Spartan Mercedes 190 (w201)
Discussion
This thread is about the 1990 Mercedes-Benz 190 that my wife and I bought for Christmas and our work to make it perfect. We love Mercedes-Benz motor cars of this vintage and it seems others do, too. I have included price information because it makes the information more complete and more useful to anyone thinking of doing something similar.
The car is absolutely Sparta spec. It is the bottom of the range and was supplied with very few options. So it has the carburettor engine, not fuel injection; it has keep fit windows, cloth seats, steel wheels, solid paint. In fact, the only extras were a manual sliding sunroof (not tilting), ABS brakes and an automatic transmission. The paint colour is 623 Light Ivory. The upholstery is 064 Medium Brown cloth. Not to everyone's tastes, but very much to mine.
We purchased it from a dealer near Guildford, "sight unseen" as they say. I just paid the asking price, £2,000. The ad is still live here: http://www.ashleynickells.co.uk/advert-8/458533963... Here are some pictures from the ad:
The mileage was approximately 117,500. It is a one owner car and has been serviced by the supplying dealer since new with scant regard to expense so far as I can tell from the service history. We had a local man drive it up for us. That was a further £250 for those who like to keep a tally (i.e. my wife). 12months' tax was £230 and the insurance for the year was £270.
Upon arrival, it was almost as good as the description. The interior in particular is utterly unworn and the service history is very full. The only concerns were that the bodywork has obviously been "taffied for sale" (in the argot of my garagiste). Both front wings are off colour and rust has started to poke through already; and one of the rear wheel arches also is off colour. That and the fact that it intermittently cuts out and refuses to run when hot unless the idle shut off valve is disconnected.
I serviced it myself. Such an easy job. No engine compartment under tray to remove and quite accessible filters. Say £30. Then I fitted new shocks all round together with front shock top dampers. This was something of an extravagance but I have always noted improvement when shocks are replaced and so it was here. The cost for Sachs shocks and Febi shock top mounts was about £175 from the always excellent wanapart.co.uk (website not working at the time of writing). These are an easy DIY change. What else? It needed a new bonnet strut, which set me back about £25 from the main dealer and a fuel cap (£10). New, extra-bright headlamp bulbs were about £15.
Now you will have noticed those bizarre black-centred wheel trims that the vendor had refurbished. Not good. So I replaced them with new ones at a cost of £150 from the main dealer. However, I realised £40-odd selling the old ones on Ebay. I also fitted four Continental TS850 winter tyres. The car came in Pirelli P6000s with plenty of tread remaining but they were about 12 years old. I think we will use the Contis all year round since it is hardly a performance car. I have thought about getting some of the beautiful 15 hole forged aluminium wheels and fitting them with PremiumContact 5s for summer use but that would be another £600 and would not fit with the minimalist ethos of the vehicle.
My study of the service history identified that the track rods were flagged up as an MOT advisory and there was no sign of them having been replaced. I had also noted a little knocking up front. So I ordered new front ARB bushes, track rods, centre link, idler arm bush and steering damper from Wanapart for £136. These were all Lemförder parts apart from the damper which was Sachs. Now the thing about Lemförder is that they make a lot of stuff for Merc and, sure enough, all of these parts were Merc parts with the star burred off. The saving to be had is huge, at least 50%. These have been fitted but I have yet to drive the car or receive a bill for the labour. I also noted that the exhaust back box had a tiny pin hole in it. Happily I was a blue to source a genuine new back box from Euro Merc (hit and miss in my experience) http://cart.euromercmercedesparts.co.uk for £50. Again, this has been fitted but I have not driven the car or paid the bill.
I have also ordered some superb OEM-style ribbed mats in the correct colour from www.autoteppich.com. These people could not have been more helpful and their product is superb. £90.
