Jay Leno 60’s Mercedes on his Show - where’s our Benz training for these?

We're going to need a primer on these old Mercedes' from the 60's.  Is Yupididit our expert or is he the Jaguar guy? 

Step up guys and gals.....

Which models? Years? What to avoid? Examples to start with?

Man these are incredible.

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

This particular car started off with as a w109 (chassis code) 300sel with 6.3 m100 powered engine. The 6.3 was the top of the top of their performance cars, they still appreciating today. I know where a few are laying around in E36 M3 shape for under $10k, I haven't pulled the trigger because I have a 450sel (w116 the S-class that replaced the w108/w109) with an m100 6.9 engine that's waiting to arrive at my home. 

I honestly recommend any 60s and 70s era Mercedes. My favorite are the w108/w109 and w111/w112 cars. The diesels are slow as hell but they're all easy to work on and have plenty of knowledge and parts. The 6.3 and 6.9 cars will tax your pockets though. 

I have a w108 build going on right now. It's a 250se with a inline6 and manual trans, I just bought a bi-turbo v12 (m275) parts car to engine swap + Mercedes 6 speed manual. I haven't updated my thread in awhile because I'm slow. 

I'm def a Mercedes man, Jaguars were just an opportunity I took. I can't say that I'm particularly knowledgeable on Jags and I do not really like them a lot. Minus the F-type R 

You have a 6.9er? About the only w116 I ever see are the 300sd, actually saw a clean 450sel the other day, haven't seen one in years.  

I love the /8 cars but talk about bad gas mileage, under 10mpg is not something I am interested in. I would rather have a heckflosse.  Good luck finding a 6.3l they are pretty scarce, real old school tire smoking hot rod.  

 Since I'm 99% German.  I should be interested in Mercedes . Especially the 60's and 70's era when  Engineering and durability was paramount. Frankly I'm impressed with their achievements. 
   I guess I'm the advocate for derilect  Jaguars.  Tiny prices. But great bones..  a Derilect Mercedes would be fun too.  
   I've just never had the connection to cheap  but good condition parts like I have my whole life with Jaguars. 
     That and they use that weird French system of measurement.  While the British use 3 barley corns from the center of the ear for one inch. Rule Britannia !  ;-) 

In reply to benzbaronDaryn :

I know where some derelict 6.3 reside if you're interested. They will not be challenge price though lol.

See,  I could just drive one of my  sedans down.  And be at $500.  A pair of Amazon Turbo's and stuff needed to get them working another $500.  Maybe have Berry cams regrind my cams.  Another $500. Spend the last $500 on paint and a fancy wood rim steering wheel I have my eye on

   You show up with that Mercedes and chances   are you'd probably beat me. 
   Although it'd be close.   Too bad it's so expensive to find out.  You're about 1125 miles away.  There has to be something 1/2 way between us 

 Well Mid Ohio is 744 miles away. So you'd only need to drive about 500 miles or so.? 

One crispy benz is enough for now, the trick is you cannot apply the rational side of the brain to owning old Mercedes.  I just wish Mercedes had used Jaguar interior, the Mb tex lasts forever but cloth disintegrates.  The good thing is the damn cars are well built and lots of stuff will work with a clean and lube, any 50 year old car is gonna keep you busy.   

From the perspective of build quality and reliability, you really can't go wrong with ANY Mercedes built before 1993 or so. These old Merc sedans also handle, steer, and brake better than they have any right to...way better than most people will give them credit for.

The W108/109 is a tank. I find them very pretty and quite spacious/luxurious even today. They look more imposing and eye-catching in real life than in photos. I'd love to have one, but I haven't come across the "right" one yet.

Having said that, they do rust in the typical "old car" places (e.g., side sills, trailing edges of the fenders, and fender lips). And, like most cars of that era, they look a lot better with slender Euro bumpers and headlights. The DOT add-ons are pretty grim.

The suspension and brakes on the 70s and 80s stuff, W116/W123/R107/W126 is way better than what you'll find on the older cars. The early stuff sure is sexy though. As much as I love my W116 the W108 is still the sexiest in my book.

In reply to buzzboy :

I prefer driving the 116 but the 108/109 are just pretty as any Mercedes

yupididit said: I have a 450sel (w116 the S-class that replaced the w108/w109) with an m100 6.9 engine that's waiting to arrive at my home.

I honestly recommend any 60s and 70s era Mercedes. My favorite are the w108/w109 and w111/w112 cars. The diesels are slow as hell but they're all easy to work on and have plenty of knowledge and parts. The 6.3 and 6.9 cars will tax your pockets though.

I used to work on a small fleet of W116s because for some reason there were a lot of them in the part of town where I was working.  I really liked them, although the seats were painfully annoying.  They were all either 4.5l V8 or 300SD models.  Nothing on them was particularly difficult to work on, although I was always amused by having to rotate the pistons in the rear calipers so they would meet the pads properly.  Very much an overengineered solution to a non-problem

"Slow as hell" does not adequately describe a road-weary 300SD.  They can be frighteningly slow off the line, like those dreams where you are trying to run away from something but your legs... just.... won't..... work

The only thing I don't want to deal with on the old Benz is the front sway bar. That was a poor choice.

Slow though!? I broke into the high 19s in the 1/4 in my 300SD!

Oh, sure, they'd EVENTUALLY get up and go and embarrass lesser vehicles like a VW Quantum dragging a dead cylinder (22.x at 65) but for that first thirty or forty feet, you could, without exaggeration, be outdragged by pedestrians.  At least, this was the case for every one I drove.

I always wondered if there was a fueling adjustment to help with that.  I do understand that the Diesels were the only ones that didn't start off in 2nd gear, they actually used 1st.