Finally after a lot a waiting, thinking and missing my W123 I bought a W126.
Q:Why did I dispose of W123 and buy a W126?
A: I don't know! All I know is whenever I see these old Mercedes it brings a smile on my face a big one!
A lot of people think I am crazy and I guess its true.
A year or so back I had sold the W123, the details of my previous ownership thread is here :
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/super-...-car-sold.html
I was very close to swapping the W123 diesel engine with 280S petrol engine but sense prevailed and that engine went into a Tata Estate!
Now I was surfing the net casually and came across a W126 which looked good. Decided to take a look (no intent to buy) since it was in Mumbai at Vasai. Drove down saw the car and I was shocked to see a 1982 W126 with such a clean body. No rust anywhere no dents, a few scratches. I knew straight away that the car is a keeper. People living in Mumbai can understand how difficult it is to by an old rust free car.
I wanted to buy the car but the price asked was outrageous! On further checking the papers the car had changed hand twice in last 2 years which is a bit weird for such a nice car. I started her up and I immediately knew something was wrong. The car was missing, the rev built was quick the power was there but the idle was sluggish. I was disappointed and left.
However I could not get the car out of my mind. I told the dealer I don't want to buy the car since there is some problem with the engine. Next day morning the dealer called me and offered me the car at half the price. I called my trusted mechanic and went to see the car again. This is what we found out:
The compression was ok, Oil pressure was ok, no white smoke, no funny smell in exhaust, but when my mechanic opened the radiator he paused and gave me the 'oh no' look. The radiator was blowing exhaust bubbles, the head gasket had issues. We immediately checked engine oil which had no traces of water in it yet, no oil in the radiator. But the head gasket or the head definitely needed work. He asked me not to buy the car.
We decided to check the other aspects of the car, according to my mechanic the car has been repainted (was confirmed by the previous owner), it was painted at Mercedes workshop Millennium motors in 2009, I have the bill with me. There is a black colored coating on every exposed part of the body thats not visible from outside, like underbody, floor, trunk etc it feels like plastic but I don't know what it is. We peeled some of it from the floor board to check for rust and it was all clean. My mechanic (could be an actor if he wanted) told me out loud, free me milegi to bhi mat lena i.e. don't take this car even if its of free.
We walked out, sat in my car on the way back to mumbai. My mechanic told me negotiate further and buy the the car. Its rare W126 with all electrical working, sunroof working, electric seats working, clean body and if its at the right price we can fix the head.
So asked for further 25% discount as my final price and struck the deal.
1982 W126 280S now mine.