The Dictator 1981 Mercedes 500 SEL
Discussion
First of all I apologise for the orientation of a few of the pics, but you get the gist.
Like many others, this is something I have been meaning to do for some time. I have owned this car since August 30th 2014, which was 3 weeks after my son was born, at that point we now had 2 children under 2; so obviously the absolute best time to naff off and spend money on a car we didn't need.
I am preaching to the choir here I know :-)
I had just sold a 2005 plate Mercedes CLS 500 with the AMG wheels and kit, Designo this and customised air suspension that. With a £72,000 new price tag and me having bought it at under £10k, the urge to get out of it before a ruinous bill hit me right across the chops, became too strong to resist.
At the time I was working at Aston Martin and the legacy Ford lease deal was still in force. I ended up with a red Fiesta 1.25l, slowest vehicle known to man, but brand new, under warranty and so so cheap to run.
Obviously the sensible needed a move in the opposite direction, to even the stakes somewhat.
So I ended up with the car I used to draw as a small boy and the car my now small boy draws too.
The car was originally up for sale at a garage with cars more expensive than my house at £2k. The salesman informed me that one of his best clients had come in one day, slung the keys on his desk and asked him to get rid of it for him. Before he had a chance to explain it wasn't really his profile of vehicle, the client had gone.
I called and asked if they would consider £1500, they would so myself and a mate went to have a look. The car had clearly been looked after, but the condition had slumped more recently due to lack of use.
One of the back doors would not open, the seats were saggy, the brakes grindy and the suspension bouncy. I am sure like most of us, I normally know whether I am likely to buy a car within second of arrival, this is the only car where that didn't happen. I spent ages thinking about it and ended up thanking them for their time and leaving.
I couldn't stop thinking about it and the following Monday phoned to offer £1300 as a take it or leave it type deal. After some tooing and froing, the offer was accepted and the following Saturday myself and my FIL took the trip to collect him.
The drive home highlighted that he would need some work, but that he was driveable and made me feel like a deposed South African dictator.
Over the last 4.5years he has let me down only twice, once when he failed to start after work and needed a jump start = alternator rebuild required which cost £35 and the other time when the rotor arm mysteriously collapsed - never recovered though.
I have fitted:
New brakes
New Bilstein shocks
H&R -45mm lowering springs
Custom exhaust
New rear windscreen seal
Removeable wooden steering wheel
The all important bonnet flags (on 3rd version now, the first 2 were magnetic)
Stuffed all of the seats
Fixed the non opening rear door with liberal application of a foot whilst lying on the rear seat
various services etc
Zender Sport 8x16 inch wheels (from an SEC)
Lots of other bits and bobs I can't remember off hand.
The children, now 4 and 6 love going out in him, my wife is less keen, especially on the bonnet flag situation :-)
The plan is that he is a keeper and will go to my son eventually.
Every journey is an event.
Like many others, this is something I have been meaning to do for some time. I have owned this car since August 30th 2014, which was 3 weeks after my son was born, at that point we now had 2 children under 2; so obviously the absolute best time to naff off and spend money on a car we didn't need.
I am preaching to the choir here I know :-)
I had just sold a 2005 plate Mercedes CLS 500 with the AMG wheels and kit, Designo this and customised air suspension that. With a £72,000 new price tag and me having bought it at under £10k, the urge to get out of it before a ruinous bill hit me right across the chops, became too strong to resist.
At the time I was working at Aston Martin and the legacy Ford lease deal was still in force. I ended up with a red Fiesta 1.25l, slowest vehicle known to man, but brand new, under warranty and so so cheap to run.
Obviously the sensible needed a move in the opposite direction, to even the stakes somewhat.
So I ended up with the car I used to draw as a small boy and the car my now small boy draws too.
The car was originally up for sale at a garage with cars more expensive than my house at £2k. The salesman informed me that one of his best clients had come in one day, slung the keys on his desk and asked him to get rid of it for him. Before he had a chance to explain it wasn't really his profile of vehicle, the client had gone.
I called and asked if they would consider £1500, they would so myself and a mate went to have a look. The car had clearly been looked after, but the condition had slumped more recently due to lack of use.
One of the back doors would not open, the seats were saggy, the brakes grindy and the suspension bouncy. I am sure like most of us, I normally know whether I am likely to buy a car within second of arrival, this is the only car where that didn't happen. I spent ages thinking about it and ended up thanking them for their time and leaving.
I couldn't stop thinking about it and the following Monday phoned to offer £1300 as a take it or leave it type deal. After some tooing and froing, the offer was accepted and the following Saturday myself and my FIL took the trip to collect him.
The drive home highlighted that he would need some work, but that he was driveable and made me feel like a deposed South African dictator.
Over the last 4.5years he has let me down only twice, once when he failed to start after work and needed a jump start = alternator rebuild required which cost £35 and the other time when the rotor arm mysteriously collapsed - never recovered though.