Still it goes on. This car gets used and, while it is nice that it still has the dealer fit Blaupunkt tape deck, it sounds ropey, doesn't play CDs and iPods and doesn't do handsfree. Also, it was dealer fit, not factory fit. The real deal would be a Becker Europa 2000 or some such but the UK market never went big on Becker. I will remove the Blaupunkt and store it carefully. In its place will go a Becker Indianapolis Pro 7950 that I have just ordered (£350) together with an iPod remote kit (£35). I have one of these in my 124 and it is a good, discreet system with a surprisingly effective sat nav. Obviously it does Bluetooth and iPod. I will mount the microphone up near the dome light without making any holes. I am going to replace the Blaupunkt speakers with a pair of Audison Prima APX 4 100mm co-axials (£63). These will go in the standard mounting holes in the dash without any damage. Between the two I am going to put a little Alpine KTP-445U amplifier (£118). Hopefully it will be possible to conceal this in the dash or, at worst, under the front seat. This looks like an excellent little amplifier, so much so that I have ordered one for my 124 as well.
This is the Becker:
I have been underneath the car and its is mint. No rot at all. Even the brake and fuel pipes are as new. The rear suspension seems pretty good, too. I could overhaul the rear subframe and links but I cannot see any gain to be had from doing so. It would cost about £500 including parts. Likewise the brake components: they are all relatively new genuine MB parts fitted by a main dealer so there simply is no need yet.
And what of the car? It is FANTASTIC. This is one of the best cars I have ever had the pleasure to drive let alone own. The abiding characteristics are quality and lightness. The build quality seems a cut above my 124. I feel this in the doors: they close like a G-Wagen's. And I feel it in the interior assemblies. They really feel they will last forever. As for lightness, well, the car weighs less than 1,200kg and you can tell. It feels so agile and responsive, it is a real surprise. Combined with the compact body, it makes a perfect town car. I wouldn't take it over the 124 for a run to the south of France but for day-to-day purposes it is better. The engine is smooth and quiet although it prefers to be below 80mph. It is nippy from the off and perfectly respectable in acceleration within legal limits. The chassis is beautifully precise, with a really spot-on match of comfort and precision.
Next step is to replace the front wings and have the body painted from the roof down (there is nothing wrong with the roof), together with some heavy duty rust proofing. Watch this space. And more photos to follow...
The car is absolutely Sparta spec. It is the bottom of the range and was supplied with very few options. So it has the carburettor engine, not fuel injection; it has keep fit windows, cloth seats, steel wheels, solid paint. In fact, the only extras were a manual sliding sunroof (not tilting), ABS brakes and an automatic transmission. The paint colour is 623 Light Ivory. The upholstery is 064 Medium Brown cloth. Not to everyone's tastes, but very much to mine.
We purchased it from a dealer near Guildford, "sight unseen" as they say. I just paid the asking price, £2,000. The ad is still live here: http://www.ashleynickells.co.uk/advert-8/458533963... Here are some pictures from the ad:
The mileage was approximately 117,500. It is a one owner car and has been serviced by the supplying dealer since new with scant regard to expense so far as I can tell from the service history. We had a local man drive it up for us. That was a further £250 for those who like to keep a tally (i.e. my wife). 12months' tax was £230 and the insurance for the year was £270.
Upon arrival, it was almost as good as the description. The interior in particular is utterly unworn and the service history is very full. The only concerns were that the bodywork has obviously been "taffied for sale" (in the argot of my garagiste). Both front wings are off colour and rust has started to poke through already; and one of the rear wheel arches also is off colour. That and the fact that it intermittently cuts out and refuses to run when hot unless the idle shut off valve is disconnected.
I serviced it myself. Such an easy job. No engine compartment under tray to remove and quite accessible filters. Say £30. Then I fitted new shocks all round together with front shock top dampers. This was something of an extravagance but I have always noted improvement when shocks are replaced and so it was here. The cost for Sachs shocks and Febi shock top mounts was about £175 from the always excellent wanapart.co.uk (website not working at the time of writing). These are an easy DIY change. What else? It needed a new bonnet strut, which set me back about £25 from the main dealer and a fuel cap (£10). New, extra-bright headlamp bulbs were about £15.
