Why did I do this page? The question might occur,
when one's not as interested in cars as I am. My favourite car make has
always been Mercedes-Benz. Since 1998 I've a 1977
280 SE (W116). Its body is quite rusty, but it runs well, despite it
has had 18 owners and has runned at least 240,000 km. My interest didn't
stop at this car however, I was soon looking around to get another (better?)
car. I started liking the predecessor of the W116, the W108 more and more.
In the beginning of March 2000 i found IT on the swedish second-hand site
www.blocket.se:
The car
"For sale in Norrkoping. A 1971 280SEL. For parts
or restoration." The ad didn't sound that good but the price was low, so
I called the owner. He told me all(?) the faults on the car, and that it
didn't had so much rust. The owner had stopped driving the car 13 years
ago, and since then it had been stored in a garage. The owner didn't put
oil into the cylinders, so the years had set the engine stuck. Some weeks
later I took a look at the car and bought it.
How to get 1500 kg home?
The next problem was to get the car home. The problem
was that I had no trailer or car that allowed me to bring it home legally.
After a while I found out that there was a MB 307D not far from home that
I could rent. It didn't went fast with its 70 hp engine trying to keep
3500 kg moving!
Closer inspection
At home I took a closer look at the car. It looked
quite okay, after all the dust, that before covered the car, had blown
away. I did already know that the engine didn't run and that there was
some rust in the backdoors. The hydropneumatic strut to the self-leveling
suspension looked fairly clean, but I still don't know if it works. I've
found some other faults:
* The exhaust pipe is broken at the rear axle.
* The PO has equipped the car with ugly early
80's speakers in the front door and behind the backseat.
* The brakes have been sitting for long and surely
needs a restoration.
* There are some blisters and scratches in the
paint.
* ...
* And so on... :-)
In the luggage
In the luggage I found a piece of very ugly lightblue
fitted carpet and some parts for the car. For instance some parts for the
american headlights, and four fuelpumps. Maybe I'll put up a list on the
Internet later.
What's up now?
I'm thinking about restoring the car. It needs a working
engine and some other work. If I won't restore it I can anyway sell it
in parts, and get much more money back than I paid for the car.
I've bought an engine! (updated
2000-11-01)
Some weeks ago I bought an second-hand engine for
the car. I bought it really cheap, but I'm not sure if it works. Time will
tell. I can't tell you when the engine will get into the car. I've quite
a lot to do right now due to my university studies.
To be continued...
This page was created the 7th of
May 2000 and updated the 9th of November 2000 by Albin
Sigonius
