All Entries Tagged With: "W126 S-Class"
Bullet Proof W126 In Institute’s Music Video
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: YouTube ::: Institute – Bullet Proof Skin with W126 Benz
MUSIC videos are a particularly good platform for das auto. One keen reader and W126 fan recently alerted yours to a W126 S-Class that takes a leading role in a music flick by the rock bang “Institute”. Fittingly, the song’s called “Bullet Proof Skin”.
In the short film we see the lead vocalist pilot the black S-Class with aftermarket rims and (sadly) clear side indicators drive through the mist and fog that seldom happen in sunny Los Angeles. Angelinos do love their W126 Benzes! Great song, btw.
Thanks, Pedro!
Fleeting Excellence: Mercedes-Benz 300SD
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img Daimler AG ::: Mercedes-Benz 300SD (W126, Series 1, 1981-1985)
FEW cars are both as loved and abused as the Mercedes 300SD. The mighty series one, W126 generation S-Class turbodiesel featuring an iron-clad inline-five cylinder oil burner is the stuff of engineering lore and a bittersweet lesson that excellence is fleeting.
Almost five years ago (!), ADLX reviewed the 300SD; a Swiss Army knife in the Reagan-era of luxury transport.
Your humble scribe heaped as much praise on the big W126 Benz as I knew how and for good reason – no other vintage Bimmer, Audi, Saab, Volvo, Caddy, Lincoln, or Jag could blend utility with style and luxury in one solid package.
That said, as time ticks by, us Benz aficionados can’t help but feel a little somber as these venerable sedans start to recede from our highways and byways. Classic diesels like the 300SD are largely treated pitilessly as workhorses. And nothing, however brilliantly engineered, lasts forever.
A cue, then, to appreciate the 300SDs still on the road.
Fuenfkommasechs Returns! W126 Benz Site Extraordinaire
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via Fuenfkommasechs.de
W126 Benzers rejoice! Fuenfkommasechs has returned!
There is a lack of quality sites that cover Germany’s best efforts of the 1980s. Fuenfkommasechs was, and once again, is an island in this desert. Following an extensive and beautiful overhaul, the premiere source for W126 info is back.
A veritable treasure trove of insightful commentary, history, archival imagery, technical material, and new photography, Fuenfkommasechs articulates the grandeur that is the W126 generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class, in large, and the magnificent 560SEL, in particular.
There is one catch: the site is published in German.
Luckily, the site compensates with an early online version of ASR, if you will, providing a practical, if rough, translation tool for most any language…including English.
Given that I share with you an undying ardor for Stuttgart’s greatest of elephantine chariots, I could not help but share this most remarkable site.
Enjoy!
Linked: Fuenfkommasechs.de
eBay Christmas Find: 1990 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL
- 1990 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL with 37K miles
- Black over grey + W126 gen = handsome saloon
- New York market car appears to be in great shape but buyer beware
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG eBay
NEW YORK is really hard on cars.
Generally, the city’s washboard street grid system acts as an automotive meat grinder; churning its way through rims, shocks, and tyres while the city’s fair tempered drivers bash their way through impossibly tight spaces in a constant furious flow; taking with them the purity of bumpers, fenders, mirrors, prides…
And those are mere flesh wounds.
Yet, down on the lower westside – a wayward hubcap’s travel from the Javitz (NYIAS’ home) sits a sterling 1990 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL that’s survived the metro area for some 19 years.
That is appears on eBay in such showroom fresh shape, makes it one bid well worth considering. To date, the big Benz has 37K miles to its title. This is in large measure likely why its glorious three-box form appears in such fine fettle.
Black on grey being one of the best color combos for any W126 – those hues trump the once popular tan on beige any day – the S-Class appears to be in original form: the cryptic Becker radio and lack of adhoc aftermarket electronica circa 1999 is a real plus.
Interesting to note, it appears that the Benz is also fitted with the (rare) early version of ASR traction control, which was standard only on the R129 500SL in 1990.
But with such low mileage, we have to wonder how long the car was made to sit. Gaskets, hoses, and the melee of hydropneumatic devices (door locks, rear self-leveling suspension, etc.) all can bust if neglected in some garage – to say nothing of the odd water pump or a litany of sensors.
That the seller – Mercedes-Benz Manhattan, Inc. – hasn’t listed the 560SEL on its own site is suspect. Dealers tend to post risky vehicles online rather than include them as part of their own inventory.
So, caveat emptor.
That said, a cared for 560SEL remains one of the grandest cars on the road.
560SELs provide most everything a luxury car driver should care to own: superlative ride, surefooted handling, quiet interior, torque rich, big-bloc V8, superior engineering, safety and classically eye catching style.
To add that such quality is available at a bargain – $8,600 – and is popular (12 bids) proves all the more enticing.
Linked: eBay Motors 1990 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL from Mercedes-Benz Manhattan
German Luxury’s New Yet Familiar Face: ’09 S-Class
The facelifted Sonderklasse
By Gunnar Heinrich
LOOKING forward to this freshened, nip ‘n tucked 2009 S-Class, we anticipate the first true refit of the flagship Mercedes-Benz that’s been with us since 2005. And while we analyze its various alterations we can draw on the marque’s history to note that what we’re looking at is – in point of fact – just more of the same.
