Today I saw a classic and took a pic thread!

junkyard · 16-12-2005 1:09am

It looks like a 300SEL, some of them had air suspension. The 6.3 litre one was great fun, it looked very civilized but it was a rocket to go. It was definitely one of the ones I should kept. I think I have photos somewhere but it was pre-digital camera.

PaulK_CCI · 16-12-2005 1:25am

ds20prefecture wrote:

Sorry - I meant a 70s/80s Mercedes with what appeared to be hydraulic suspension. Sorry about the quality of the pics - the car had an Irish reg. The pics of the Triumph didn't come out at all. Crappy camera phone :mad:

Funny, because when I read your post about the Triumph with hydraulic suspension, I couldn't quite fathom what you were on about, but the Mercedes was the first car that sprung to my mind, and then you shot these hazy pics of a Merc Saloon.

Yes, the Mercedes 300SE(L) featured AIR suspension as opposed to Hydraulic suspension. They did share some components with the Citroen DS, I'm not mechanic enough to know exactly what, but most noticeably the actual unit under the dashboard with the levers to raise and lower the car is exactly identical to the one in a DS. The air suspension on the 300SE(L) was first introduced in the 300SE Fintail in 1961, and then followed through in the enormous 600 Limousine and the "stacked headlight" 300SE(L) in 1965. It was superbly comfortable, but the older the cars got, it became hopelessly unreliable because of the 'volatile' nature of AIR... it kept springing leaks and valves kept failing, so now you still see many of these 300SE(L)'s , down on their suspension, feeling sorry for themselves. Generally they should stay up for at least a week or two, but I have seen some go down already after 2 to 3 hours... Not a big deal, and perfectly fine to live with, but it does mean you will need to run the car for a minute or two, to get air back into the system, before you can set off...
After the troubles with AIR, Mercedes did cop on, and introduced Hydraulic suspension, just like the Citroen DS, in their new flagship, the 450SEL 6.9 (W116 Series) in 1975. This was a major improvement over the constantly failing air suspension, but it was also very expensive and they only had it on the 450SEL 6.9 and also replaced it in their still going 600 series.

So the reason why you thought the Merc had hydraulic suspension was probably because you saw one "down on its knees". Now DS's generally sink down, because they are supposed to, but the 300SE's shouldn't come down at all, so the ones that do, have a leaky system !

ds20prefecture · 16-12-2005 9:38am

Cool - thanks for the info. I know Rolls Royce licensed the hydropneumatic suspension from Citroën in the 60s and I had heard a rumour that Mercedes had too. This clears it up.

PaulK_CCI · 16-12-2005 9:48am

ds20prefecture wrote:

Cool - thanks for the info. I know Rolls Royce licensed the hydropneumatic suspension from Citroën in the 60s and I had heard a rumour that Mercedes had too. This clears it up.

by the way, is there a difference between 'hydraulic' en 'hydropneumatic'?

oh, and was the shot of the Merc 300 taken in Upr George's street in Dun Laoghaire by any chance? It looks like it from the surrounding buildings, and I can remember even from years back, that there was a 300SEL sitting there regularly, and mostly quite down on it's suspension.

MercMad · 16-12-2005 9:53am

Good info guys !

The hyrdaulic suspension is purely a fluid based system whereaas the hydropneumatic system, as in a W116 used both air and fluid, obviously kept seperate !

ds20prefecture · 16-12-2005 11:58am

MercMad wrote:

The hyrdaulic suspension is purely a fluid based system whereaas the hydropneumatic system, as in a W116 used both air and fluid, obviously kept seperate !

Now I'm confused. The hydropneumatic system is a Citroën patent.
Air suspension is just compressed air "bags" that complements traditional springing.
I cannot imagine what an hydraulic (fluid only) suspension would be like. Very hard, would be my guess, as the fluid is not compressible.

Was the Citroën hydropneumatic system used in Mercedes cars? The timing works, and I see lots of google pages of mercs with "hydropneumatic" suspension.

MercMad · 16-12-2005 12:07pm

I reckon the Citroen stuff may have been used under licence or something. I do know that there is no similarity between the air system and the hydropnuematic one, although in the Benz's the system used nitrogen gas !

Is that used in the Citroen cars ?

Maybe the word hydraulic is aterm that has been applied incorrectly because as you state the fluid cannot be compressed !

Dont know enough about either systems to state facts !

ds20prefecture · 16-12-2005 12:50pm

Yep Nitrogen is used in the spheres on a Citroën.

@PaulK_CCI - yep that's Dun Laoghaire. The car was on an old Irish reg, gold in colour. Looked to be in very good condition.

