[vikramvicky1984]

congrats,

I suggest buffing and restoring original headlamps and adding higher wattage bulbs with relay over adding new clear lens. Take away the looks

Alloys: Go for original Merc ( shouldn't be very difficult to find used) or replica AMGs only. Avoid up sizing unless you have really good roads

[2legit2quit]

what are the odds that I saw a similar W124 in midnight blue parked away in a quiet little alley under a tree in Hyderabad yesterday! I've loved old school mercs ever since I sat in the backseat of a black W140. Sigh! The smell of German engineering still lingers in my nostrils ! Congratulations on a fantastic buy and wishing you many more miles of motoring nirvana!

[arup.misra]

Congrats ...you little beauty.

What a machine and that too impeccably maintained. Clear her lamps out and get her a nice wax treatment and she'll be totally drool worthy.

Cheers!!! Drive Safe

[i74js]

How easy or how difficult is to manage RTO when the car is more than 15 years old (the original registration expires).

Can you advise on fitness and registration extension in such cases? and certainly the ownership transfer of old cars?

[W.A.G.7]

You've got a very neat example! Congrats! I remember when this car was launched, way back (in 1996?) I had gone to one of the industrial trade fairs where this car was displayed. And I was hooked to cars from that point. It is one of the best looking cars, I remember I had got a brochure of the car from the expo. Very very nice, and the blue colour looks good

[Viraat13]

Originally Posted by DudeWithaFiat

"Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz"

Janis Joplin, I believe.

Originally Posted by DudeWithaFiat

Thank you. The previous owners had been using Mobil 1. I'm not sure about the viscosity specs. The E250 needs almost 7 litres of oil, so that would cost a little over Rs.9000/- for an oil change (including the oil filter I guess).

I think you need to check if the car is running mineral or synthetic oil. Whatever it is, DO NOT switch. If it is running on mineral oil, carry on using that. The car needs 6.5 liters, don't overfill it.

There is no way an oil change can cost that much even at the authorised MB centre. It'll be around 3000 bucks for the oil, and a few hundred for the oil filter. The air filter is for about a 1000 bucks (MANN).

Originally Posted by noopster

What are the engine specs? I did some googling and it seems the E250 diesel of that era has a 111 bhp/ 170 N-m spec. Is that the one you have?

It's either 111 or 113. Not much difference though.

Originally Posted by DudeWithaFiat

Yes, the headlights upgrade and alloys are in the pipeline, but not too soon since I had to stretch my budget to get this beauty. But in a few months, the W124 is getting clear lens headlights and alloys.

Before you 'upgrade' the headlamps, can I just suggest that you have them opened and washed? You'll be surprised how good 17 year old lamps look. Or even 25 year old ones in my case.

[Redline Shooter]

Congratulations on that lovely piece of machinery.
Every single picture of it emphasizes on the impeccable state of the car. W124 has all been one of my favourite cars from the Mercedes Benz stable. Even i hope to own one someday. As you have already mentioned that new sets of alloys are in the pipeline i will be hooked to the thread. Do share some more pictures of her on the road.

[virtualdanger]

Congratulations DudeWithaFiat, on the lovely addition. I can totally relate to the passion element, and in your notes that lead up to the purchase, it comes out very well.

Enjoy your W124; long awaited and well deserved.

I had a similar dream growing up, not nearly as grand though. In 1998 when I saw the OHC, that was the car I wanted to own one day. That dream finally came alive in mid 2007, when I bought a used 2002, Type 2, Gen 1 OHC. (And in the color I wanted - Heather Mist). It was my first car, and I still have it.

[rosh_aveo1.4]

Dude. Where are you in Kochi? Talk about coincidence, I was hell bent on getting one but dad and the wifey are afraid of the huge bills that can come. Yes, I did explain that it was old school mechanics compared to the new age ones and so no problem but no use.
And to make things worse, my BIL got the A4 3.2 V6 petrol recently and it cost a bomb for the maintenance and everyone thinks the E would be worse since the parts will not be easily available. And ofcourse, the usual comparison in Kerala land where they say 'the A4 is leagues ahead of this old relic'. It might be a relic but a lovely one at that and I would prefer it any day over the complex A4.
So you are the perfect person to ask, have you checked the overall upkeep and availability of the spares? You are lucky to personally know Merc's owner, makes the maintenance bit easier.
And yes, once again, where are you located? I would absolutely love to see the car. I always had the dream for the E220 but the diesel is more practical I think.

