My mate’s dad had a W126 S-Class when I was at school and I always thought it was a deeply impressive set of wheels. It is with some surprise therefore that I find myself rolling around town in a blue one (albeit a more powerful V8, he had a 280SE). Part Frank Butcher, part Idi Amin, these leviathans of the road pretty much sum up eighties Mercs – they are built like tanks. In fact since we bought the PH S-Class for £865 I’ve seen an unbelievable amount of these cars just on my way to work. There is the maroon one in Clapham, a two-tone black one that I see in Kingston and a gold number outside someone’s house.
OK, so the Merc is not a ‘sporty’ car by any stretch of the imagination, but the V8 makes a great noise and when it does finally kick-down it can shift. Whereas in many old cars I’m used to a constant sense of anxiety as I worry what that creak means or that shudder spells, I’ve realised the Merc runs like clockwork. With just 115,000 miles on the clock, which from the extensive history appear to be genuine, the car feels pretty tight and always starts on the button. The engine is incredibly smooth and the slushbox shifts away merrily.
As I said before, the car has been in just one family all its life and has clearly been well looked after. Another thing that strikes me as odd is that everything actually works – from the electric headrest adjustment to the aftermarket Bluetooth kit. The view over the huge bonnet to the three-pointed star is pure out-of-my-way-little-man and when I picked friends and family up in it they absolutely love the Merc.
There were only two jobs that needed doing to the car. Firstly the tow bar on the back was an eyesore. But a couple of minutes on a sunny afternoon with Will and I wielding spanners soon saw that removed. The other job has been changing the front brake pads after the warning light starting blinking. Since the rear pads and discs had been replaced just before we bought it thankfully it would only be the fronts that would need doing. We jacked the car up and sure enough, the front pads were getting low. A set of new pads in hand (only £16.60 + vat) and we started removing the various clips and pins that hold the pads in place and everything was going perfectly, until we got to the last dowel pin on each side, which was rusted solid. A large amount of swearing and hitting things with hammers later, we gave up on saving the old ones and got out the cutting tools, which finally did the trick. New ones had been ordered direct from Mercedes for £2.62 each and arrived today, so the barge should be back on the road in time for the weekend.
But the aim is to make money and I’ll put my hands up and say I really don’t know how much we will get for it. Whether you like it or not (I know opinions are mixed as ever) I’m hoping we can make something and move on to our next shed, which this time is going to be very performance focused. I’ve already got a few things in mind so as soon as the Merc goes we move onwards, and hopefully upwards. We are going to start with Gumtree to flog the Merc as it’s free and then perhaps try elsewhere. Until then we are going to sit back and enjoy it…
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