Lets see a picture of your classic(s)
Discussion
Error_404_Username_not_found said:
Damn. I had one of those for two weeks once. Belonged to my mate who left it with me when he borrowed my Defender to go on holiday to a Hebridean island where there were no roads survivable for the Merc.
The bloody thing nearly drove me demented. The getrag box was stiff and balky. The suspension shook the fillings out of my teeth. It absolutely didn't want to go in a straight line and I could barely keep it in fuel. Also it was in a particularly frosty February and every corner was a lottery as the throttle and clutch were basically binary switches. I've honestly never been so happy to see the back of a car, even bearing in mind I was doing 700ish miles a week in a LandRover at the time.
I hope and trust your car is better but the 190 Cossie was not a happy experience for me. Good luck with it mate.
You needed this …Merc 190d 2.5 manual which I took all over Scotland before I sold it, low miles at 64k everything worked beautifully and returned over 45mpg.The bloody thing nearly drove me demented. The getrag box was stiff and balky. The suspension shook the fillings out of my teeth. It absolutely didn't want to go in a straight line and I could barely keep it in fuel. Also it was in a particularly frosty February and every corner was a lottery as the throttle and clutch were basically binary switches. I've honestly never been so happy to see the back of a car, even bearing in mind I was doing 700ish miles a week in a LandRover at the time.
I hope and trust your car is better but the 190 Cossie was not a happy experience for me. Good luck with it mate.
I used to work for a car dealer in the early 90’s who sold new Japanese stuff but bought all the part exchanges from a Range Rover main agents by where I lived so I got to drive Mercedes of this era all the time and I liked them then and even more now compared to modern rubbish.
The most requested 190’s were the diesels especially the auto 2.5’s and the Cosworths
The Cosworth was in long term ownership and belonged to a ex racing driver who liked his stuff to work properly and it’s not bad on fuel, you can chuck around and drive it like a hooligan or pootle no problems and the Getrag dogleg box is fine , I served my apprenticeship on a Skip Brown Lotus Sunbeam which had a ZF dogleg box so maybe I’ve just got the nack.
Here's a few of the current fleet:
The B GT is currently undergoing an engine swap and colour change, the white B is dear old dads. Here's a few shots of the B GT in it's current state:
And one of the engine swap:
Hopefully it will be finished sometime this spring so I can get back to putting the Elan together.
The B GT is currently undergoing an engine swap and colour change, the white B is dear old dads. Here's a few shots of the B GT in it's current state:
And one of the engine swap:
Hopefully it will be finished sometime this spring so I can get back to putting the Elan together.
Just driving along a random local road about 3 miles from my house this morning and I saw a car in the front yard of a house. I had to do a double take because this wasnt just ANY car, it was MY old Renault GTA…I couldn’t believe it, so I stopped and went for a further inspection. It was in a right sorry old state, my heart sank as I put loads of blood, sweat and money into it 20 years ago when it was mine. I have been reliably informed that it still belongs to the guy I sold it to as another friend of mine works with him! I wonder if he will ever get it back to the condition if was in when I sold it to him?
I did take a picture…
In better times….
I did take a picture…
In better times….
Edited by Lordbenny on Wednesday 26th January 22:14
LotusOmega375D said:
Any chance of him breaking it for spares? Looks like he might have already started at the front.
About 20 years ago he took the front suspension off to refresh and poly bush it all….he didn’t get any further. Amazing really as I sold it to him in great condition, how he could just leave it like that bemuses me. I have been reliably informed that he is in the process of getting it back on the road…I suspect it’s going to cost him £5000+ especially given the state of the painwork!Error_404_Username_not_found said:
Damn. I had one of those for two weeks once. Belonged to my mate who left it with me when he borrowed my Defender to go on holiday to a Hebridean island where there were no roads survivable for the Merc.
The bloody thing nearly drove me demented. The getrag box was stiff and balky. The suspension shook the fillings out of my teeth. It absolutely didn't want to go in a straight line and I could barely keep it in fuel. Also it was in a particularly frosty February and every corner was a lottery as the throttle and clutch were basically binary switches. I've honestly never been so happy to see the back of a car, even bearing in mind I was doing 700ish miles a week in a LandRover at the time.
I hope and trust your car is better but the 190 Cossie was not a happy experience for me. Good luck with it mate.
Interesting, in all the rose-tinted eulogising around cars of this era, it's good to read someone with an identical impression of the car as me!The bloody thing nearly drove me demented. The getrag box was stiff and balky. The suspension shook the fillings out of my teeth. It absolutely didn't want to go in a straight line and I could barely keep it in fuel. Also it was in a particularly frosty February and every corner was a lottery as the throttle and clutch were basically binary switches. I've honestly never been so happy to see the back of a car, even bearing in mind I was doing 700ish miles a week in a LandRover at the time.
I hope and trust your car is better but the 190 Cossie was not a happy experience for me. Good luck with it mate.
For a standard 4 door saloon car of the day, I was impressed for the pace of it and particularly enjoyed the rear bench having bolstered backrests for the 2 separate rear seats.
However, as you rightly say the gearshift was atrocious, even after replacing every bush in the shifter linkage, the "LSD" was a lottery as to whether you'd get a one-tyre bonfire or if it would actually work and lock up. Also the throttle pedal, I presumed this was a curiosity of this particular car given it was 20 years old, however interesting to hear your similar experience with a different car!
Glad I got to drive one, however not in a rush to try another...
Chunkychucky said:
Interesting, in all the rose-tinted eulogising around cars of this era, it's good to read someone with an identical impression of the car as me!
For a standard 4 door saloon car of the day, I was impressed for the pace of it and particularly enjoyed the rear bench having bolstered backrests for the 2 separate rear seats.
However, as you rightly say the gearshift was atrocious, even after replacing every bush in the shifter linkage, the "LSD" was a lottery as to whether you'd get a one-tyre bonfire or if it would actually work and lock up. Also the throttle pedal, I presumed this was a curiosity of this particular car given it was 20 years old, however interesting to hear your similar experience with a different car!
Glad I got to drive one, however not in a rush to try another...
In fairness the comedy throttle turned out to be a knackered cable, according to the owner. So an easy fix. For a standard 4 door saloon car of the day, I was impressed for the pace of it and particularly enjoyed the rear bench having bolstered backrests for the 2 separate rear seats.
However, as you rightly say the gearshift was atrocious, even after replacing every bush in the shifter linkage, the "LSD" was a lottery as to whether you'd get a one-tyre bonfire or if it would actually work and lock up. Also the throttle pedal, I presumed this was a curiosity of this particular car given it was 20 years old, however interesting to hear your similar experience with a different car!
Glad I got to drive one, however not in a rush to try another...
Lordbenny said:
Just driving along a random local road about 3 miles from my house this morning and I saw a car in the front yard of a house. I had to do a double take because this wasnt just ANY car, it was MY old Renault GTA…I couldn’t believe it, so I stopped and went for a further inspection. It was in a right sorry old state, my heart sank as I put loads of blood, sweat and money into it 20 years ago when it was mine. I have been reliably informed that it still belongs to the guy I sold it to as another friend of mine works with him! I wonder if he will ever get it back to the condition if was in when I sold it to him?
I did take a picture…
In better times….
I think that was meant to be you sighting your old car! It deserves more than that,worth a knock on the door I'd say...I did take a picture…
In better times….
Edited by Lordbenny on Wednesday 26th January 22:14
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