Best Smoker Barges 1-5 large [Vol 7]

Best Smoker Barges 1-5 large [Vol 7]

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SuperHangOn

3,486 posts

152 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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sday12 said:
That's a new one: 'Air Con needs a regas, KwikFit don't have the connector'
Yup, cheque is in the post. Right.

TBH it's a 700 quid car regardless of the big bills.
Its impossible to say without looking, the condition obviously varies so much car to car. If its as rust free as it looks and runs nicely I would have no problem handing over a grand.

The a/c thing is the usual bks but then at least its fitted so if you want to splash the cash and get it running you can.

BrownBottle

1,365 posts

135 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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idiotgap said:
BrownBottle said:
So how come all you guys want a girls car? tongue out
The wife chose our R107 - back in 2007.

She can't stand the slabbyness of a 129, it didn't matter how much I tried to persuade her it was the better car.

So yeah - the choice of the lady. Though I don't feel compromised driving it.

The decision making process actually went like this:-

ME: We're young and have no kids, I demand to buy a fun car to replace our golf with the savings I wasn't able to build up until you showed up with some extra cash, income of your own, more frugal ways/anti-frittering policy.

HER: OK - that sounds nice dear. Maybe when we've bought a big house.

small number of years pass

ME: We've bought a big house now which includes a garage - now, I really must insist on suggesting we blow our savings on more fun car.

HER: If it's a convertible, it either has to be a foldy metal roof one or a keep the golf and get a classic as well, there's no place for canvas on a new car in this day and age - it dates it too much. Oh - and I hate BMWs with untold passion, everyone who drives them is arrogant, pushy and besides my ex and all his family drove them so they evoke a sense of dark and terrible dread in my heart.

ME: err... ok... leave it with me. (after some minutes...) What do you think of this Merc on autotrader. (Jan 2007)

6 months pass...



Very nice!...the cars not bad either, sounds like a persuasive woman aren't they all!

Don't worry he drove hers as well biggrin






deadslow

7,960 posts

222 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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currently ay £2.5k 20 hrs to go

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301249717824?ssPageName=...



fair few miles but loadsa good maintenance

derin100

5,214 posts

242 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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slippery said:
derin100 said:
slippery said:
dbdb said:
That's the way I remember it too - the Pagoda was always an expensive car. The R107 hardly dropped for a very long time too, with seventies cars still fairly expensive even in the mid-late eighties.
In 1991 I sold an immaculate (freshly re-sprayed) 150k 1979 350 SL for £9k and an immaculate 80k 1982 380 SL for £12.5k, if that info is of any use to anyone.
So R107 has always been a relatively expensive car?

Does make one wonder how or why R129 has become (currently) so cheap?
I think it's perhaps a quite complex question and answer. Fuel prices, fashions, numbers for sale, availability of finance for much newer cars, I don't really know. What I do know is that you can buy a very presentable and serviceable 129 for the same kind of money that a relatively rough 107 was, even a coupe of decades ago, without even taking inflation into account. They are without doubt the better car on pretty much every level, I've spent thousands of miles behind the wheels of new SL500 and a young SL60 so I have tried both and I can confirm they are a total bargain. That being said and I know we are talking outside budget here, but the SL 55 AMG is a bargain on a similar level too, with very little to touch it at its price point. I think that the UK might just have lost its thirst for older, thirstier, more complex cars, which is good news for the likes of us.
Yes, I think all of those things you've alluded to and definitely the culture that surrounds what I've highlighted in bold from your text. Twenty to twenty five years ago there wasn't this culture of "everyone must have a new car" and so secondhand cars were generally considered a more valuable commodity.

However, I think the prices of the likes of the Pagoda and latterly R107 are now driven by a completely different force of "speculation" and supposed"investment opportunities" in classic cars. A notion that seems to being peddled worryingly hard just at the moment?

I agree that the SL55 appears a bargain at current market values but I think that's for a different reason c.f R129. There is no getting away from the potentially catastrophic Bork Quotient on the SL55. I think that's what has driven them so low now. I nearly bought one before I bought my CSL. Good, low mileage ones (with Merc Warranties) were about £30K then. I don't have pockets deep enough or rose-tinted glasses dark enough to consider having one now. Not many people with any sense can afford to own one. People who do have enough money probably just buy new cars?