I have fitted:
New brakes
New Bilstein shocks
H&R -45mm lowering springs
Custom exhaust
New rear windscreen seal
Removeable wooden steering wheel
The all important bonnet flags (on 3rd version now, the first 2 were magnetic)
Stuffed all of the seats
Fixed the non opening rear door with liberal application of a foot whilst lying on the rear seat
various services etc
Zender Sport 8x16 inch wheels (from an SEC)
Lots of other bits and bobs I can't remember off hand.
The children, now 4 and 6 love going out in him, my wife is less keen, especially on the bonnet flag situation :-)
The plan is that he is a keeper and will go to my son eventually.
Every journey is an event.
dudleybloke said:
Very cool.
Thank you, that was really my key qualifier when looking for a project car. I just wanted that to be the first word people uttered when they saw it :-) It's not flash, expensive or fast (I have seen 130mph on the clock - private road of course) I get let in in traffic and have almost caused a few minor accidents with people staring. We do occasionally travel in him with our sizeable Boxer dog, so he adds to the spectacle.
I do love the conversations he starts, I take the children to school in him occasionally and I had a parent come up to me the other day and say her son (who is 5) asked if I worked for the Queen, it was the current Union Jack flags that did it :-)
parabolica said:
That is very cool; not sure about the wheels imo but very nice regardless.
Fair play, they're not for everyone. I still have the 14 inch Mexican Hat wheels and tyres, but they just made it look so under wheeled I had to look for something a bit bigger and wider.I bought a Heckblende (something I forgot to list on the things I had done) from a chap breaking an SEC and ended up taking the steering wheel and the wheels and tyres. They are period correct, but like anything won't appeal to everyone.
ATG said:
Love the "Mugabe is off to Ikea" roof rack.
To complete the look you need to get an ancient Hilux pickup to follow you around, stacked with sand bags in the back, Bren gun poking over the side manned by a terrified looking grunt.
Now there is an idea, perhaps a fellow PH'er could oblige, there's all sorts on here after all :-)To complete the look you need to get an ancient Hilux pickup to follow you around, stacked with sand bags in the back, Bren gun poking over the side manned by a terrified looking grunt.
niggtv said:
Love it! I think it would be better with different wheels and without the big V8 badge on the centre console, but it's a cool car. Is it all solid?
Out of interest, have you had any grief for the non-compliant plates?
I have removed the V8 badge, that was a very brief visitor and quickly dismissed as a touch on the chavtastic side of things :-)Out of interest, have you had any grief for the non-compliant plates?
On the plate side of things, I haven't actually. I am ex old bill so should know better :-) The eagle eyed amongst you will notice it has a different plate in the first picture to any of the others.
The dateless plate does tenuously and I do mean tenuously have a meaning to me, but one of the thoughts behind a dateless plate was that my old colleagues would be less likely to notice that it isn't quite as it should be.
The car being predominantly black and silver/chrome was absolutely crying out to have the white and yellow plates disposed of.
Edited by The Dictator on Thursday 11th April 14:01
S100HP said:
I swap out the wheels and I'm not overly keen on the flag thing, but the car is cool as f
k otherwise. I bow to you.
Ok that's interesting, the wheels are not a big hit for a number of people. I have been searching for some mesh 8x16's but never find any within budget, bearing in mind the car only originally cost me £1300.k otherwise. I bow to you.How very dare you!! "the flag thing" bloody cheek :-) that is part of The Dictator identity. I have worked very hard on "the flag thing" over the years and have a selection for your delectation. I have: Buckinghamshire, South Africa, Jolly Roger and East German Diplomatic (genuine unused, provided with the original envelope in which they were sent to the diplomatic address in London back in 1981)
It started as just a bit of fun and remains exactly that to this day.
Nice example of an early car. If you don't care for it, lose the V8 badge on the climate control panel. W126 is about understatement (and if you like it, more power to you).
The key thing to watch out for on those engines is timing chains and head gaskets. Timing chain is a double row setup but the guides are made from plastic that becomes brittle with age. If they break , it will cause the timing chain to jump and bend valves. Bottom ends last forever but it will need a valve job at around 250,000. Head gaskets usually get replaced then and all is good, Gaskets seem to rot with age so even with low miles, they might be weeping slightly which would cause the car to run hot.
If you do your own front end work, you'll need a special tool for the lower ball joint which is on the spindle.
Aside from this, everything else is pretty straight forward.
The key thing to watch out for on those engines is timing chains and head gaskets. Timing chain is a double row setup but the guides are made from plastic that becomes brittle with age. If they break , it will cause the timing chain to jump and bend valves. Bottom ends last forever but it will need a valve job at around 250,000. Head gaskets usually get replaced then and all is good, Gaskets seem to rot with age so even with low miles, they might be weeping slightly which would cause the car to run hot.
If you do your own front end work, you'll need a special tool for the lower ball joint which is on the spindle.
Aside from this, everything else is pretty straight forward.
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