Nostalgic Enchantment

[jith]

Well, now that I am in true classic car country, the good lady and I decided to treat ourselves so we can enjoy the coming season.
Nothing too serious mind, because I am too busy just now to carry out a restoration.
But browsing I came across these :-









I used to service and buy and sell these for not a lot of money; but my God they are beautiful when you haven't seen one for a while!
Just look at the interior in the 120FCH rally car!

Anyway we decided to go for something comparatively modern because it happens to be one of my all time favourites :-









It's a 500 Coupe and I had forgotten how these go!
It has the sports 'box and the kickdown is utterly mental, but soooo quiet!
What clinches it for me with these cars though is the build quality, the interior and the fact that it is pillarless.
Hope to see all of you at some of the shows.

Edited by jith on Monday 29th January 23:20

Edited by jith on Monday 29th January 23:21

Edited by jith on Monday 29th January 23:28

[cardigankid]

Is there a reason for the deathly silence? Could it be that we are not sure about your decision. You may be right, mind, and I may be totally wrong, but would an older 450SLC or a newer CL500 not have fitted the bill better? This is all a question of taste but that particular era of Mercs never really stunned me with its proportion and elegance although they were regarded as the cats pyjamas at the time and you couldn't get them for love or money, like the contemporary SL.

[shouldbworking]

I think its nice, but for the love of god dont prang it my dad had one of these (in gold with a cloth interior - took about 6 months to sell!), and it had a minor prang when someone drove into the back of him. Despite the size of the car the chassis is apparently very vulnerable - it had to be put on a jig twice and was never quite right again

[jith]

cardigankid said:

Is there a reason for the deathly silence? Could it be that we are not sure about your decision. You may be right, mind, and I may be totally wrong, but would an older 450SLC or a newer CL500 not have fitted the bill better? This is all a question of taste but that particular era of Mercs never really stunned me with its proportion and elegance although they were regarded as the cats pyjamas at the time and you couldn't get them for love or money, like the contemporary SL.

Hello CK,

I'm sorry if I disappointed any of you with this car, but if I learned anything with the passage of time and experience it is that people buy cars for all the wrong reasons, and then usually regret it.
The most powerful motif in buying a classic is usually nostalgia, and at it's strongest can actually result in bankruptcy!!
But because of my training and experience, I tend to look at cars in a more practical way.
The W126 Coupes were, as you say, very sought after when they were new, and I can remember battling to get some for my customers.
Mercedes spent a king's ransom developing these cars and went to phenomenal lengths to ensure the car was the ultimate in technology in it's day.
They really only made one error in this and that was to use a simplex chain on the timing gear to cut down internal engine friction: serious mistake, several of these broke at high speed resulting usually in total engine failure.
But as far as I know most of them were recalled and modified back to duplex.
The concept of the car was to make it as fuel efficient as possible by taking the 450 block, lightening everything on it including the ancilliaries and recasting the block in alloy, and opening it out to 5 litres.
The injection was uprated to KE Jetronic with mapped ignition and on some models, cats.
The shell was designed with as low a drag factor for the day as was possible on this kind of car, even down to leaving the silver star off the bonnet and replacing it with a flush fitting badge.
It comes with sports transmission, which is superb and the usual weighty Merc power steering, something Jaguar have never got right.
When idling you literally cannot hear the engine and could be forgiven for thinking it was switched off. The only time the engine note is heard is on full throttle, and it sounds tremendous!
When this car was being made, Jaguar were still producing the Series 3 XJ6 with a 3.4 block running on SU carbs and contacts!!! Ridiculous in that era.
I have never really been a sports car fan, preferring instead coupes.
This is one of the most significant coupes made in terms of what it defined in progress.
But it still maintained an unmistakable elegance and could never be anything other than a Mercedes Benz.
It is also very practical from the maintenance point of view. Nobody can beat Merc for back up service on their old cars, it's just tremendous.
Virtually everything is still available for this car and the price of service items is surprisingly economical.
To go to anything else that would come near this in performance, comfort and style, would cost four or five times as much.
Oh, and incidentally, the nice thing about being over fifty is classic car insurance.
How about myself and the good lady fully comp with limited mileage, agreed value, legal cover, breakdown cover and car hire in any event and an excess of only £100......wait for it!
£269-00 with Performance Direct!!!!
My heart bleeds for all you young whippersnappers out there!!

[coco h]

I do like the Jag. If I had loads of money I would have a Fhc 140 so baby can travel with us but not really fast enough for the oh. I found one in someone's barn once - immaculate - the chap said he never drove the thing incase it got a paint chip etc - to me these are meant to be enjoyed

[lynxd67]

If I'm right there would have been a considerable price difference between the cars shown, especially the 120 FHC. There were only 168 RHD 120 coupés made and this looks to be one of the series Nigel Dawes had rebuilt about 10 years back and which sell at around £70,000 each. The bodies were rebuilt by Leaping Cats in Nuneaton and the car is much modified including different steering rack, 3.8 engine, suspension and interior. A beuatiful rally car but way above the price league of the 500 coupé.