This Mercedes-Benz show was held in June 2018. Open to all Benzes, regardless age and model. Here’s my belated photoreport, I skipped the new and more recent models.
1981 C107 – 280 SLC.
1977 W123 – 280.
1988 C124 – 230 CE.
1953 W136 – 170 VA. Clearly a design dating back to the thirties.
1984 R107 – 380 SL.
1984 W201 – 190 E.
1994 W202 – C 280. Amazing condition, inside and outside.
1982 W123 – 200 D.
1999 W210 – E 55 AMG. No idea if it really was official.
1991 W124 – 300 D. I wouldn’t be surprised if this once was the daily driver of a building contractor or livestock dealer. You see, this very Mercedes-Benz model was the car you really wanted when you were on the road a lot, professionally, while towing a tandem axle trailer on a daily or regular basis.
Successively a W115, W123 and W124 with a diesel engine, that is what came to mind when thinking and talking Mercedes. The other models? You only knew them from TV-shows, like Columbo and Dallas, or movies.
1970 W113 – 280 SL.
1964 W111 – 220 SE Coupe.
1972 W116 – 280 S.
1978 C107 – 280 SLC.
1956 W198 – 300 SL Coupe, the legendary Gullwing. Talk about Arriving In Style!
1974 W116 – 280 S. Both the four-speed transmission and the side windows are manual. Stripper Benzes were very common; why put more money on the table for frivolities like electric windows? And of course there was the old adage “what isn’t on the car, can’t break down”.
1970 W111 – 280 SE Coupe.
1971 W114 – 250 CE Automatic.
From the Kleve-district in Germany (see plate), a W201 – 190 E 2.6 (see inline-six).
1972 W108 – 280 SE Automatic.
The side-profile of a W116, the W108 successor in 1972.
1981 W123 – 280 E Automatic.
1971 W108 – 280 SE.
1979 W123 – 280 E.
1960 W198 II – 300 SL Roadster. Talk about Arriving In Style…the ultimate way!
Related article (same show):
Car Show Outtakes: 1979-1991 Mercedes-Benz W126 And C126 S-Class – Timeless Autobahn Gliders
Wow, a C107 with cloth seats. I don’t think I ever saw one of those in the US.
Those big hardtops (W111 and W114) are everything I love about old Benz’ – big, heavy-looking but with an elegance about them.
Great selection!
Did you have to pay extra for the cloth seats ? Anything would be better than MB leathercloth, and real leather might be too sweaty…..
Some lovely cars – strangely no Fintails, but plenty of W123s, the archetypal Merc.
If you haven’t seen this movie you should.
Looks interesting. What movie is that, please?
Lost In America
Thanks!
I’m raving about the more common cars. The W116 is an all-time favorite for me. The W108 lags just a little behind. And then come the W123s. When I was about 15 (1980) the 300D was the car of choice for the wealthy in Uruguay. As they could only be imported by diplomats, there was a gray market supported by dealers who would approach leaving diplomats, order in their names the cars, take delivery, and store them until they were 2 years old (or pay the taxes). Most were optioned to the gills, only the 240D would be somewhat simpler. The diplomat would net a nice cut. A 1980 Mercedes 300 TD , turbodiesel wagon, brand new, would set you back 100K. Mind you…1980. Why get a diesel car if you had that kind of money, even if gas was so expensive…go figure. But there weren’t almost no gas Mercedes.
Great assortment here — it’s hard to pick a favorite, but that 280 SE Coupe is awfully hard to resist.
It seems that Mercedes came out with a different shade of Pea Green every year in the 1970s/80s, and somehow green seemed to complement just about any Mercedes of era.
I don’t know where to begin. Considering how long my comments can be while talking about an average car, I could talk forever about why I love each and every one of these classic Mercs.
But I don’t want my tablet to run out of ink, so I will just say that I was taken in by the first picture of the green SLC, was enthralled throughout and sad to reach the end of the post.
Then I went to the link, and found another beautiful set to look through! So, thanks for making my car-reading day.
Such a lovely collection. Some of these still look contemporary, especially the Sacco designs.
I’m surprised to see the W108s with 4 round headlamps. I thought those were US-spec. Or might these have been converted…and why? Just to be different?
