Classic Merc Numbers

RobAMerc

I have noticed a hugh amount of classic Mercs around recently.

Between Sat yesterday and today I saw a 220SEB Cabrio, a 190 and two w108 28osels, a 450slc at least two w107 sl's ,and two other w114 as well as of course my own 280ce.
I even noticed my old next door neighbour from home (whom never had any interest in cars that I know of) turned up in a Pagoda recently.

I am delighted to see them and it just goes to show how sturdy these old busses really are, but has there been an explosion in ownership / refurb / use recently?

Rob

MercMad

Yeah there is a huge amount around alright. I think folk have realised how durable these cars are and also discovered that everything is available for them. Lets face it the 70's cars, and even the 60's ones, drive better than modern cars both in traffic and on the open road.

People in general are p1ssed off with modern cars and dealers so they are broadening their horizons and if you think about it there are plenty of good Mercs now over 30 years old !

Just wait 'till and watch the amount of W123's that become daily drivers over the next year or two. These are comfortable cars that will literally last forever, unless they are UK cars with the rust literally IN them from the salt. But find a good one and it could be your last car !

Dades

I was thinking the exact same thing the other day.
Have seen loads of mercs about on the roads recently.

Heres to a summer full of old boats and roadsters!

RobAMerc

Christ, my w114 is a UK car :eek:

But I know what you mean.

Yep, only thing that may cause a bit of a problem is the fuel guzzleumption, well in mine at least but it does need a small bit o' work.

Ps I saw 2 more sl's on the way to work this morning, guy here in dun laoighre has the most beautiful 88 320sl he just imported, looks as though its got about 8 miles on it it's so clean.

Oldmerc

I have a w111, last of the 280se coupes before Mercedes move over to the 3.5 litre engine for 70 & 71 flat grills . Its a left hooker and I would agree with the posts above that classics are just a bit different and I got sick of handing over wads of money to garages for crap service and boring cars.

I think the W124 is the one to watch and I'd like one but will wait a few years until mine pushes 40 years when I think I will have to really start driving it less.

I'd say I see at least 1 old merc every day and I am pretty sure I saw a gullwing about 3 mths ago with Irish plates. Only out of the side of my eye but fairly sure.hey are pushing 1/4 m for average cars these days but gilt edged investment !! if you can afford to keep it going.

Mechanics will be the big problem in a few years. Hard enough to get people to work on them now.

phoenix_nights

Yeah saw an old fintail (220s?) last week. Real nice car. I agree with you Oldmerc on the W124's. And not only because i have one:) . But since buying my car i have noticed many old w124 floating around. I think the estates are the best design of the W124's in that when they were designing the car they designed it firstly to be an estate.

Oldmerc wrote:

I think the W124 is the one to watch and I'd like one but will wait a few years until mine pushes 40 years when I think I will have to really start driving it less.

RobAMerc

Oldmerc wrote:

I think the W124 is the one to watch

Funny I was toying with the idea of a covertible for the summer and I narrowed it down to a clean w124 conv (keeper) or an mx5.

Think I'll go with the MX5 though for now, till some ankle bitters come along, plus I had the choice before and got it wrong, gotta go back and put that right !

MercMad

The 124 Convertible are definitely future classics. You will oinly be able to get these at sensible prices for anothet year or two at the most. Then they will hold firm and good ones will start to appreciate !

Good clean coupes wont be too far behind. Having said that some of the establishment are asking crazy prices right now for these cars !

phoenix_nights

Thats very true. Was thinking of bringing in one over from the UK next year. Have to get the right colour combination though.

MercMad wrote:

Good clean coupes wont be too far behind. Having said that some of the establishment are asking crazy prices right now for these cars !

RobAMerc

phoenix_nights wrote:

I think the estates are the best design of the W124's in that when they were designing the car they designed it firstly to be an estate.

A real future classic would be the w123 300TE-TD.

I reckon they will be sought after as a classic when people need a second car to lump the kids about in and petrol reaches €1.50 a litre!

MercMad

Yes thats true but they are extremely hard to find. Fuel wasn't such an issue in the UK so they bought the 280TE's whereas over here a 300D TE auto was almost twice the cost of a 4dr 200 saloon .........so again not many over here !

Deffo one to have and keep !

Blue850

Theres a 81 300D owned from new near me , was on an UK reg until 86 when it registered here with a 86 reg:)

Oldmerc

Would agree the estate is the nicest of the w124. Have a 1997 e230 estate and still think I should or gone for the earlier model, having said that the 1997 is a nice car as well.

This crowd in London are proably the most expensive but you can see the w124 coupes creeping up to Pagoda money. In my view they have attained classic status already. More clks were made in one year then in the whole w124 coupe production run. Don;t think Mercedes will ever make a many proper 4 seaters convertibles.

http://www.silverarrows.co.uk/

8~)

My daily driver is a W123 200T. Can't really fault it. W124s are nice enough, but don't have the classic looks. A good W123 will drive almost as well as a w124.

The W123 300TD (not 300TE TD; E=fuel injection) are nice too but I imagine didn't sell well in Ireland because of the road tax linked to engine capacity.

I also have a 300TD with 5 speed manual, but the body is shot. One day I'll transplant the running gear because they're a great engine.

I have a hankering for a 30 year old Mercedes to use a daily driver - anyone got a reasonable (not pristine) for reasonable cash? Anyone know about the silver 280CE on ebay.ie?

phoenix_nights

8~) wrote:

My daily driver is a W123 200T. Can't really fault it. W124s are nice enough, but don't have the classic looks.

It may not have the classic looks (used to own a 73CE) but to me the W124 T's are the nicest looking mercs. Classic lines, bullet proof engineering and praticality.

RobAMerc

Oldmerc wrote:

This crowd in London are proably the most expensive but you can see the w124 coupes creeping up to Pagoda money. In my view they have attained classic status already. More clks were made in one year then in the whole w124 coupe production run. Don;t think Mercedes will ever make a many proper 4 seaters convertibles.

Do you mean coupes or convertibles?
I was aware the convertibles were rare but not the coupes ?
You can pick up a 300ce-24 reasonably cheap or a 220ce can't you?

RobAMerc

8~) wrote:

I have a hankering for a 30 year old Mercedes to use a daily driver - anyone got a reasonable (not pristine) for reasonable cash? Anyone know about the silver 280CE on ebay.ie?

Have a look at this perhaps.
This must be a very rare one as it's a V6 seemingly

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carid=350788

If your after a good w114 280ce I could be convinced to part with mine (only coz there is an interceptor on carzone).

junkyard

Anyone interested in a 1995 Mercedes 200t estate, black and grey in colour, very clean for 7k euros?

8~)

That's the CE I was thinking of Robamerc, on carzone not ebay as I previously said. Missed the bit about the V6.

RobAMerc

I saw that car in Monkstown once I think.
Looked decent enough, certainly worth giving the once over for that money.

Delta_ie

Was looking through carzone and found this Link

Does anyone know anything about the car? Wonder what was done to it and where was the work done...

MercMad

I'm fairly certain that car was local to me at one stage. It either the bored out 12valve 300 engine or its got and exclusive block and very rare 4 cam heads.

Parts are hard to get, in fact even some of the AMG parts from that era are impossible to find and lead to cars being scrapped !

I'd avoid it like thew plague to be honest !

phoenix_nights

Seems a bit pricey but have you got a pics ?

junkyard wrote:

Anyone interested in a 1995 Mercedes 200t estate, black and grey in colour, very clean for 7k euros?