Cryptic? Follow me…
As avantgarde as any one of the German three – for our purposes Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz – may seem in any one of their product’s given lifecycles, the marques a) copy eachother relentlessly while manage to be b) retain their own character.
A large part of this is inbreeding is doubtless due to the fact that all three car makers are going to the same parts suppliers – Bosch, Beru, Bilstein, and so on…
But ever distantly follow an early 80s Mercedes-Benz (W126) S-Class only to discover what you’re tailing is actually a (E28) BMW 7-Series? The two three-box sedans share very similar architecture.
The baddies drive a Benz 500SEL and a BMW 733i in Beverly Hills Cop
Or how about mistaking an early 90s Audi Quattro for a Mercedes-Benz (W124) E-Class? And perhaps going cross eyed at the ungainly similarity between the current S-Class and the previous (E65/66) 7er bulbous booties?
There is such a thing as a common Teutonic element. Or it may just be systemic lethargy.
Mercedes designers clearly liked what’s been going on at Ingolstadt and Munich. And for the purposes of time management we’ll just consider the common elements found in the ’09 S-Class’ redone headlamps.
Mercedes clearly liked the eyebrow effect that BMW’s been rockin’ in the 5er and 7er’s headlight assemblies – thin plastic covers over two projector beams – silver eyebrows, essentially.
And then there’s Audi’s LED accent lights. Audi has used these diodes to stunning, singular effect first on the R8 and then letting it all branch out to the rest of the lineup.
Well, Mercedes thought that appealing, too.
You’ll note, just beneath the two ovoid lights are a string of LEDs just for a dash of a li’l som’in else – echoed by LED foglamps in the front bumper (just like Audi, again).
Yet, looking at the S-Class’ new headlights as a whole, could they belong to anything but a Mercedes-Benz? Funny how the same elements can and do still add up to uniquely identifiable characteristics that define each marque’s distinct, but nonetheless Teutonic image.
Buyer’s Market: Benz 300SE SoCal Gem
Too good to be true?
By Gunnar Heinrich
WHAT does $1,600 buy you these days?
- Two roundtrip tickets (economy) from New York to Buenos Aires for a sunny sojourn? Check.
- One leather briefcase from Dunhill plus a box of cigars for the humidor? Check.
- One dozen long stem roses in a crystal rose vase by Steuben for votre amour? Check.
Or how about one 1989 jet black on black Mercedes-Benz 300SE…
Retrospection: The Stalwart Mercedes-Benz 300SD
In the 1970s, the OPEC induced gas crisis led to a rush importation of German diesel cars in the United States. The fuel crunch inspired Mercedes-Benz to implement turbo-diesel models in their flagship S-Class saloons.
The 300SD was first produced in the W116 series (1972-1980).
The 70s S-Class was something of a low profile tank and at over 4,000 lbs the original 300SD was lethargic in its performance. The 1980s changed that by shaving the pounds off the less hefty and more aerodynamic W126 series (1979-1991). The new 300SD felt as solid as a tank, but at roughly 3,700 lbs weighted considerably less than one. Hence, acceleration was better, as was fuel range.
Looking back on the 300SD, I remember liking the car.
I have never experienced a new or even lightly used 300SD; which says something about the condition of those cars today (and my age). Most of the early W126 S-Class turbo-diesels continue to be used hard as veritable work horses and many have accrued over 300,000 miles. In these terms, it is difficult to consider most 300SDs today as luxury cars.
There is no question, however, that in the 1980s the 300SD was the gold standard.
The MSRP for a 1983 Mercedes-Benz 300SD was $38,500; or 73,542 in today’s dollars.
There was no finer diesel car on the road. As an S-Class sedan, the 300SD represented the penultimate in luxury automotive transportation.
By contemporary standards, a new 300SD was quiet at cruising speed, smooth in the dispatch of broken asphalt, comfortably spacious for the front passengers, and relatively so for the rear. Above all, the turbo-diesel sedan enjoyed that sterling accolade of most pre-2000 Benzes in that the car felt as secure as a “bank vault”.
This S-Class was not without its foibles though.
Anti-lock brakes (ABS) were not standard equipment. There was no option of having a self-leveling suspension system. These two assets would have been key in everyday performance terms as I will explain. 15” rather than 14” wheels would have benefited handling and braking as well.
There were no memory controls for the power front seats; the front headrests were manually adjustable, there were no rear headrests. Fixed in its position; the hub of the steering wheel was hard plastic, the rim trimmed in vinyl (“leatherette” in Benz lexicon); and most 300SDs were fitted with the often cold and ill-matched Zebrano wood trim.
On highway and what I affectionately refer to as The Test Track- a twisting hilly road that cuts through a bucolic forest reserve, free of population and traffic, full of undulations, sudden drops, and a quarter mile straightaway– I had the fine opportunity to drive on different occasions two 300SDs in the late 1990s.
I shall report on my experiences in The Drive.
