1988 Mercedes 190E 2.6
Discussion
I thought I would stop cluttering up the barge/retro/Mercedes threads with my cars and make a reader ride thread for my latest purchase - a Mercedes 190E 2.6. The car will sit alongside my w124 300E, and 500SL. From having zero interest in old mercs a few years ago, I appear to have developed an unhealthy obsession!
The 190 was purchased from a chap in Stoke, sight unseen and with no return ticket and with a year's insurance arranged. I had several phone calls with him, pictures (of the car!) were exchanged, and he came across as a really nice genuine chap.
The car is in excellent condition. The green velour interior is unmarked, and splendid, and it drives like a nearly new car. It really does encourage relaxed civilised progress. It isn't slow when asked, however the pleasant ride and smooth straight six engine make wafting about very pleasant indeed.
In terms of improvements (I prefer this term to "repairs"), the speedo doesn't work, and the knob on the end of the handbrake needs replacing. The latter sounds small and of little relevance, but as its one of the first things you touch on driving the car, it's actually a bit annoying.
Anyway, a few photos.
The plastic mats will go! It has the most fantastic history, including the original bill of sale and a copy of a Mercedes enthusiast article that it featured in.
I did 380 miles in it last Monday and it was great, if less comfortable at high speed compared to the w124 (lower gearing?). All in all it's a bit of a timewarp car and a joy to drive. A family friend who's a 80s/90s BMW nut and has a lovely e28 535 in his collection confirmed that he's now on the lookout for a 190 2.6 after I let him drive it!
The 190 was purchased from a chap in Stoke, sight unseen and with no return ticket and with a year's insurance arranged. I had several phone calls with him, pictures (of the car!) were exchanged, and he came across as a really nice genuine chap.
The car is in excellent condition. The green velour interior is unmarked, and splendid, and it drives like a nearly new car. It really does encourage relaxed civilised progress. It isn't slow when asked, however the pleasant ride and smooth straight six engine make wafting about very pleasant indeed.
In terms of improvements (I prefer this term to "repairs"), the speedo doesn't work, and the knob on the end of the handbrake needs replacing. The latter sounds small and of little relevance, but as its one of the first things you touch on driving the car, it's actually a bit annoying.
Anyway, a few photos.
The plastic mats will go! It has the most fantastic history, including the original bill of sale and a copy of a Mercedes enthusiast article that it featured in.
I did 380 miles in it last Monday and it was great, if less comfortable at high speed compared to the w124 (lower gearing?). All in all it's a bit of a timewarp car and a joy to drive. A family friend who's a 80s/90s BMW nut and has a lovely e28 535 in his collection confirmed that he's now on the lookout for a 190 2.6 after I let him drive it!
e21Mark said:
A 190 is the only Merc' I've owned. It was a white, time warp 1.8 auto, so slow but still a nice drive. Yours certainly looks great. Can I ask what sort of ballpark it was in re cost?
Hi Mark, I hope you're well. It was within the £1-5k barge thread budget. There are very few 6 cylinder 190s left in this condition with reasonable miles (this one has 77k) so I thought it was worth it. It has a valuation of £6k on it from the MB club.
0a said:
e21Mark said:
A 190 is the only Merc' I've owned. It was a white, time warp 1.8 auto, so slow but still a nice drive. Yours certainly looks great. Can I ask what sort of ballpark it was in re cost?
Hi Mark, I hope you're well. It was within the £1-5k barge thread budget. There are very few 6 cylinder 190s left in this condition with reasonable miles (this one has 77k) so I thought it was worth it. It has a valuation of £6k on it from the MB club.
I think it's well worth the money and certainly a rarer sight nowadays.
tobinen said:
The interior/exterior colour combination is quite something. I think you've done really well there and I am almost as green with envy as the velour. Happy mini-barging!
Thanks Tobinen, it's a really nice looking thing. The interior/exterior combination attracted me to the car in the first place. I had another 190 2.6 on the radar with slightly higher miles priced above the 1-5 barge thread budget that had leather, but the exterior colour just didn't hit the spot in the same way. I parked the car outside a pub earlier and a couple of car enthusiasts in our party went out for a tour. Strangely the little 190 appears to be of much more interest than the W124 or SL (though it's in fantastic condition).
If anyone can help me with the handbrake knob I'd appreciate it! I have had a quick search with no luck so far.
I'm virtually hyperventilating about that green interior... has any of the velour faded? I've seen a few Merc green velour pics that show heavy sun-fading- I guess the dye is more fugitive than other colours. For example (a velour/cloth W126 from here http://www.classiccarwarehouse.co.uk) :
Though that one has a cracked dash too, so I wonder if it's lived somewhere hot most of its life.
