Mercedes W108

Sarc · 07-11-2010, 10:07 AM

Seems like I've been spending obscene amounts of time lately trying to learn more about the 108 series M-Bs; the 4.5 SE in particular. I've been over at the MB equivalent of Pelican and stumbled on this thread the other night and thought some of you would appreciate some of these pics. I'm absolutely in love with the interiors in these cars.

Though I suspect this car in particular commands a higher price of admission, these cars seem to offer a lot for their genral 5-10k entry price. Anyway, enjoy.

Here's another cool thread on same forum.

speeder · speeder's Garage

I've owned 3 or 4 w108s including a 4.5. They are beautiful cars and really cheap compared to their (mechanically identical) 2-door brethren. REALLY cheap. $5k usually buys a very good one, though not the quality of the first one pictured above.

They drive well and do not have any particular mechanical weaknesses, just typical maintenance of a ~40 year old car. They are built incredibly well. The achilles heal from a DD perspective is that they get horrible fuel mileage. The old V-8 Benzes get about 10 mpg on premium if they are in perfect tune. The mechanical inefficiency of them really bugged me, aside from the huge cost of driving it. I like the 6-cylinder cars better, they are even cheaper still to buy and have 90% of the power of the 4.5s. You're not going to win any races in either one.

kaisen · 07-11-2010, 11:50 AM

280SEL without the air suspension of the 300SEL

I owned a '68 280SE and a '70 280SEL, and they were very cool stately old cars
Rust was a real cancer, and the reason why good front fenders are an arm and a leg

onewhippedpuppy · 07-11-2010, 03:44 PM

You have good taste my friend. I love those cars, and the interior is one of the best of that era.

RANDY P · RANDY P's Garage

Lowered on Mono II's 18"

slow&rusty · 07-11-2010, 05:35 PM

I love the W108s...such an uber sweet machine..one of the most beautiful saloons every designed and built. Sorry but I would have to get the 4.5L V8 over the straight sixxer.

The Monoblocks on the W108 that Randy posted looks out of place...interesting though.

I love these old Benzes.

RANDY P · RANDY P's Garage

It used to have 18x8" Fikse FM10's on it until he broke one.

From what I understand lowering the rear was a bit of a bastard.

Rot 911 · 07-11-2010, 05:56 PM

Love the cars, just can't get past the horrible gas mileage. Why is that. Even an early '70's American V-8 pickup truck gets better gas mileage.

speeder · speeder's Garage

Just looked at the rest of the pictures on the MB forum of the car on top. Holy cow, that's a full concours car.

speeder · speeder's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rot 911

Love the cars, just can't get past the horrible gas mileage. Why is that. Even an early '70's American V-8 pickup truck gets better gas mileage.

Combination of first generation CIS, weight and gearing + slush box trans. It's as though they were designed to get rid of a bunch of excess oil in Saudi Arabia or something.

slow&rusty · 07-12-2010, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speeder

It's as though they were designed to get rid of a bunch of excess oil in Saudi Arabia or something.

That gave me a chuckle...

Sarc · 08:20 AM

I would love to have one of these with a modern lump under the hood. There's a shop nearby that does some pretty phenominal coversions; 500E coupes, V12 W126s that sord of thing. Supposedly they took a W109 and incorporated the drivetrain from a W210 E55. Talk about a sleeper....

Sarc · 07-12-2010, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

and the interior is one of the best of that era.

No doubt!

kaisen · 07-12-2010, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarc

I would love to have one of these with a modern lump under the hood. There's a shop nearby that does some pretty phenominal coversions; 500E coupes, V12 W126s that sord of thing. Supposedly they took a W109 and incorporated the drivetrain from a W210 E55.

If you're even thinking of that $$$, you might as well just buy a 300SEL 6.3
That's quite a lump, even by modern standards

Sarc · 07-12-2010, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaisen

If you're even thinking of that $$$, you might as well just buy a 300SEL 6.3
That's quite a lump, even by modern standards

Nahh, just always fun to play what ifs. If anything, I'd love to make it more fuel efficient, but with the $$$ you spend you're better off getting something newer anyway. A 6.3 would be fun toy I'm sure.

speeder · speeder's Garage

From any kind of collector standpoint, you would be destroying the car. (With a modern engine swap). Considering the low price of these cars, it does not really matter but on the other hand, it would now be an expensive car. That gets bad gas mileage. The cost of the conversion would buy one hell of a lot of excess fuel and the chassis would still be a 1960s design.

If you really love these cars, better off just getting a nice one and using it as a 2nd or 3rd car. The sad thing is that most of them have been crushed here in CA. in the last 20 years. I used to see them all the time at the self-serve junk yard, after people pull the parts from them for a couple weeks, they crush 'em. They have crushed countless cars with perfect body panels including the precious front fenders. I used to consider grabbing the fenders but could never locate the supposed big $$ market for them(?)

kaisen · 07-12-2010, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speeder

They have crushed countless cars with perfect body panels including the precious front fenders. I used to consider grabbing the fenders but could never locate the supposed big $$ market for them(?)

Sensing need before demand is the key to the market. The fenders are the first to rust, so someone sometime will really need one.
But they were (and still are) too cheap to justify a 'restoration'
Honestly, I don't think W108s (exception 6.3) will ever have a huge market

But look at the Coupe and Cabrio versions and they fetch big money
Sad to see the car in the Hangover get destroyed like that, even if it was just a slapped together movie prop

speeder · speeder's Garage

It was probably a pretty nice 6-cylinder cabriolet in "The Hangover". The cost of destroying one of those is a minor line item in the budget of a studio film.

Sarc · 07-12-2010, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speeder

From any kind of collector standpoint, you would be destroying the car. (With a modern engine swap). Considering the low price of these cars, it does not really matter but on the other hand, it would now be an expensive car. That gets bad gas mileage. The cost of the conversion would buy one hell of a lot of excess fuel and the chassis would still be a 1960s design.

Well the idea behind the swap would be to make the car more efficient (The E55 swap was just an example of what that local shop has done).

Still, I get what you’re saying, but what like Kaisen states, there doesn’t seem to be much of a future collectability for the non-6.3 W108s so I’m not concerned about affecting its value. Given the fact that I’m fairly monogamous when it comes to vehicle ownership, I worry little about the appealing to a future buyer rather taking an interest in what moves me. The tinkerer in me thinks it would be great to mate the timeless exterior/interior design with a more contemporary and effiecient drivetrain. Kind of what you see done so many times in the 911 world (albeit for somewhat of a different reason).

In the end, it’s just a $5,000 car that I think would be fun to bomb around town in from time to time.

tcar · 07-12-2010, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RANDY P

Lowered on Mono II's 18"

Hmmmm, I know where "Slow and Rusty"s wheels ended up.

(See random transportation thread... next to last page.)

Little online detective work.