Mercedes R107's

[EdJ]

Sorry to be posting a question rather than an answer to the above post. My 420SL has just come back from being serviced and the speedometer has stopped working. Any ideas? Dealer suggested fuse (which I've yet to check) but surely it's more likely to be a cable that's broken / unplugged?

[Lowtimer]

Late 107s have electronic speedos, not cable ones.
http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t...
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r-c107-sl-slc-clas...

[Humper]

b11ocx said:

Remember that anything chrome or rubber costs a good deal more than you think it should or could :-)

^^^ This, in spades.

One of the dearest cars you can buy is a cheap 107, people laugh at the SL Shop prices for minters but try making a P O S into a reasonable one and see what it costs. Mine has a very small leak from the drivers door rubber, once you know the price you'll know why I live with it. Merc really rip the piss with spares prices, and even pattern stuff can be expensive, (most similar things I've bought for my Jag are substantially cheaper)
Most look ok, so a shabby one with broken windows and a stuck hardtop has the potential to be a real stter( decent soft top = £800 min..)

[acme]

Have a guess how much the rubber seal is that goes on the distributor, £23 from Merc, SL shop was about £3

Leads, rotors & caps circa £500 from Merc, about £100 ECP without the Merc stamp, cap & arms were still Bosch/Beru, identical!

Now that takes the proverbial....

[EdJ]

Lowtimer said:

Late 107s have electronic speedos, not cable ones.
http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t...
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r-c107-sl-slc-clas...

Thanks - very helpful. Let's hope it is the fuse!

[spitsfire]

Went for a test of the 350. Starts, moves, and stops ok. Looks good from above... but then I put it on a hoist.

The underseal makes it very hard to accurately judge the condition of the metal, but there are nasty brown cold sores on one front suspension mount, under the sills, and just in front of the rear wheels. The subframe isn't cracked, although it's not been re-enforced. The top side of the car is fairly rust-free. It's a 1971 UK delivered car, exported to Australia at some point in time.

Does this mean the bits I can't see are likely to be completely fooked? I do like the car and it is cheap, but is this a very bad idea?

[Humper]

spitsfire said:

Went for a test of the 350. Starts, moves, and stops ok. Looks good from above... but then I put it on a hoist.

The underseal makes it very hard to accurately judge the condition of the metal, but there are nasty brown cold sores on one front suspension mount, under the sills, and just in front of the rear wheels. The subframe isn't cracked, although it's not been re-enforced. The top side of the car is fairly rust-free. It's a 1971 UK delivered car, exported to Australia at some point in time.

Does this mean the bits I can't see are likely to be completely fooked? I do like the car and it is cheap, but is this a very bad idea?

Worth a read
http://www.theslshop.com/advice-buyer-checks.html

Bad headlights will fail an MOT, price? Around a grand.
There's more than structural issues, pour a bucket of water over the windscreen, if any gets inside you have holes in the bulkhead.

But if it has mint bumpers and headlights and it's less than 2.5k buy it, you can't lose

[Zonergem]

Four years ago a mate lent me his early 350SL - mono-mirror, no headrests, manual winding windows, both knobs missing on the tape deck, 188k on the clock, rust on the carpets - and I woofled very happily to the coast and back in mixed company. How we both laughed when my clutch foot would instinctively press the windscreen wash button every mile or two. Sadly that car has now pretty much perished so in loving memory:



Since then I've conducted a low-level hunt for the right one - a period correct 1978* 350SL (oh ok, a 450 at a push) with painted steel hubcaps, ideally without electric windows. Cloth or MB tex interior in anything other than black.

The tremendous blessing of a newborn infant meant that I altogether missed the COYS auction earlier this year, when this low-mileage and pleasingly poverty-spec 1978 example sold for a biscuit under 20k.



but then in late July she surfaced, a mermaid amongst old dog biscuit bowls and boxes of Hornby models in the Toy and Transport catalogue of a small auction room in Sussex. 1978, 76k miles, 2 owners, great colour combo (is it 516 Mittelrot?) Finally, there was my car! ISAs were en-cashed, old relations advertised on e-Bay, and I prepared a colossal war chest. It was going to be trailered to John Haynes (or someone even more expensive if I could find them) with the instructions not to remove an iota of patination, but otherwise go to town on making it mechanically wunderbar.



But then disaster. The lot was withdrawn and so I suspect one of you out there is driving around in my SL. If you have XKO 3**S then please let me know your asking price because blackmail is an ugly word and "it is so hard to make a neat job of killing people with whom one is not on friendly terms"

• it has to be 1978. The year of my birth but also a year when the British economy may not have been quite firing on all 12 cylinders.

Edited by Zonergem on Monday 5th September 15:03

Edited by Zonergem on Monday 5th September 15:08

[Zonergem]

Kind Hearts & Coronets.

The war chest might have to be put into an R129 now. At least I was a twelve year old boy at Earls Court when that was on the show stand in all its gingercator glory. After seeing das Bink in all her glory I think any R107 I buy will suffer by comparison.

[Dapster]

Zonergem said:

is it 516 Mittelrot?

Could be Barolo


Pajet


Orient


Cabernet (587)


Medium (516)


Can't vouch for the image being the actual colour - just searched the internet....

[Zonergem]

I was hoping it was the original paint or at least original colour, which for 1978 would be more limited.

If we want to get nerdy (and we obviously do) then here's a good resource for period-dating R107 colours.

http://107sl-club.mercedes-benz-clubs.com/der-107e...

It's pretty much not Englischrot though, on this car which presumably went Germany > California > Germany

[Zonergem]

That being said, if I had to have a post-1987 example with flat-face alloys, a £60k price tag and no real anima then Pajet Red is too damn beautiful.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Nice colours, inside and out. 18 grand.

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C723709

[Zonergem]

Got nothing but love in my heart for that car, nothing but love. Though is the 280 too weedy, or is speed simply not the point?

[TISPKJ]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Nice colours, inside and out. 18 grand.

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C723709

That looks like a bargain to me if it all stacks up as described.

[Lowtimer]

Zonergem said:

Got nothing but love in my heart for that car, nothing but love. Though is the 280 too weedy, or is speed simply not the point?

My view is that the R107 is not a car in which attempting to go fast by modern standards is particularly enjoyable or rewarding, and that if you want to cover the ground faster than the average family hatchback you are better off using another. A fit 280SL will keep up with the flow of the normal traffic without delaying anyone to the point that they become annoyed, and that's the sort of pace that seems right for the car. With a bigger engine you're really only going to want to do the same sort of speeds, while using fewer RPM and making a different sound (both the six and the eight cylinder models sound pleasant, in different ways).

If you want an SL that keeps up with more spirited driving on open roads in the context of modern traffic then the V8 R129 is probably more the sort of thing to try. (Though of course there are now quite a few diesel estates knocking about that can match even one of those in a straight line.)

[idiotgap]

I have a 280 and have never really found it lacking. It feels as quick to me as the slightly nautical feeling handling allows, I think I drive it with reasonable conviction. As for keeping up with modern traffic, it's certainly well able to do that, to the surprise of some.

[Zonergem]

Harry Metcalfe's "pick 'em up for 9k" seems a little wide of the mark. But can't see this hanging around too long, even if the photo makes the bonnet panel fit look a little odd.

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C786052

[Zonergem]

Although why do people say "No rust" when the car is 45 years old and we can all see (some of) the MoT history within seconds?

[jackpe]

A 280 will ideed keep up with modern traffic but the engine on these is important more because the effortless power of larger engines is more suited to the character of the car. You may not go any fater but the larger engines are a more relaxing and to me enjoyable drive.