[majumon]

Amazing is the power of the Law of attraction. Super buy ,hearty congratulations, you must be on cloud nine now. Its just beautiful. Wishing you miles and miles of happy driving, hope to catch up some time with you in Gods own country to see teh beauty. Very nice write up about how you acquired the beauty.

[Sherlocked]

Your car is indeed legendary buddy. I can just imagine how much respect and stares you must be earning while roaming in it and having a trusted mechanic by your side is just icing on the cake.
I suppose you were searching this car for a long time and patience always yields a fruitful result. I wish one day my dream of owning a clean Zen or a type II Honda City will also be fulfilled. Yes I know these cars are segment apart but I have a thing for low slung cars.
Congratulations and enjoy your ride.

[rosh_aveo1.4]

I seen this black E class with clear lens lamps and also different tail lamps but somehow, I did not like the clear lens lamp as much.

And here are some pic of various E class pic I used to download (just like you again!)

[infotech58]

The car you have bought yourself is a keeper for life; and you are very very lucky to have found a nice piece.

I also aspire to buy a W124 some day but haven't been able to find a satisfying specimen and given that I am away from home for extended periods puts me off from buying and then leaving it rusting.

[DudeWithaFiat]

Originally Posted by autobalan

Congrats DudeWithaFiat, your car looks absolutely gorgeous.I am also a W124 fan, and dreaming of owning one someday.Since you were behind this model,can you please share some recent prices for a well maintained car, i know its depends on mileage, but atleast give some reference prices in Kerala

Thanks Autobalan. The cars I looked at ranged from 3.4 L (negotiable) to 5 Lakhs. As you can easily guess, the ones selling for less than 4 Lakhs are mostly poorly maintained cars with too many niggles to fix, which is, at most times, an instant turn off when you go see the car. Cars with service records will be virtually non-existant, but for a poorly maintained car you can easily imagine how the owner must have missed taking the car for regular services or to give the required oil changes. Another thing is odometer tampering. All the cars I checked had their odometer readings around 1,60,000 which means all of these cars, in all their 16 or 17 years life had been doing only around 10,000km an year? You think its true? If it was just one or two cars, okay, could be true, but what if its ALL the cars? Highly improbable. Its like the all the W124 owners have used their cars only for emergencies, so trust me, most of the cars that you would be looking at, will have done 2 or 3 Lakhs (or even more) km in most cases. At the service center, I saw a white W124 250D, which had 3,2x,xxx on its odo. It looked so pristine that it could pass of as a 1,20,000 km car in the used-car market. So when you start hunting for one, check for the signs of odo tampering.

Originally Posted by FlatOut

Keep the car as original as possible and fit OE MB parts wherever possible, its value would increase more with retro-fitment of headlamp wipers and washer rather than Chinese-made projector lenses. The originals work well, especially if clean. But it is yours, so you can do what you like!

Originally Posted by FlatOut

The suspension will last longer if you don't fit larger diameter, lower profile tyres.

Originally Posted by vikramvicky1984

congrats,

I suggest buffing and restoring original headlamps and adding higher wattage bulbs with relay over adding new clear lens. Take away the looks

Alloys: Go for original Merc ( shouldn't be very difficult to find used) or replica AMGs only. Avoid up sizing unless you have really good roads

Originally Posted by arup.misra

Congrats ...you little beauty.

What a machine and that too impeccably maintained. Clear her lamps out and get her a nice wax treatment and she'll be totally drool worthy.
Cheers!!! Drive Safe

After much thinking, that is the way I have decided to take my W124 to - to keep this beauty as original as possible. I have also decided against getting clear-lens headlights and will be clearing and washing the current headlights in a couple of days.

Upsizing - a strict no-no.

Originally Posted by FlatOut

Enjoy the car! If it has the OM605 engine, the plastic fuel lines to and from the pump have a daft design which allows air in every few years. They're not expensive to buy and fairly easy to fit, well worth doing since air in the fuel is about the only thing which would stop the car from starting - the original two valve/cylinder OM602/3 didn't have this problem.