Now you will have noticed those bizarre black-centred wheel trims that the vendor had refurbished. Not good. So I replaced them with new ones at a cost of £150 from the main dealer. However, I realised £40-odd selling the old ones on Ebay. I also fitted four Continental TS850 winter tyres. The car came in Pirelli P6000s with plenty of tread remaining but they were about 12 years old. I think we will use the Contis all year round since it is hardly a performance car. I have thought about getting some of the beautiful 15 hole forged aluminium wheels and fitting them with PremiumContact 5s for summer use but that would be another £600 and would not fit with the minimalist ethos of the vehicle.
My study of the service history identified that the track rods were flagged up as an MOT advisory and there was no sign of them having been replaced. I had also noted a little knocking up front. So I ordered new front ARB bushes, track rods, centre link, idler arm bush and steering damper from Wanapart for £136. These were all Lemförder parts apart from the damper which was Sachs. Now the thing about Lemförder is that they make a lot of stuff for Merc and, sure enough, all of these parts were Merc parts with the star burred off. The saving to be had is huge, at least 50%. These have been fitted but I have yet to drive the car or receive a bill for the labour. I also noted that the exhaust back box had a tiny pin hole in it. Happily I was a blue to source a genuine new back box from Euro Merc (hit and miss in my experience) http://cart.euromercmercedesparts.co.uk for £50. Again, this has been fitted but I have not driven the car or paid the bill.
I have also ordered some superb OEM-style ribbed mats in the correct colour from www.autoteppich.com. These people could not have been more helpful and their product is superb. £90.
Still it goes on. This car gets used and, while it is nice that it still has the dealer fit Blaupunkt tape deck, it sounds ropey, doesn't play CDs and iPods and doesn't do handsfree. Also, it was dealer fit, not factory fit. The real deal would be a Becker Europa 2000 or some such but the UK market never went big on Becker. I will remove the Blaupunkt and store it carefully. In its place will go a Becker Indianapolis Pro 7950 that I have just ordered (£350) together with an iPod remote kit (£35). I have one of these in my 124 and it is a good, discreet system with a surprisingly effective sat nav. Obviously it does Bluetooth and iPod. I will mount the microphone up near the dome light without making any holes. I am going to replace the Blaupunkt speakers with a pair of Audison Prima APX 4 100mm co-axials (£63). These will go in the standard mounting holes in the dash without any damage. Between the two I am going to put a little Alpine KTP-445U amplifier (£118). Hopefully it will be possible to conceal this in the dash or, at worst, under the front seat. This looks like an excellent little amplifier, so much so that I have ordered one for my 124 as well.
This is the Becker:
I have been underneath the car and its is mint. No rot at all. Even the brake and fuel pipes are as new. The rear suspension seems pretty good, too. I could overhaul the rear subframe and links but I cannot see any gain to be had from doing so. It would cost about £500 including parts. Likewise the brake components: they are all relatively new genuine MB parts fitted by a main dealer so there simply is no need yet.
And what of the car? It is FANTASTIC. This is one of the best cars I have ever had the pleasure to drive let alone own. The abiding characteristics are quality and lightness. The build quality seems a cut above my 124. I feel this in the doors: they close like a G-Wagen's. And I feel it in the interior assemblies. They really feel they will last forever. As for lightness, well, the car weighs less than 1,200kg and you can tell. It feels so agile and responsive, it is a real surprise. Combined with the compact body, it makes a perfect town car. I wouldn't take it over the 124 for a run to the south of France but for day-to-day purposes it is better. The engine is smooth and quiet although it prefers to be below 80mph. It is nippy from the off and perfectly respectable in acceleration within legal limits. The chassis is beautifully precise, with a really spot-on match of comfort and precision.
Next step is to replace the front wings and have the body painted from the roof down (there is nothing wrong with the roof), together with some heavy duty rust proofing. Watch this space. And more photos to follow...