PaulK_CCI · 16-12-2005 1:59pm

ds20prefecture wrote:

@PaulK_CCI - yep that's Dun Laoghaire. The car was on an old Irish reg, gold in colour. Looked to be in very good condition.

yep, that's the one alright then. It must be owned by one of the residents there or a shop owner, as I have seen it loads of times over the past 5-6 years. The car is in reasonable condition unless the owner has done some work, but the air suspension is definitely faultly, but the owner, as most of them would do, just lives with it!

I would say then that with regards to the Citroen DS and other cars with a 'hydropneumatic' system, the term "hydraulic" is used incorrectly!!! So if I understand you guys correctly, the term 'hydraulic' just refers to one intricate part of the entire suspension system: The non-compressable hydraulic fluid system that is used to regulate the pneumatic (air/gas) system, as you say MercMad, completely separated from each other, but the one regulating the other.

DS I think you are confused because Mercedes used TWO types of suspension, the old AIRsuspension on the W109 series of the 300SE's that you made a picture of, and the later, much improved "HYDROPNEUMATIC" system used in the 450SEL 6.9 .

B.t.w I thought one of the members of the Blessington club has a green 450SEL 6.9 ?? I used to see it out on the shows.

Grimlock · 16-12-2005 2:17pm

MercMad wrote:

...........believe it or not there is at least 3 of them in Dublin, a black R/T, a very dark green 440 and another which I've heard about but not seen !

:eek: Well I only want 1 I won't be greedy, the black RT willdo nicely.

I'm guessing it was the 440 I saw, wow.

Me want, me want!

Con_316 · 05-01-2006 1:25am

MMMMMMMMMM.............dodge charger.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If only i had an spere like 20 grand............. A*se!

Anyway, i know this will be a bit annoying but can one of you guys tell me how to put in a pic? Never bothered before and not much good at computers so never bothered find out how to do it (shur jayzus until the other day i couldnt even use the digital camera). I decided i shoul put some pics up because i know a good few classics lying around the place. Including a really rotten MKI escort and drab green Cortina MKIII estate ( just like the one on www.scrapingscrap.com ) which are both in fields. My uncle also has a beautiful old saab (i think he's still got it) whic i think you all deserve to see at some stage if he still has it. got some pics from america too that i could scan in if any of you guys want to see them. Mostly old trucks but there's a real nice charger in there somewhere.:)

corktina · 05-01-2006 8:03am

go to tinypics .com (or is it co.uk?) upload your photo (really easy and copy and paste the IMG into here....

Abelloid · 05-01-2006 6:40pm

Spotted around Cobh over the holidays-

Kersh · 17-01-2006 11:41pm

Parked in beaumount hospital car park (side by side).

Dead · 19-01-2006 12:38pm

you guys are so lucky all i have a mercs [ old ] and a 69 hemi dodge charger its black and it sounds great

dubtom · 19-01-2006 1:23pm

Dead wrote:

you guys are so lucky all i have a mercs [ old ] and a 69 hemi dodge charger its black and it sounds great

Are you taking the piss, you have a hemi Charger and you think we're lucky:eek:

FX Meister · 31-01-2006 8:56pm

dubtom · 03-02-2006 12:32am

Sorry about the quality, it was from the phone, saw 2 of these in Cabra along side a 28.Ghia Granada. I was traveling at the time so just got one shot off. Bit confused about this one, I thought it was a Dolomite but I caught a glimpse of the badge on the back and saw the numbers 2000 and I don't think it said Triumph, any offers.

Blue850 · 03-02-2006 9:46am

Triumph 1500, Dolomites predecessor, Started out as FWD 1300 then 1500 FWD, then Triumph changed back to RWD, must be the only car co. ever to have done that?

mikehn · 06-02-2006 1:51am

http://groups.msn.com/sciroccoworld/mikenbreeda.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=3139
Hi guys
another newbie here from de south west.
No cool oldies in my neighbourhood but it means I dont have much competition for my stressbuster when I take it out for a burn.
Pic attached i think ??
If anyone knows where I can pick up original Vdub wheels Id appreciate it

dubtom · 06-02-2006 3:16am

Very nice Mike, dont see many around these days.

Eric318 · 06-02-2006 10:15pm

Every evening I see a red Opel GT behind the window of the shop at the corner of Malahide Raod and Swords road. May be it is for sale... It used to have the company of a Stag, now there is something older in the background that I am not familiar with.

ocj · 06-02-2006 10:38pm

Nice wheels mikehn.

It's good to see there's a few of us around.
I'm on my second rocco now.
Still got a bit of work to do to her.:)

MercMad · 07-02-2006 9:58am

Every evening I see a red Opel GT behind the window of the shop at the corner of Malahide Raod and Swords road. May be it is for sale... It used to have the company of a Stag, now there is something older in the background that I am not familiar with.

..............yeah I pass every morning too !

