Nov
11
The 500E has been surfing under the radar for years. Just recently it made a list on Yahoo Auto of cars that you need to own. The M-B 500E is a freaking German hot rod in the Pontiac GTO tradition. It looks plain on the outside but watch out. The press called it “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”. How unimaginative. It’s Walter White from Breaking Bad. Read More
Nov
7
We love it when we find a relatively obscure Mercedes Benz 60s sedan in what appears to be decent condition. By obscure we mean no offense. The Ponton 190B sedans are just not seen very often on the open road. One might say the same thing about our Fintail. They get lots of attention because people remember them but haven’t seen one in years. The Benz is reported to be in good running condition but take that with a grain of salt. Read More
Nov
5
Jimmy Carter gets the blame for a lot of things but you might want to tip your hat towards Plains, Georgia for this one. The unassuming jewel of a Mercedes-Benz, the 190E 2.3 16 Valve, was engineered in response to Carter’s threat to increase fuel economy and emissions standards to ridiculous levels. The skunkwerks at M-B called the folks in Northampton England at Cosworth Engineering to come up with a killer, fuel-efficient engine to put into their 190E body. The results were spectacular.
M-B originally thought it would be a successful rally car and it would have been up to the task but the cost of campaigning a team was unmanageable. Read More
Nov
2
If you are a frequent reader, you know of our affection for the W113 Mercedes-Benz. Of course, they began as a 230SL like the car we featured earlier in the week, and went all the way up to a 280SL before the end. We had a few comments from readers that said they would be interested in the 230SL we featured earlier if it was a manual shift. Bingo. Read More
Nov
1
If you have ever had the pleasure of driving an R107 Model Mercedes SL you probably came away thinking it was an elegant, beautiful car built like a battleship. Some say it is one of the last great Mercedes Benz automobiles with impeccable build quality. The 380SLs didn’t have the best powerplant. In fact, we shy away from them entirely. It’s the 560SL that is the ultimate W107. Read More
Oct
31
If this weren’t Halloween we would swear it was April Fools Day. You see these Turbo Diesel Mercedes Benz Station Wagens (AKA Longroof) are quite the in thing. If we had not just purchased that GTO for $52 million, we would be all over this one. These W123 Diesels are known to be virtually indestructible. You could put Irv Gordon miles on one and not break a sweat. Read More
Oct
29
The original 460-series Geländewagen went on sale for civilian buyers in 1979, after having debuted in February of that year. It was offered with two wheelbases, a short wheelbase (SWB) of 2,400 mm and a long one (LWB) of 2,850 mm. One could choose between three body styles: A two-door short wheelbase convertible, a two-door SWB wagon and a long wheelbase four-door wagon. They were built in Graz, Austria. The 460 was popular with military and off-road enthusiasts, with more than 50,000 built during the first decade. Read More
Oct
27
We have quite a few loyal readers who know a lot about these beautiful SLs. So we always get a little nervous when we single one out for a featured listing. But we really like the back story on this one and more importantly, the color combination. It is not a show car and we get that. The seats are showing signs of age and the soft top needs attention. It was refinished in the original color 20 years ago and it is impossible to tell the quality from a few photos. Read More
Oct
22
We guess because we have a Mercedes-Benz Fintail that we rave about; readers tend to send us Finnies of similar potential. Potential is the key word here. We rarely see for sale a Mercedes-Benz W111, referred to here in the states as a Fintail and in Europe as a Heckflosse, in totally restored, drivable condition. Either the owners of said Finnies (like us) don’t want to part with them or there aren’t that many surviving examples. We believe owners don’t want to part with them. Here is a good one that has a similar story to ours. Read More
Oct
18
The W112 Coupe and the Cabriolet or 300SE were the pinnacle of Mercedes-Benz luxury of the period. It was mechanically sophisticated with the M189 Big-Block inline-6 and a score of luxury features like a supple air suspension. The interior was graced with leather and a choice of woods and the dash was treated to sporty round gauges instead of the plebian vertical thermometer in the Fintail sedan. These 300SEs were about $10,000 more than their stablemate the 250SE. Quite by coincidence, we featured a nice 300SE Coupe ealier this week. Then this Cabriolet popped into our mailbox to complete our tribute to the 300SE. Today’s featured Cabriolet is in an interesting color combination. Not the most dramatic but certainly elegant. Read More
Oct
18
Motor trend called it a tank in a tux. We won’t argue that point at all. The Gelandewagen is not a familiar sight on American roads. We would wage a guess if you left New York City and headed west you might not see another one until you got to California. Maybe in Colorado in the ritzy ski towns but not so much in Nebraska or Iowa. Now before Mercedes-Benz federalized their own version of the G-wagen, Europa International was the only way to get one. Read More
Oct
15
We have featured a few W112 Coupes before but never the top of the range 300SE. The Coupe and the Cabriolet were the pinnacle of Mercedes-Benz luxury of the period. It was mechanically sophisticated with the M189 Big-Block inline 6 and a score of luxury features like a supple air suspension. The interior was graced with leather and a choice of woods and the dash was treated to sporty round gauges instead of the plebian vertical thermometer in the Fintail sedan. The ratio between sedans and coupes was like 40:1 making them pretty special cars. Read More
Sep
27
We won’t pass on a potentially terrific 230SL no matter how many we run across. We were impressed by the presentation, description and documentation that accompany this elegant convertible. Read More
Sep
26
The 450SLC was a 2 door hardtop coupe with normal rear seats. Few people know (or care) that the SLC, is commonly referred to as a ‘SL coupe’, but in reality it was an S-class coupe, replacing the former sedan-based 280/300 SE coupé in Mercedes lineup. When they were available, they were the most expensive Mercedes in the line-up. At the time, many felt they looked a little awkward but we think the styling and importance of these low-slung coupes has a place in the collector car world. Read More
Sep
25
One has to be brave to undertake the care and feeding of a car that gave birth to the legendary 300SL Gullwing. That’s right, many of the bits from this giant, elegant sedan were modified to fit in the Gullwing and Roadster chassis. These are extraordinary cars of great quality but they are expensive to restore and maintain. Once done, they are very rewarding, although at a leisurely pace. This one caught our attention because the seller says it is mostly a solid car with all of its parts and is said to actually run. Read More
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