E65Ross

34,943 posts

211 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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derin100 said:
Yes, I think all of those things you've alluded to and definitely the culture that surrounds what I've highlighted in bold from your text. Twenty to twenty five years ago there wasn't this culture of "everyone must have a new car" and so secondhand cars were generally considered a more valuable commodity.

However, I think the prices of the likes of the Pagoda and latterly R107 are now driven by a completely different force of "speculation" and supposed"investment opportunities" in classic cars. A notion that seems to being peddled worryingly hard just at the moment?

I agree that the SL55 appears a bargain at current market values but I think that's for a different reason c.f R129. There is no getting away from the potentially catastrophic Bork Quotient on the SL55. I think that's what has driven them so low now. I nearly bought one before I bought my CSL. Good, low mileage ones (with Merc Warranties) were about £30K then. I don't have pockets deep enough or rose-tinted glasses dark enough to consider having one now. Not many people with any sense can afford to own one. People who do have enough money probably just buy new cars?
You're probably right. I'm going to risk a massive flaming here, but I think the R230 SL (pre-facelift) is one of the better looking cars they've done for many years, and I prefer it to the R129 for styling. Then they RUINED the front end with the hideous facelift.

derin100

5,214 posts

242 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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E65Ross said:
You're probably right. I'm going to risk a massive flaming here, but I think the R230 SL (pre-facelift) is one of the better looking cars they've done for many years, and I prefer it to the R129 for styling. Then they RUINED the front end with the hideous facelift.
I agree. R230 is a stunning looking car!

CharlesdeGaulle

26,089 posts

179 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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SuperHangOn said:
CharlesdeGaulle - I have sent you a message about the SL
Seen, thanks. I'll let you know how I get on.

CharlesdeGaulle

26,089 posts

179 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
quotequote all
SuperHangOn said:
sday12 said:
That's a new one: 'Air Con needs a regas, KwikFit don't have the connector'
Yup, cheque is in the post. Right.
The a/c thing is the usual bks but then at least its fitted so if you want to splash the cash and get it running you can.
I'm just back from taking the S124 to Kwik-Fit for an a/c re-gas. Madame CdeG threw her teddy right out the cot about the non-working aircon, so I thought I'd start with the simple checks first. The Kwik-Fit boys pumped all the gas stuff (or whatever it is they do) and then 30 mins later told me it wasn't working.

Good news = no charge, and confirmation of what I was pretty sure would be the case.
Bad news = need to either get the compressor and other bits and pieces replaced, or may have to move the car on and start again. As I really like the old bus, I may have to spend some cash.

Any recommendations for decent aircon places near Farnborough?

brickwall

5,192 posts

209 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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Sterillium said:
Oof. Now that is seriously tempting. Almost the exact perfect spec for me.
lick

harry kular

2,770 posts

225 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
quotequote all
derin100 said:
Not many people with any sense can afford to own one.
Saw two SL55 yesterday (rare in these parts), so I was eyeing one up today that has come up locally for £12k with FMBSH. Am I mad to consider it?

r129sl

9,518 posts

202 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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The interesting thing about the 107 is that there was still a waiting list when it went out of production. It also went straight from production to classic, largely because its production life was 18 years and because it was two or three generations old by the end: in other words, it was a classic already. By contrast, only now, 25years after its launch, is the 129 leaving behind its old car status and starting to enjoy its classic car status. No doubt the perceived complexity of the 129 puts people off as does the neglect that they endure so well. This latter I think is key to it: by the time the 129 ceased production, it was a different world. Not just ready finance. But people did not buy to keep and certainly no longer maintained to keep. And then the R230 had all of the latest wonder gizmos.

As for numbers produced, it is pretty similar for 107 and 129: about 225,000 of each; but of course, that was over 18 years for the 107 and only 12 for the 129.