Aparantly McAllisters who previously owned this spot did a deal with Gerry Larkin (Nissan dealer in Swords) whereby they used his premises in Swords until their new one at Airside was built. Now he has their place in Malahide. Not sure if he bought it or is renting !

Anyway Gerry has a huge Classic collection and some race cars too. They seem to appear and dissapear from that place every few weeks !

fits · 07-02-2006 8:03pm

I have a scirocco too. They're good fun aint they? I'll see if I can dig out a pic

corktina · 08-02-2006 10:20am

http://tinypic.com/view/?pic=ne73mu

dublin rush hour last friday morning....

ocj · 09-02-2006 9:27pm

fits wrote:

I have a scirocco too. They're good fun aint they? I'll see if I can dig out a pic

Hay Fits ,
You get any piscs of your Scirocco yet?:v:

fits · 10-02-2006 2:13am

only crap ones, which dont do justice to my **** cool car. I love my scirocco. Its a 92 GTII, and very nippy, and black...

corktina · 14-02-2006 6:22pm

corktina · 14-02-2006 6:24pm

and BIG DAY Irish 1600E

dubtom · 14-02-2006 7:04pm

You do get around Corky, tell me, would you know if a 289 Mustang engine would fit a mark 3.

corktina · 14-02-2006 7:34pm

oh yes...you can get a V8 in no prob...have a look at www.buysellcortina.co.uk for proof...(especially "mightmareracings Van"thread....you WILL be impressed!

corktina · 14-02-2006 7:38pm

http://buysellcortina.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=9774&hl=

see here...

franksm · 21-02-2006 10:54am

Barnyard Landie spotted - see attached. Hopefully it's heading for restoration and not the smelter

More here: http://mx5ireland.com/members/frank/2006Feb/

RobAMerc · 21-02-2006 12:01pm

I've been meaning to take pics for months but seem to end up driving it instead!

I see this one everyday, lucky me

eoineen · 23-02-2006 10:39pm

Looking at and speaking of older Mercs, there's a lovely wine coloured early 1980s 220 near Walkinstown r.about in Dublin. Could not a picture but it's got classy, hearse-like black plates.

mustang68 · 03-03-2006 5:40pm

2/3 spotted a white citroen ds with a reg like HAR 222G or something on the kylemore road beside homebase, great looking, owner looked chuffed with himself (sorry no pics)

franksm · 03-03-2006 7:58pm

Spotted this Delorean in Finaghy, just a mile from where the car was originally built back in the day (Dunmurry). That was last weekend (26-Feb-2006).

mustang68 · 06-03-2006 9:23am

Spotted an early eighties black ford Cortina (I think) in Clonnee, just washed, think it was on UK plates, in great condition

dubtom · 06-03-2006 9:33am

RobAMerc wrote:

I've been meaning to take pics for months but seem to end up driving it instead!

I see this one everyday, lucky me

My brother inlaw bought a villa in spain a couple of years back from a retired English couple, a merc came with the deal, just like the one in your pic. Drove perfectly, even though he had left it sitting for over a year. The very high cost of changing ownership/back tax/ getting it road worthy for a couple of months per year meant he eventually left it at the side of the road. Shame, it was a lovely car.

Boomer23 · 12-03-2006 1:53am

how about this beauty

Boomer23 · 12-03-2006 1:57am

or these that i took at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello!!!

junkyard · 13-03-2006 12:39am

Some photos of last years Mille Miglia, I've got loads more if anyones interested.

qz · 14-03-2006 11:08pm

Aston martin DB5!

dubtom · 15-03-2006 12:31am

Saw two nice classics today on my rounds, a spotless BMW 2002 in pimlico, and a very nice Mk1 escort with RS wheels. Didn't get pictures of either cos I had a passenger. Come to think of it I have seen quite a few classics in the last couple of weeks, maybe summer's in the air.

RobAMerc · 15-03-2006 2:08am

Hey QZ,

Is that Aston in Limerick?

I saw a minter down there a couple of months ago being driven "spiritedly" around a roundabout.

Rob

qz · 15-03-2006 11:01pm

RobAMerc wrote:

Hey QZ,

Is that Aston in Limerick?

I saw a minter down there a couple of months ago being driven "spiritedly" around a roundabout.

Rob

Nope, it's in Dublin (6). Hopped out to get a photo and got a big smile from the driver, must have been delira!

Traumadoc · 20-03-2006 9:57pm

Speaking of Astons did anyone see the DB5 ( ithink) broken down on the tallaght roundabout for the M50 today about 4pm, beautiful car.

franksm · 28-03-2006 3:16pm

Well I wasn't able to take a picture but I saw a fabulous yellow Mini Clubman in Phoenix Park this afternoon. Great !

corktina · 31-03-2006 3:47pm

http://i2.tinypic.com/so0cuh.jpg

Today I saw a classic and took a pic thread!

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