| The Mercedes club is planning a feature in the magazine for models of the late 60s and early 70s. They have previously done features on the 107 series and 124 series. To accompany the article, the club organised a 60’s models photoshoot for some nice examples of various models this morning. I was asked to attend, as my W111 Cabriolet is one of the few that gets regular use. While I was there, I was able to snap a few photos with my own camera. Of course I had to be very careful not to get in the way of […] The S-Class is probably the signature model for Mercedes-Benz. Personally it’s what I think of when I think of the brand. When I think Porsche, I think rear engined sports cars. When I think of BMW its sports saloons with an inline six. For Mercedes-Benz, it’s the S-Class. Throughout the years the company has seen other halo models come and go, such as the 300SL Gullwing and the 600. But the S-Class has always been that statement of what the best car they could make that would actually sell. The S-Class was officially launched in 1972 with the introduction of […] The W108 and W109 series were produced from 1965 to 1972. While its replacement, the W116 was the first model called the S-Class, the W108 and W109 models occupied that spot in the model range. When drivers new to this range first experience these cars, they often comment how high the engines are revving at motorway speeds. This is not like the cars of the 50s where motorway speeds were not a consideration. These cars were driven extensively at high speeds on the Autobahns. Rather it was conscious design choice for high revving engines by Mercedes-Benz at the time. Part […] I recently came across a price list from Yorkstar Motors, dated December 1969. Yorkstar motors were at that time the main dealer in Sydney and I think they had something to do with the overall importation of the cars. This era Australian delivery cars have a Yorkstar motors tag on them regardless of where they were sold. Unlike in later years, nearly the whole range was offered in 1969. It was only have the ADR regime became stricter in the mid 60s that Mercedes-Benz started to limit the vehicles they offered in Australia. This was probably due to the cost […] This weeks ad tries to link the mainstream 60s models from Mercedes Benz to the racing programmes of the 50s. It is actually not that far fetched as the overhead cam motor in the W108 250SE pictured did have fuel injection and there would have been lessons learned from the racing programme. The ad would have been referring to engineers like Rudolf Uhlenhaut. Ulenhaut was integral to the racing programme and later used a 300SLR Coupe as a company car. What have all those Mercedes-Benz racing engineers been doing since Mercedes-Benz got out of racing? When Mercedes-Benz brought its […] I recently came across an old price list for Mercedes-Benz in Australia in the mid 60s. They were very expensive cars back then, probably more so than they are today, and even a base model was around double a holden, let alone the range topping (for the saloons) 300SE. These prices are for the standard car, so most buyers would have selected at least some options, further increasing the price. The price list covers the W110, W111 and W108 Saloon cars. The Automatic transmission was an expensive option, close to 10% of the price of the car. Mercedes Benz Passenger […] The headlights on the W108, W109, W111 and W112 Mercedes are all interchangeable, which means many cars are no longer sporting the headlights they left the factory with. They are all based on a design introduced on the 300SL roadster in 1957. The W113, W114/5 and W100 all had similar designs based on this same theme, but those lights will not be covered in this article and they are not interchangeable. The W110 had simpler, round headlights so is also not the focus here. ‘Lichteinheiten’ The standard headlights for these cars were know as ‘Lichteinheiten’. This roughly translates as ‘Light […] After restoring the 250SE to the correct wheel trims, the next step is to fit the correct headlights. The car is currently fitted with the stacked headlights. These are often known as Americana headlights. They are actually different to the USA style as they use halogens not sealed beams. This style was a common extra on the V8 W111’s and later a popular after-market fitment on other W111, W112, W108 and W109’s. While these are more popular than the original, I prefer the original style. The question of which is the best W111 headlight is not easily resolved! I had […] There is a blog I look at from time to time called “Aussie old parked cars” where the author takes pictures of interesting cars he/she sees in daily use around Sydney. In particular, most of the photos are around North Sydney and Neutral bay, an area I am quite familiar with. One entry that stuck out to me was a W108 300SE, a model that is rarely seen on the roads these days, due to only 2737 being made and the unfortunately most of them being junked. When it was introduced in 1965, the W108 and W109 series occupied the […] | |
