Oh dear lord, not another... (Merc W124 Estate content)

Oh dear lord, not another... (Merc W124 Estate content)

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benjj

Original Poster:

6,787 posts

162 months

Monday 27th April 2015
quotequote all
Sorry. I know. In addition to the MX5, E39 M5 and some other stuff these are rapidly turning into the PH whole new thing

However, I'm so pleased with this brown bus that I thought I'd sling up a thread.

Motivated by several threads on here plus hooning around as a young boy in the back of a 7 seat W123 280TE I thought I'd buy one. I really don't need another car but hey, what the fk.

This popped up about 15 miles from my gaff:

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C603842

Not a bad advert but several things to worry about. So, accompanied by magic fingered Talkwrench (who looks after all my cars, builds most of them) we went for a look see. It turned out that there wasn't really a reason not to buy it so I did. £750. Then took it home for a wash.



191,000 miles, full service history (and I mean FULL) and a fabbo spec. It is properly loaded with kit. Full leather, orthopaedic electric seats, climate control, electric adjustable steering column, loads of wood and stuff. Most things I've tried seem to work too. Best bit is the general woodiness complete with Alpine wood stereo. Well, I say wood...



After the kids had finished using it as a climbing frame we all gathered round, my eldest daughter christened it 'Brando' and we gave it a bit of love. Sponges dropped onto floor, hard bristled brushes used by 3 year old on bonnet, that kind of stuff. It came up pretty well.







The most satisfying job was arming everyone with an old toothbrush, spraying all around the windows and panel joins with some cleaning stuff from under the sink and letting them get busy. The amount of crap that came out was amazing - moss, green gunk, leaves etc.

Then we just loaded up and went in search of ice creams.



That's it really. It needs some tweaking. Oil leak here, noisy diff there, 4Matic ECU needs changing (but got one with the car). Some of the problems can probably be fixed with a cup of tea, some others may result in me pushing it into a reservoir in the dead of night. Whatever, as I said to a friend I had a lunch last week that cost more money than this car.

It failed to start this morning, think it didn't like the cold weather. It came round though after a bit of WD40, hammer and fuse replacement action. So I slung it in the garage and will smoke around in it like Princess Diana's secret boyfriend for a bit at the weekends.



Oh, it likes a drink too. It came with just under half a tank of juice and I used most of that over the course of 70 hard pedalled miles yesterday.

If any other W124 estate nutters want a boot liner or roof bars I will, in proper Turkish market fashion, make you a good price.


S3_Graham

12,830 posts

198 months

Monday 27th April 2015
quotequote all
Awesome garage!!

Good colour the brown. Very much suits the 'classic' shades of brown, gold, green etc

Good luck with it, mine gives an overwhelming sense of quality and solidarity.

benjj

Original Poster:

6,787 posts

162 months

Monday 27th April 2015
quotequote all
The garage is pretty cool. Wish I'd bought the W124 earlier so I could have kept the Carisma out of this shot...


Usget

5,426 posts

210 months

Monday 27th April 2015
quotequote all
benjj said:
That is truly, truly dreadful hehe

Great bus!

benjj

Original Poster:

6,787 posts

162 months

Monday 27th April 2015
quotequote all
I think it's worth the asking price!

harrykul

2,770 posts

225 months

Monday 27th April 2015
quotequote all
Looks great!

LeoZwalf

2,802 posts

229 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
quotequote all
Class. So much for so little.

Dad had one of these (not 4 Matic and not a 7 seater) also on a K plate in green from around 2000 until around 2009, took it from (very approx, my memory is fading) 75,000 miles to 225,000 in that time. It too liked a drink especially towards the end of his time with it but it was always so solid feeling, quiet and smooth.


benjj

Original Poster:

6,787 posts

162 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
quotequote all
To Tom, the guy who email about the boot liner etc: tried replying to your email twice but it pings back saying no such address.

T.K

461 posts

177 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
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Apologies- issue with my PH account. Should now be rectified with the correct address.. thank you

jas xjr

11,309 posts

238 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
quotequote all
Great find ,would love one of these.
But the question has to be asked," where on earth do you eat lunch smile

benjj

Original Poster:

6,787 posts

162 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
quotequote all
Last week was Joel Robouchon's L'atelier next door to The Ivy. Bloody good it was too!

Barchettaman

6,282 posts

131 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
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Quality work Benjj, enjoy the car. Keep updating!

Gad-Westy

14,521 posts

212 months

Wednesday 29th April 2015
quotequote all
Really starting to fancy one of these for a winter hack next year. They have that proper old Mercedes indestructible look about them. Handsome too.

benjj

Original Poster:

6,787 posts

162 months

Wednesday 29th April 2015
quotequote all
Just ordered a service kit from CP4L. I've got some suitable 10w40 at home so managed to pick up a relative bargain of 6xNGK plugs, Crossland air filter and Gutman oil & fuel filters for the princely sum of £23 delivered.

Smokin'.

CharlesdeGaulle

26,091 posts

179 months

Wednesday 29th April 2015
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Congratulations benjj - these things are addictive.

Hooli

32,278 posts

199 months

Wednesday 29th April 2015
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Excellent, I love the stereo thumbup

idiotgap

2,112 posts

132 months

Thursday 30th April 2015
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I love to hate the stereo.

This thread got me thinking what made me want one of these things in the first place and I remembered what it was in the end.


There was a cover-story article in the July 2007 edition of Mercedes Enthusiast about the £1k 124 estate and how versatile they are. I don't keep magazines so I don't have it... but from memory they spoke to 3 people that had one. One was a photographer who would stand on his in order to get a better shot, a surfer who would sleep in his on the beach (hence the cover photo location) and someone else who I can't remember.

I liked the idea of a car that was cheap, should go on forever though, didn't look too shabby when washed but ultimately you could stand on it, throw surfboards in it etc. and not care too much about ruining it.

Had ours 5 years now and it's been great - hope you enjoy yours just as much Benjj!


Edited by idiotgap on Thursday 30th April 21:41

soxboy

6,060 posts

218 months

Friday 1st May 2015
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Just followed you from Ben Rhydding to Skipton (not stalking, it's my commute!). Merc looks very good and the colour shines well in the sun, hope there's no significant bork on it.

I enjoyed my brief W124 estate ownership, it was an itch I had to scratch at a time I needed a big cheap car. The car was a dog, but I made a big profit on selling it as I took off the private plate and sold that.

I just need to start saving for a w124 cabrio...

benjj

Original Poster:

6,787 posts

162 months

Friday 1st May 2015
quotequote all
What were you in? The Passat that swung off to Skipton past Aga?

soxboy

6,060 posts

218 months

Friday 1st May 2015
quotequote all
benjj said:
What were you in? The Passat that swung off to Skipton past Aga?
Yep, that was me!