Change the engine......filter changes are as important as oil filter changes for the longevity of the engine) and maybe a injector pump vacuum cut off part.

Don't forget to change the differential oil, it's easy to overlook!

I have read all your posts on this forum . Yes, that is an OM605 engine. I haven't taken the car to the service center yet, but will be doing so in a couple of days and will keep this in mind.

Originally Posted by i74js

How easy or how difficult is to manage RTO when the car is more than 15 years old (the original registration expires).

Can you advise on fitness and registration extension in such cases? and certainly the ownership transfer of old cars?

I don't think it is very hard to get the registration renewed. In my case, the car already has a renewed registration which is good till 2016. Two years back I didn't have any problems in transferring the ownership when I bought a Padmini which was older than 15 years then.

Originally Posted by Viraat13

I think you need to check if the car is running mineral or synthetic oil. Whatever it is, DO NOT switch. If it is running on mineral oil, carry on using that. The car needs 6.5 liters, don't overfill it.

There is no way an oil change can cost that much even at the authorised MB centre. It'll be around 3000 bucks for the oil, and a few hundred for the oil filter. The air filter is for about a 1000 bucks (MANN).

Its running Synthetic oil. Mobil 1. I'm planning to continue with that. Around 3000 bucks for 6.5 liters of Mobil 1? I don't think so

Originally Posted by Viraat13

It's either 111 or 113. Not much difference though.

Yeah. The service manual says its 83 Kw, which translates to 111 bhp.

Originally Posted by Redline Shooter

Congratulations on that lovely piece of machinery.
Every single picture of it emphasizes on the impeccable state of the car. W124 has all been one of my favourite cars from the Mercedes Benz stable. Even i hope to own one someday. As you have already mentioned that new sets of alloys are in the pipeline i will be hooked to the thread. Do share some more pictures of her on the road.

Thank you. Sure sure, more pictures are coming. I am actually going out day after tomorrow with the car with the sole purpose of taking a few photographs

Originally Posted by rosh_aveo1.4

Yes, I did explain that it was old school mechanics compared to the new age ones and so no problem but no use.
And to make things worse, my BIL got the A4 3.2 V6 petrol recently and it cost a bomb for the maintenance and everyone thinks the E would be worse since the parts will not be easily available.
So you are the perfect person to ask, have you checked the overall upkeep and availability of the spares? You are lucky to personally know Merc's owner, makes the maintenance bit easier.
And yes, once again, where are you located? I would absolutely love to see the car. I always had the dream for the E220 but the diesel is more practical I think.

Hi Rosh. True. Everyone has that impression about the maintenance. When I shared my car's pic on facebook, the first thing they ask it about the maintenance and I don't think they really believe me when I say that if you can maintain a Vento/Skoda/Polo this is going to cost only as much.

About the spares, the Merc guys knows where to get them. The service parts and available in plenty. There are lots of W124 enthusiasts in the forum who can help you the parts in case of a lack of availability. There are also a number of websites that provides parts of anywhere in this world.

I'm located at Udayamperoor, near Thripunithura. Where are you located? I'm taking the car to trivandrum (where I work) next week and the car will be back to Kochi by the end of August. You are always welcome to come see the car

Ping Viraat from this thread. He owns an E220 and he would be the right person to ask about it. I have a thing for Diesel cars, so I did not even think about buying the petrol ones.

Originally Posted by rosh_aveo1.4

I seen this black E class with clear lens lamps and also different tail lamps but somehow, I did not like the clear lens lamp as much.

And here are some pic of various E class pic I used to download (just like you again!)

hehe. Thanks for the pics. If you still download the pics of W124, then you ought to get one buddy. Like Paulo Coelho says, "If its still in your mind, its worth taking the risk". Check out the fan's pages of W124 on facebook. There are loads.

And right, for some reason I feel that the W124 loses its majestic appearance when stylized headlights projector/angel eyes et all are used.

[autobalan]

DudeWithaFiat, thanks for the valuable information. since you are coming to Tvm, why should i miss an oppurtunity to see your car and have some talk.
Kindly tell where you work/stay, make me feel lucky among your MB fans in this page.Have a safe ride