While a diehard fan of W126's and W116's, and having grown up with a W123, a W124, and a W140, I've always hated W107's.
They look heavy, which is great for big sedans, but kind of sad for sports cars. They were never that fast, but worse, they never felt that fast. Their handling was okay, but not show stopping. They were hard to keep running. They were and are expensive. They just seem like a series of compromises. To me, the current owners fall into two general categories. Neither of which are completely accurate, but this is just my view.
1. The "car guys" who know nothing about cars. They call themselves enthusiasts, but never really went further than that. They saw a two door convertible with a three pointed star and just assumed it was the hottest thing ever. My god father is like that, and... you guessed it, has a W107.
2. The women(trophy wives ten years ago) who wanted a sports car. For whatever reason, either they thought Miatas weren't classy enough, or their husbands thought they weren't safe enough. So they end up with a heavy, slow, W107.
And yeah, I know the second was a little sexist, sorry. But either way, they just seem like they're owned by image people, not car people.
That being said, a teacher at our local Elementary school has an early 80's W107. It is covered in rust and fiberglass patches(by the ocean, so we tend to blend car repair and surfboards). It has a center console made of unpainted roughly constructed 1/2" plywood. It has really nasty looking sheep skin seat covers. It is a total beater. But it's a daily driver. So rather than be something viewed as extravagant, it is viewed as basic transportation that happens to be kind of cool. That W107, while I would never want to own it, makes me happy to know it exists.
2 things....one my heart is still broken that I the low mileage, Euro-spec, W107 300SL (equipped with the 3.0ltr six from the W124 E-class) escaped my clutches. Two, I'm pretty sure the Carter speech interrupted in that bit from Used Cars is the "Malaise" speech. Which makes it that much funnier.
One reason there appears to be a never-ending supply of these is they looked effectively the same from '74(?) to at least '86.
Plus, this was MB's era of cockroach-longevity build quality, so they're hard to kill.
Get a big enough shoe (or an E55 engine), and yeah, you can do it some harm...however, they are owned, typically, by the older generation who believes in having the dealer rape them every six months, so they're better maintained than most vehicles.
I've never been in love with the R107s - even the early small-bumpered ones. To me, the styling looks a little over-wrought with some messy detailing. The greenhouse with either the raised convertible top or the hardtop looks a little too small for the rest of the car. The US quad headlights don't help either. The longer SLC coupes actually wear the styling a little better, despite the awkward louvered side windows. Give me the previous, more elegant W113 or the sleeker R129 instead. These R107s were sold in huge numbers in south Florida, so they're still a fairly common sight.
There's one for sale, red---which seemed to be one of the most common colors--about 5 blocks away. I have a buddy who lovingly restored his (red)--it was a daily driver but got impractical what with kids and all.
But contemplate the weight---iit's one fat guy away from my 66 Plymouth Fury or even my 90s Marquis. Really dense, solid feeling vehicle.
a real classic...one that's totally transformed with the smaller bumpers - pre 73 or a euro version. They seem indestructable...anyone have any idea whether they're affordable to maintain?
@not4one:
Biggest thing is the timing chain... nine miles long. Get that serviced, and they'll run forever. I'm waiting for Mon to quit driving so I can get her 380SL....
Funny enough that I did realize it converts to 6.3 but the naming scheme of that era of car would dictate 383 being the more seemingly appropriate (we were planning on badging the car as a 383E) it was not until the W124 E60 that the naming schemes started changing and if you ever see the car, it desperately tries to hide power.
Prepare to meet your Nemesis! (I hope)... My LS400 is still an auto, but I hope I can bring you a good fight next year (our Celica was just .5 sec faster on fast lap, but we raced pretty close on Sunday). Anybody know anybody to do a cheap cage near Cinci Oh?
Awesome job on the top. So the theme is "Son of a Blitzen 722"? We should help them think of something better better because of course this bent Bentz will be back.
We kept looking at this car all weekend, saying to ourselves "is that roof _chopped_?" Sure enough, when we got close enough to look, it was. Damn. Good show. Car sounded mean as hell, too. Course I imagine it'd have to fairly LOUD and HOT inside, with that exhaust setup!
@seatbelt123: I always thought our dual-exhaust equipped Amazon sounded pretty good, but compared to everything else on the track, you could barely hear our car.
Well... My father and I already built pretty much the same thing as a daily driver. A W124 260E with a 383 Chevy (in the neighborhood of 550hp) with a 700R-4. We've taken it to Cars and Coffee quite a few times and it always draws a good size crowd and it eats super cars for lunch. So we call it the 383E Sledgehammer. I like to think it's built in a rather Jalopnik sleeper fashion. You can find some pretty good pictures of it on the Cars and Coffee website from 12-27-08.
09/22/09
They look heavy, which is great for big sedans, but kind of sad for sports cars. They were never that fast, but worse, they never felt that fast. Their handling was okay, but not show stopping. They were hard to keep running. They were and are expensive. They just seem like a series of compromises. To me, the current owners fall into two general categories. Neither of which are completely accurate, but this is just my view.
1. The "car guys" who know nothing about cars. They call themselves enthusiasts, but never really went further than that. They saw a two door convertible with a three pointed star and just assumed it was the hottest thing ever. My god father is like that, and... you guessed it, has a W107.
2. The women(trophy wives ten years ago) who wanted a sports car. For whatever reason, either they thought Miatas weren't classy enough, or their husbands thought they weren't safe enough. So they end up with a heavy, slow, W107.
And yeah, I know the second was a little sexist, sorry. But either way, they just seem like they're owned by image people, not car people.
That being said, a teacher at our local Elementary school has an early 80's W107. It is covered in rust and fiberglass patches(by the ocean, so we tend to blend car repair and surfboards). It has a center console made of unpainted roughly constructed 1/2" plywood. It has really nasty looking sheep skin seat covers. It is a total beater. But it's a daily driver. So rather than be something viewed as extravagant, it is viewed as basic transportation that happens to be kind of cool. That W107, while I would never want to own it, makes me happy to know it exists.
09/21/09
09/20/09
Plus, this was MB's era of cockroach-longevity build quality, so they're hard to kill.
Get a big enough shoe (or an E55 engine), and yeah, you can do it some harm...however, they are owned, typically, by the older generation who believes in having the dealer rape them every six months, so they're better maintained than most vehicles.
09/20/09
09/20/09
09/20/09
09/20/09
But contemplate the weight---iit's one fat guy away from my 66 Plymouth Fury or even my 90s Marquis. Really dense, solid feeling vehicle.
09/20/09
09/20/09
Biggest thing is the timing chain... nine miles long. Get that serviced, and they'll run forever. I'm waiting for Mon to quit driving so I can get her 380SL....
09/20/09
09/19/09
http://lovelyschool.net/carsandcoffee/main.php/v/xapexi_002/Cars+and+Coffee+12-27-2008_125.jpg.html
(It has different headlights now)
09/22/09
09/19/09
09/19/09
09/20/09
Sie sind auf einer Mission von Gott.
09/20/09
09/19/09
Have sawzall.
Have 1995 W124 sedan.
Have beer/liquor store nearby.
Presto! Weekend project.
09/19/09
09/20/09
Yes, this was one of the three best sounding cars on the track. The other two were the Fiero and the LTD powered LS1 (I think it was an LTD?).
Searching my videos to see if I have any good recordings of it.
09/20/09
09/19/09
09/20/09