Good points, Jaime, and ones I had not considered. In my case, the W116 chassis cars are one model I skipped ownership of. The ones I have seen or worked on have been less than ideal examples, which has, no doubt, colored my opinions of them.
The body style never appealed to me, and many of the ones I have seen have been real beaters or in Stage 4 body cancer. That being said, I think a 6.9 would be a fun car to have in the W116 line, more from a performance standpoint than looks. While many of the advancements that took place in the W116 were certainly major improvements over the former models, another thing that sort of poisoned my opinion were things like the ACC system. These efforts on MB's part to achieve progress were pretty lousy, and got resolved in later model lines like the W123 and W126. Of all the MBs I've owned over the years, my 1982 300SD was, by far, the best. From reliability, simplicity, ease of operation and maintenance, the W126 was, in my opinion, the jewel in the crown of MB for many years. After the 300SD it would be a tie between my 1992 300E and 1988 420SEL. The 300E was a great car, but the interior comfort was not even close to that of the W126 chassis cars. The 420SEL had the wonderful long wheelbase W126 body, but the engine was a ticking time bomb (literally!) I like the simplicity of the W111 models - call them austere of you like - but they are easy to repair and maintain and are quite rugged with the unique good looks of an MB. A nice finnie is always a head-turner, not just because of it's age, but it's subtle styling that makes it both different and innocuous at the same time. Take that up a notch to the W112 and you have a really nice car, but the expense of a very technically advanced car for its time. My 1962 300SE was a wonderful car, but any time it hiccuped I freaked out, fearing that one of it's unobtanium parts was going to fail... Thanks for the insight to the W116 chassis cars - I have long given them the short look for a lot of reasons, but your comments certainly point out their significance in the development of the product line. Dan --- On Tue, 12/21/10, Jaime Kopchinski <jaime...@gmail.com> wrote: > From: Jaime Kopchinski <jaime...@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] 4.5 Value AND Question for Jaime and others w. MBUSA > connections - or - How to get NLA parts demand onto the MB radar > To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > Date: Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 9:32 PM > But Dan, they were such a huge jump > from the 108/109 cars. They > established the classic layout of instruments and controls > that were > used for many generations of cars. Suspension was > much improved (ball > joints and rubber bushings!), and alot of these design > features were > carried over onto the W123 and W126. Handling is > superior to the > W108, and not much different from a W126. Integrated > heating and air > conditioning systems started with the 116. Sound > insulation, interior > safety and comfort features, were all superior. The > list goes on and > on. > > If anything, I'd say a W126 is really just a small step > away from the > W116, where the real engineering advances occurred. > > Jaime > > > On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 9:02 PM, LWB250 <lwb...@yahoo.com> > wrote: > > I (personally) always considered the W116 a > transitional model for Mercedes. > > > > I say that because they seemed to be in a sort of > "void" engineering-wise between the really basic analog > models like the W108 or W111 and the later W123 and W126. > > > > The styling was a little wonky, too. At least I > thought so.... > > > > Dan > > > > > > > > --- On Tue, 12/21/10, Allan Streib <str...@cs.indiana.edu> > wrote: > > > >> From: Allan Streib <str...@cs.indiana.edu> > >> Subject: Re: [MBZ] 4.5 Value AND Question for > Jaime and others w. MBUSA connections - or - How to get NLA > parts demand onto the MB radar > >> To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > >> Date: Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 8:48 PM > >> "Kaleb C. Striplin" <ka...@striplin.net> > >> writes: > >> > >> > That is great news, I hope it holds true. I > have > >> a whole bunch of > >> > 116's sitting around that I am thinking about > sending > >> to the crusher > >> > as nobody wants 116 parts. Right now it > seems > >> like the 123 and early > >> > 126 cars are the cheap beater cars (in that > phase > >> right now). It > >> > would be great to get them to collector > status. > >> > >> An acquaintance of mine is wanting to sell me his > W116 > >> 300SD. It > >> frankly sounds like a basket case. He says it > has no > >> rust, but "needs a > >> new crankshaft (?!) and the AC doesn't work, and > the heater > >> blower > >> doesn't work, and the vacuum system is leaking > (has to use > >> the stop > >> lever to shut it off). In that condition, with > a > >> straight face, he said > >> he was asking $4000. > >> > >> Allan > >> -- > >> 1983 300D > >> > >> _______________________________________ > >> http://www.okiebenz.com > >> For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > >> > >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > >> http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > >> > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________ > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