Edited by r129sl on Wednesday 18th February 12:30
Superb! Thank you for sharing your story thus far
It reminds me of a 190E my Indy had as a courtesy car.
It did have the gluttonous spec'ed 1.8 injection engine, but made do with a manual gearbox and no ABS.
As with your car it had keep fit windows, cloth seats, steel wheels and a manual sliding sunroof (I love that chrome handle and the full twist'n'pull operation!).
Before it went off to Africa I drove it about 3,000 miles over the years.
Back to basics, but it was lovely to drive.
Please keep the posts and photos coming
Darren
It reminds me of a 190E my Indy had as a courtesy car.
It did have the gluttonous spec'ed 1.8 injection engine, but made do with a manual gearbox and no ABS.
As with your car it had keep fit windows, cloth seats, steel wheels and a manual sliding sunroof (I love that chrome handle and the full twist'n'pull operation!).
Before it went off to Africa I drove it about 3,000 miles over the years.
Back to basics, but it was lovely to drive.
Please keep the posts and photos coming
Darren
Page one of the service history is the invoice. No discount. No finance. Just a deposit of £500 and then the balance of 17 grand-odd on delivery.
I did say the car was a one owner car but in doing so I forgot a sad part of the history and made a mistake. The first owner took delivery on 5 April 1990 but died on 18 August that year (by coincidence the very day on which my young sister was being born into this world). On 25 September his widow became the second registered keeper. She serviced the car every year like clockwork at the supplying dealer, Woking Motors which became Mercedes-Benz of Walton on Thames which in turn became Mercedes-Benz Brooklands. They cut her a lot of slack with their prices but even so, some of the bills are eye watering. The car was properly looked after. What is sweet are the little notes she made of whatever advice the service department gave her. They seem to reveal a great effort to take a great deal of care over this vehicle.
Needless to say, I have a fully stamped book, every MOT, the original brochure and colour and upholstery charts, the handbooks, the lot. All of this stuff seems to have been retained. I really enjoy trawling through a car's history.
There's a nice period review here: https://flic.kr/p/pDvqge
I did say the car was a one owner car but in doing so I forgot a sad part of the history and made a mistake. The first owner took delivery on 5 April 1990 but died on 18 August that year (by coincidence the very day on which my young sister was being born into this world). On 25 September his widow became the second registered keeper. She serviced the car every year like clockwork at the supplying dealer, Woking Motors which became Mercedes-Benz of Walton on Thames which in turn became Mercedes-Benz Brooklands. They cut her a lot of slack with their prices but even so, some of the bills are eye watering. The car was properly looked after. What is sweet are the little notes she made of whatever advice the service department gave her. They seem to reveal a great effort to take a great deal of care over this vehicle.
Needless to say, I have a fully stamped book, every MOT, the original brochure and colour and upholstery charts, the handbooks, the lot. All of this stuff seems to have been retained. I really enjoy trawling through a car's history.
There's a nice period review here: https://flic.kr/p/pDvqge
Edited by r129sl on Thursday 19th February 07:15
An utterly charming car, and a great opening post for anyone else thinking of a 190. As it happens I was reading this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mercedes-Benz-Since-1945-2... earlier and the history of how the 190 came to be explains the exceptional (unmatched) quality of these cars. Mercedes simply had to get their first compact car right, and they absolutely did so, massively over engineering it. Somehow a 190 without all the extras demonstrates this best - there is no distraction from the inherent rightness of the car. I want one (need to finish the W124 and buy that SL500 first though).
Oh dear, next month is bonus payment month (not a banker's bonus sum, but enough to go shopping for old mercs with). Mark is a good chap and his prices generally very reasonable for the vehicles he sells and the prep he puts into them.
But, respray, then SL, then 190. The plan is clear. Follow r129SL's path to enlightenment!
But, respray, then SL, then 190. The plan is clear. Follow r129SL's path to enlightenment!
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