinion that I don't need to buy (or lease like an idiot) a new car to have a truly great driving experience has dramatically been reinforced with this car.

P.S. A few months ago, I had the opportunity to drive the top of the line Infinity.  I did an experiment: how many people glanced at me and noticed how cool I was.  The answer: zero.  Nobody looked at me.  Not one person.  I can contrast that with a 70 Ford Galaxie I used to have.  That car got all kinds of attention from men (alas, nada from women).  Guys in parkeing lots would ask, "What's that got in her?"  And I'd say, "A 428 Cobra Jet."  And they'd be begging me to open the hood so they could drool over the motor.  Then they'd get in their $30,000 late model Whateveritwas and drive off (And fyi, I could have cared less about what they were driving or what it had under the hood).

To be honest with you, I think that Galaxie netted more attention than my 450SEL.  I don't really care; I'm simply not wired to spend a lot of my time trying to impress bystanders and strangers.

[AMG69]

I was in the back seat of Dad's 1981 Ford Falcon Gl sedan (you Aussies know the car - 4.1 6 cylinder - boring as hell) driving up the very steep Old Mount Barker Rd in Adelaide, South Australia in 1982 when a green (and blacked out chrome) 450SEL 6.9 AMG literally blasted past us - up hill.  We caught it at a fuel station at the top of the hill ( ) and I got to check it out - i just HAD to have one!! Here was a car with a 210KW V8 engine and 550NM of torque - some 50KW more than the very best ford and Holden (Australia) could manage at the time.  I was awestruck and vowed "One day Dad I will have that car..."


Mum and dad (aged 71 and 76 now) were in here Perth in January to catch up and I took them for a drive in my 6.9; Dad smiled and said "well, I never thought you were really serious....!!!"

[oscar]

There's some great stories emerging here.  I like

When I was about 15 I used to sit in school and draw sketches of W116.  It was always my dream car. ....Now after driving it every day for 9 years, W116 is still my dream car. .....

EDIT: I forgot to add.  During the 80's I was drawing pics of mazda rx7's and Ford Fairlanes.  Two completely different styles I know but particularly the fairlanes, I always wanted a luxury 70's muscle car.  Fairlanes are crud in every aspect compared to a 116 and become cheap junk in no time at all.  Took me a number of years to realise it though.  This all from a Ford fan.

I had no idea what mercs were all about apart from being cars for the rich and famous and the top prize in 'Sale Of the Century'.  The grill is the only thing I noticed when growing up.  In 1990, my dad was going to buy a new car, an aussie ford, but for the same price ($24,000) he got a 350se with a tad over 100,000km on the clock.  I was 18 then and fell in love with the car, the smell, the sound, the ride etc.  I wanted one.

13 years on, the car had 350,000km+, was poorly maintained and in desperate need for some TLC.  I swapped my 85 ZL fairlane for it since my folks used it as a second car.  2 and a bit years on the 350's a work in progress with  quite a few years and many dollars left to get it to a point I'll be happy with.  Apart from the 6.9 as a future purchase, there's a constant stream of later model 280 and 450sels looking for my help. Damn, the temptation.  Such a good car for so many reasons.  I'm a self diagnosed sufferer of w116 obsessive compulsive disorder.

[Tomi]

I have had a few benzes, but never a w116 before. Never even been inside one. mostly I have had a S124 and the R107.
I wanted a project car to work on with a big engine and with class. It needed to be at least 25 years old so that I could get it registered as an oldtimer making the yearly expenses very low (practically nothing, only a 32 euro per year insurance fee). So the w116 was the answer. And now that the project is done, I dont regret it at all. The ride is excellent and it does feel like high class car. Here it is seldom that you see a w116 in good condition.

[adamb]

After uni, in 1996 I worked in Singapore where every second car seemed to be a Mercedes. There I got to drive a W124 E200. There and then I decided that my first car will be a Mercedes. Back in UK I bought a W123. I loved everything about it (apart from the rust). Through necessity I acquired mechanical skills. At the same time I became aware of W116s and the cravings started. I flogged the W123 and bought a 1973 280SE. Then followed a succession of W116s in various states of disrepair. About 5 years ago I finally climbed to the top of the W116 pile and splashed out on a 6.9. Like all old cars it needs work but 67K miles on the clock gave me confidence that I won't be replacing EVERY nut and bolt. Due to fuel costs it is probably cheaper to travel by taxi, but what the heck, I love it.

[michaeld]

Not really on the topic of this thread but...

While I've certainly been watching the recent news in Lebanon as a tragedy, I've also noticed more old Benzes in the news footage than I think I've ever seen in my life.

It's kind of funny, but since I got my 450SEL, I've become hyperaware of any old Benz on the road.

[OzBenzHead]

Not really on the topic of this thread but...

While I've certainly been watching the recent news in Lebanon as a tragedy, I've also noticed more old Benzes in the news footage than I think I've ever seen in my life.

From ABC (Australia) online news last night: old Benzes front, back, and centre  ...

[Denis]

Hi fellows

Whenever I get in trouble repairing a Benz, I visit Ali down the street, he is a competent mechanic that always charges a fraction of the stealership (yes, we have them in France too) . Ali is Lebanese and has seen them all since the pontons !

Mercedes-Benz is a highly respected car in the middle-east and as one Lebanese friend told me : you could buy one without ANY taxes in Lebanon - a really good (relatively) inexpensive car is unbeatable ! add to this the fact that in a dry climate, they "roast" a bit but stay structurally sound and you have got yourself a car that lasts 40-50 years with parst being available .

Cheers

Denis

Paris, France

[OzBenzHead]

I voted for "other": a friend was going overseas on short notice (to work/live) and needed a quick sale.  He offered me the 116 (which I'd known for the years he'd owned it) at a ridiculous, give-away price.  Couldn't refuse - even though I had a perfectly serviceable daily driver in my 108, and had recently acquired my 112 300SE coupe for a hobby car.

With six months' registration and little to fix (steering box and brakes got a rebuild as soon as I took delivery), for $2000 I was laughing.  Two years later, it still owes me only about $3500, and that includes new whitewall tyres, the front end and brakes, and the odd little thing such as new weather seals for the taillamps.