My 1972 W115 220D/8

Hi all,

I have just imported a 1972 W115 220D/8.

I dipped my toe in "classic" car ownership over a year ago by running a 1984 W123 200T 7 seater and thought it was great. I used it as a daily driver and put up 10k/year.

After a brief rest eriod involving normal car ownership I now own a true classic! (well, I guess some would argue a 4 door saloon isn't a classic!).

I settled on the Merc for a number of reasons:
- reliable. I'm not mechanically inclined and as a daily driver I need something that won't give too much trouble
- looks. I think they look really nice!
- diesel. It keeps running costs down and I hope to convert to veggie oil soon.

I found the car using www.mobile.de which is the german equivalent of carzone etc. I didn't go privately though. I made sure I was buying a car from a classic car dealer/restorer. Once I found a car I was interested in I used Google translate to converse with the dealer. I have no German and he had no English! But we managed OK and from the description and the photos I received of the restoration work I knew that it was as good as i was going to get for the price. Obviously there was some risk associated with buying a car unseen but you have to trust people at some stage and it is his job to restore cars. My impression of him was bolstered by the fact that he also restores motorbikes and had some other unusual machinery too.

So a date was set for a trip over. I decided to bring my 6 year old son with me to give him a little adventure. I set of wiht germanwings.com from Dublin to Koln. The car was located near Hannover but to fly there meant a London stopover and the timing and price were not good. On arrival in Koln we got an ICE (express train) to Bielefed, via Dusseldorf and Dortmund. 200kph and real smooth. Then onto a regional train to Minden. Taxi to the Holiday Inn for a nights rest.

The next morning we got a taxi to the dealer. It turned out that he did have pigeon English and we managed to converse OK. I didn't really inspect the car that much to be honest. I had already paid a large unrefundable deposit so I just got a tour of it and set off! Ahead of us was a 4 hour drive to Rotterdam. I didn't have my GPS with me but I had printed directions but got lost. I ended up just heading for Amsterdam. I knew Utrecht was north of Amsterdam so headed there, and then saw signs for Rotterdam. Got lost in Rotterdam in the city centre but eventually got directions to the Europort. I had left loads of time anyway.

We got the P&O Pride of Hull to Hull of all places... and overnight ferry. Recently refitted and very nice. Arrived in at 8A.M. and headed to Holyhead... another 4 hour drive. I was booked into the 1830 Stena HSS but managed to arrive in time for the 1345. Last car on!!!

The car performed flawlessly on the trip. I was concerned about it so I chose the Rotterdam Hull route over the normal Calais Dover route as it would have added 4 hours driving time. I was well able to keep up with the traffic and cruised at 100kph all the way. The temp needle never budged. Suspension is fine and breaks and fine too. Averaged 37mpg for the first leg and 34.5mpg on the second (but I was pushing it a bit more to get the earlier ferry).

Things I like about the car:
- the wipers fold inwards
- it has a starter button you pull
- the footbrake and release
- the foot pump for the windscreen washers
- the colour... it's ivory not white and looks nice

The car has:
- new paintjob
- new brakes
- new shocks
- full new exhaust
- new rubber seals all round
- no oil leaks, no bad smoke
- rear seatbelts

I've been told the engine put into it has approx 130-150k kms but obviously can't guarantee it.

Jobs I am planning:

- install new radio in glovebox with 4 new speakers and radio control on steering wheel
- additional waxoyling
- perhaps some soundproofing but not sure
- veggie oil conversion

I have decided to go for silver on black plates with "72 D 946"... I like to see the year of classic cars I see.

I'll try to attach some pics from the dealer.
The car now has an additional wing mirror and has ivory wheel trim.