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You are looking at this absolutely awesome W114/118 aka /8 sedan. This rare example is running, registered, absolutely bursting with character and ready to be driven away.<br />
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UK registered on black plates, tax-free, V5 in my name, MOTd for a while (will come with a brand new MOT) and taxed/insured/regularly driven. This is NOT a fresh import or a barn find and is not SORNd or freshly registered. You can legally drive it away and drive it anywhere, and that will not be the first time its been driven any distance like with a barn-find. Iv driven this car plenty.<br />
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Being diesel, it gets really good fuel economy, and if you are into bio fuels this is exactly THE legendary engine you want. I am not however. I run it on regular pump diesel because its fuel economy is great anyway.<br />
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This car has a fairly interesting history, starting out in the US and ending up in the UK via a few other places as far as I know. Its got so many little bits of history on it. Benz club of America stickers, servicing stickers, other club related stickers, number plate bezels from a California Mercedes dealer, etc etc. These little links to the past that have somehow not got lost over time really make this car special. It has a few good original dealer options like electric windows and alloys inc spare and quad chrome side mirrors (because two mirrors is just not enough!), has a few very cool period additions like twin pipes and chrome fog lights, and even has it"s original Mercedes Benz radio, which still works and has been converted so you can plug a phone or ipod or whatever into it. It also has a lot of upgrades to make it better as an every day driven classic. Read on!<br />
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This is a very early model, it has all the nice chrome bits that they deleted in lated /8s. Its gorgeous.<br />
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So mechanically it has the legendary ""million mile"" diesel engine, named so because of their reliability and longevity. This one is a mere puppy at a bit under 100,000 miles! These engines are some of the toughest engines in history and this one is in great condition. It starts first time every time and runs well. Its the 4 cylinder 2.2 liter version and has a manual transmission, and as mentioned before this engine is THE holy grail for the bio-fuel people out there. Its been looked after well, regular servicing, premium quality parts, correct fluids, etc. Because this car is driven often and is treated somewhat like a regular car, I didn"t skimp on maintenance. I also know which fluids to put where. On these cars, the manual gearboxes run on auto trans fluid (believe it or not) despite being manual. Putting regular manual trans fluid in them is bad. The air filter and fuel injection pump also have their own independent oil supplies which have to be changed. Everything got changed regularly, oil, all the filters, all the fluids, etc. There is a big list of mechanical work done recently.<br />
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The car has a lot of upgrades. It has euro-spec headlamps (because the American spec ones are not pretty). Most of the lighting is LED, its even fitted with LED leadlamps. They are great. Look good and you can actually see where you are going. The interior light, trunk light, glovebox light are all also LED, and all that stuff works! The backlights in the instrument cluster are LED and so is the backlight in the original MB radio! On the back, the reversing lights and number plate lights are also LED. Why is all that stuff LED? Because it looks good, is brighter, and most importantly, because LEDs have very long service lives, much longer than bulbs, so they are mostly just fit-and-forget.<br />
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It has an electric windscreen washer conversion, still operated by a foot pedal, but now electric. It"s been converted to use a common General Motors van/truck alternator, because MB alternators of this age are expensive and hard to find, whereas these are common and cheap. It has plastic fuel pipes (so they won"t rust!) and all the fuel plumbing is fairly new.<br />
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The body is in pretty good shape for an un-restored car coming up to 50 years old. It has its defects. The pain is faded. I love how it looks so I don"t polish it, but it polishes up well if desired. There are a few stone chips and little bits here and there, and there is plenty of sign of repair work on the floors. But, importantly, its solid! Its still got its original color.<br />
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The interior has its signs of wear as youd expect, but is generally good. It has a matching blue interior and the seats are amazing. Its like driving an old leather couch.<br />
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Anyway, I can talk about this car for hours. Its a great car and is one of the few of these for sale right now, and one of the even fewer that you can drive home. Remember this is NOT a new import or barn find. Its a fully functioning/legal to drive car.<br />
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Unfortunately, as much as I love it, another even older Benz needs my money and attention, so with a heavy heart I have to find this one a new home.<br />
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Located in Dorset. Any questions, please get in touch!<br />
Date written: 18-Nov-2016
Price: £6399 Offers invited
More about this vehicle on carandclassic.co.uk
ID: 5843