Sterillium

22,226 posts

224 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
quotequote all
brickwall said:
Sterillium said:
Oof. Now that is seriously tempting. Almost the exact perfect spec for me.
lick
GERROFF! wink

E65Ross

34,943 posts

211 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
quotequote all
Finally, 4 fully refurbished wheels with Gtechniq C1 and EXO on them, I don't know if you recall just how badly corroded they were, but this is what they all look like now (and a few other pics after it's first clean in 3k miles








r129sl

9,518 posts

202 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
quotequote all
Car looks brand new, Ross. Imagine how good it would look if it were a 124. ;-)

slippery

14,093 posts

238 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
quotequote all
harry kular said:
derin100 said:
Not many people with any sense can afford to own one.
Saw two SL55 yesterday (rare in these parts), so I was eyeing one up today that has come up locally for £12k with FMBSH. Am I mad to consider it?
No, I don't think so. Think of it as a £20k car, which would be quite conceivable and you've got £8k in reserve should anything go wrong. smile

E65Ross

34,943 posts

211 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
quotequote all
r129sl said:
Car looks brand new, Ross. Imagine how good it would look if it were a 124. ;-)
I don't need to imagine, I've seen your car hehe

Either that, or were you suggesting something like "it looks brand new, E65s have ages really well..." wink

They're an ugly sod from the back, mind. I prefer the rear of the face-lift, but the front end of my one (perhaps uglier, but less generic)

edit - I forgot to ask r129sl - did you ever use that degreaser?? Thoughts?

Edited by E65Ross on Saturday 26th July 19:51

SuperHangOn

3,486 posts

152 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
quotequote all
SpeckledJim said:
_Batty_ said:
I know it's not a Merc, but my friends GS300 at under a bag is epic value.
Been in it many a time and it's very honest. Hell of a lot of car for the money!

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/l...
I like that a lot. A very safe resting-place for £975.

I always found the lime-green instruments on these off-putting.
Looks like its been polished and put on ebay for £500 more, bloody traders

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121394821170

Edited by SuperHangOn on Saturday 26th July 22:49

0a

23,879 posts

193 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
quotequote all
r129sl said:
The interesting thing about the 107 is that there was still a waiting list when it went out of production. It also went straight from production to classic, largely because its production life was 18 years and because it was two or three generations old by the end: in other words, it was a classic already. By contrast, only now, 25years after its launch, is the 129 leaving behind its old car status and starting to enjoy its classic car status. No doubt the perceived complexity of the 129 puts people off as does the neglect that they endure so well. This latter I think is key to it: by the time the 129 ceased production, it was a different world. Not just ready finance. But people did not buy to keep and certainly no longer maintained to keep. And then the R230 had all of the latest wonder gizmos.

As for numbers produced, it is pretty similar for 107 and 129: about 225,000 of each; but of course, that was over 18 years for the 107 and only 12 for the 129.
Very interesting and this helps explain the relative prices. Is the r129 complicated in reality (I was under the impression that aside from the roof much of it was w124?).

This weekend I am not driving a w124 (!) - I've borrowed the newly refreshed 320slk (the two seater not sure of W number) from the old folks for a long weekend (just back from welding, all bushes, suspension, steering damper, exhaust). I think the sun has got to me... I'm really enjoying it with the roof down (a pretty clever mechanism).

The car is transformed from the last time I drove it - and this is a 50k mile car. Pretty poor that they can be knackered at that mileage but now amusing enough to drive.

derin100

5,214 posts

242 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
quotequote all
As r129sl said, I think it's probably a perceived complexity rather than an actuality. I would have also said that apart from the roof mechanism there hasn't been anything that has struck me as overly complicated above and beyond a W124?


derin100

5,214 posts

242 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
quotequote all
slippery said:
harry kular said:
derin100 said:
Not many people with any sense can afford to own one.
Saw two SL55 yesterday (rare in these parts), so I was eyeing one up today that has come up locally for £12k with FMBSH. Am I mad to consider it?
No, I don't think so. Think of it as a £20k car, which would be quite conceivable and you've got £8k in reserve should anything go wrong. smile
But would an £8K war-chest be sufficient for the campaign being considered? confused
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