Though that one has a cracked dash too, so I wonder if it's lived somewhere hot most of its life.
(probably check cloth at a guess)It is a lovely old thing - from a time when Mercedes were aimed at a very different customer base from their 'target buyers' of today. I have always liked the Mercedes velour - and it looks particularly splendid in green.
The 2.6 was an expensive car back then - much more than the 190E, particularly when heavily optioned up, such as yours. I don't know whether you have this (you probably do!!) but here is the price list from October 1988:
The writing was done by my late father. He made a concerted effort to persuade my grandfather to buy a 190E 2.6 - rather than his usual big Volvo. My dad was always appalled by the Volvo's depreciation - which was much more mild on the Mercedes back then. Mercedes depreciated less than any other saloon car as a consequence of high demand coupled with a very distorted second hand market for them. They were fairly heavily rationed new - and then many cars were exported to the far east when sold by their first owner. Volvo depreciation in contrast was absolutely horrendous!! My grandfather didn't get one, much to my dad's disappointment, reasoning that if my dad liked Mercs so much, then why didn't he get one himself! (He had a Jag)
They're a lovely small, high quality car. I particularly like the colour and spec of yours.
The 2.6 was an expensive car back then - much more than the 190E, particularly when heavily optioned up, such as yours. I don't know whether you have this (you probably do!!) but here is the price list from October 1988:
The writing was done by my late father. He made a concerted effort to persuade my grandfather to buy a 190E 2.6 - rather than his usual big Volvo. My dad was always appalled by the Volvo's depreciation - which was much more mild on the Mercedes back then. Mercedes depreciated less than any other saloon car as a consequence of high demand coupled with a very distorted second hand market for them. They were fairly heavily rationed new - and then many cars were exported to the far east when sold by their first owner. Volvo depreciation in contrast was absolutely horrendous!! My grandfather didn't get one, much to my dad's disappointment, reasoning that if my dad liked Mercs so much, then why didn't he get one himself! (He had a Jag)
They're a lovely small, high quality car. I particularly like the colour and spec of yours.
Edited by dbdb on Sunday 10th April 18:48
Lovely Car OP!
I had a manual 2 litre 190E in blue/black metallic with the 4 electric windows and electric sunroof some years ago and it was a great car.
I sold it after a few years when I bought a C280 Sport that was a big disappointment! Probably should have looked for a 2.6 litre 190E!
Coincidentally I saw a pretty clean white one with leather go through an auction recently and was seriously tempted!
Hope you continue to enjoy yours!
I had a manual 2 litre 190E in blue/black metallic with the 4 electric windows and electric sunroof some years ago and it was a great car.
I sold it after a few years when I bought a C280 Sport that was a big disappointment! Probably should have looked for a 2.6 litre 190E!
Coincidentally I saw a pretty clean white one with leather go through an auction recently and was seriously tempted!
Hope you continue to enjoy yours!
Some great posts, I love the scan of the pricelist.
Travelling 4 up the car is definitely creaky at the front so I I'm using the w124 this weekend instead and I will put it on for ball joints after the weekend. A shame as I have taken all my cars on this Inverness-Applecross run and I'm also heading over to Skye. Never mind!
The car also occasionally stalls when you have been running at speed and come to an abrupt stop. It did it twice when I first got it and I thought that a run of 600+ miles had blown the cobwebs out, however on Thursday it did it twice in a 30 mile trip. Any deas are welcome, otherwise Tommy the mechanic can sort it! The fun of 28 year old cars that I expect to provide full daily service
Travelling 4 up the car is definitely creaky at the front so I I'm using the w124 this weekend instead and I will put it on for ball joints after the weekend. A shame as I have taken all my cars on this Inverness-Applecross run and I'm also heading over to Skye. Never mind!
The car also occasionally stalls when you have been running at speed and come to an abrupt stop. It did it twice when I first got it and I thought that a run of 600+ miles had blown the cobwebs out, however on Thursday it did it twice in a 30 mile trip. Any deas are welcome, otherwise Tommy the mechanic can sort it! The fun of 28 year old cars that I expect to provide full daily service
Good to hear it out and about - for the stalling issue my first port of call would be the idle micro switch (often just a clean), the fuel dump relay and then the throttle cable setting and it's attendant springs.
Plenty of guides on the web for those issues, other than that the standard checking of plugs, leads etc. Also carbon build up on the butterfly valve causes this on a similar barge, the LS400, so worth degunking the whole inlet run.good luck!
Plenty of guides on the web for those issues, other than that the standard checking of plugs, leads etc. Also carbon build up on the butterfly valve causes this on a similar barge, the LS400, so worth degunking the whole inlet run.good luck!
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