Also surprised at the stripper W116…we’d NEVER see them like that in NA!
Dual round headlamp units became also available on Euro-spec W108s from 1969 onwards. Many pre-1969 W108s have been retrofitted with them, making the cars with the original single headlamp units rarer and more desirable now (source: German W108 Wikipedia site).
This is surprising and interesting, given that in the US it’s not unusual to see US-market cars retrofitted with Euro lenses, on the principle that doing so better fulfills the original design aesthetic. I’m guilty of this….
Super clean Baden-Württemberg looks, as intended. Very nice!
original single headlamp units
They were called “Grabstein” (tombstone) headlamps and weren’t very good at distributing light as dual round headlamps. When 300SEL 6.3 was offered in 1968 with round headlamps only, the owners “upgraded” theirs to resemble the 6.3 version.
AMG also prepped the 300SEL 6.8 for motoring races. The sight of successful racer “inspired” owners to make theirs look more sporty and youthful.
Mercedes-Benz wasn’t only one. Volkswagen offered two different headlamp designs for first generation Scirocco: rectangle units for smaller motors and quad round headlamps for sporty version. Same with Audi and its 100 and 200.
I feel like a kid in a candy store! Only one Mom? Awww… That 220S coupé, then.
I’ll take that 1970 W111 please.
That brownish-maroon color makes a stunning car that much more so.
Johannes: ooh – my very favorite cars, Mercedes from the ’50s to the early ’90s.
So very many green cars! Just wow; I’d have any one of the green ones. And a brown 124 coupe! Amazing, unheard of! The only better color on a C124 might be Bornite/481. And two SLCs with the sumptuous and beautiful cloth interiors we never got in the USA. Cloth is luxury; leather is for working vehicles. The SLCs could have only been better with a manual, but we never got that either. We also never got the 2.8 DOHC in any 107 and that lighter engine certainly makes sense to me if equipped with a 4 speed manual transmission.
Is that green C107 the exact same color as the C126 I saw you post recently? I can’t believe how perfect it looks – so appropriate for a truly luxury European car. Why did we Americans think an Eldorado or a Mark whatever was good when we could have had this?
Here’s the 1983 C126 – 380 SEC again. It seems to be the same shade of green as the C107 (and also the W116?) in the article.
I’ll happily sign up for a 280SE but you are correct, that C280 is super clean. The interior styling still looks very modern and fresh to me, I could happily drive that around as well as long as that owner would pop by and keep it clean for me, he’s doing a splendid job.
As you already know they all look great, excellent photos as usual, JD!
Thanks for the great photos!
Looking at the C107, I was very glad that my parents decided against buying a 1972 350SLC and went for 1977 450SEL.
During our 1982 summer holiday in Germany, my father wanted to buy a second-hand Mercedes-Benz and export it to the United States. We had just two criterias: the car must be at least five years old (as to qualify for personal import) and have functional air conditioning (driving in Dallas during the summer without AC is unthinkable).
We saw 350SLC at the sales centre in Waldshut-Tiengen. It was well-maintained and beautiful. The sore point was the car being registered in Switzerland so lot of logistic issues were expected. Another choice was 450SEL in cypress green with green velour upholstery (just like in the photo above — the only difference was ours having alloy wheels). It was priced lower than 350SLC.
We did the pro-and-con chart to decide which one to buy. At my urgency, my father decided 450SEL was better choice than smaller 350SLC. We didn’t regret our decision ever since…
Good story! I also bought myself a 450 SEL, a long time ago. Built by Bburago, I have to add.
I had to look up Bburago and, aha, good choice! No maintenance, insurance, and registration headache then.
As a kid, I had the Matchbox version of the 1964 W111 – 220 SE Coupe as above. IIRC, it was the same color and the doors opened.
It’s probably sitting under the fig tree in my Dad’s back yard. Hope the sons of the new owners find it and a bunch more Matchbox cars in the yard and garden.
Hard to choose.
280SE Coupe, W116, W123, Pagoda…. but you still come back to the Gullwing don’t you?
Interesting to see an S-Class with roll-up windows and a manual! Love these old Benzes so much; today’s Mercedes range is too big in terms of the different variants and they are bordering on the garish, rather than the understated class these older designs had.