What happened to all the W116 - '73-'80 450 SEL's?

[Robert W. Roe]

I love the W116's looks, and overall poise.
I really need to a/b a W116 and a W124 to compare handling.
It's been 20+ years since I last drove a W116
To me, they are still one of the most elegant looking Mercedes, rivalling the W140, the W108 and W109.
Since the age of 16 or so, I've always wanted to get a W116 when I grew up
still haven't stumbled onto the right one...

[ML320]

A very sleek car which my kids love to take to school... With new black leather interior.



PS. Anyone replaced the manual climate control levers? They are a bit sticky.

[albert champion]

i owned a 1976 450sel that i purchased new. traded in my 1973 220. i also owned a 1972 lotus europa t/c. the 450sel made me forget the lotus for street driving.

it was a great car. i drove it for 10 years and when i abandoned it for my 1986 560sel it had 240,000 miles. the w126 was an improvement. better climate control system, better seat positioning, better sunroof.

but i must admit, i enjoyed driving the 116 better. mine was baby blue with black leather. a great car and i wish that i had it back.

it was the memories of that car that caused me to acquire a very cherry, low mileage 1979 6.9 several years ago. another great car whose looks would be great had not the feds forced such monstrous bumpers on it.

actually, i like the looks of the 116 as well as i like the looks of the 126.

the best thing about this series of s class cars is that 116's were the best of their era and the 126's were developmental improvements. in my view, benz could have stopped right here. i feel that no one has topped this series.

but lexus arrived and the era of gadgetization in car design began. and benz was not immune from that disease. too bad.

i shall keep driving the old ones. i understand them. i got into a new one the other day and found nothing intuitive about operating it. almost as bad as the 7 series beamers.

fwiw.

[Ether]

Reviving it for a couple of reasons.

I recently added another W116 to the fleet and still think that they are the quintessential Mercedes.

Also, wondering if anyone knows what happened to amskeptic (poster who is featured prominently in this thread). I really enjoyed his writing. He is no longer a forum member at least under that name.

[COLLIN380]

W116s are elegant and are extremely reliable, both 300SD and 450SEL. I just sold my Dad's 300SD w/106k miles and am selling my 1979 450SEL, due to buying a 1996 E300D and two small boys that take up alot of my time . I have four Mercedes Benz's and to me the W116 is my favorite.

[blueeagle289]

Due to an overload of good cars, with my purchase of a 68 230S recently, I am selling my excellent 450SEL (see Forum car sale area) for $3500 OBO. I have over $6500 in this car, but need to reduce the fleet; just can't drive them all! Anyone interested please contact me .... thanks, Ben Carter

[john erbe]

Wrong. There are several sites re: 116's. Try w116.org.

[Chadahar]

LuvLaw has a really nice gold one. he drove it on the Nor CAL doiesel drive. I chased him (with my new to me 1989 560 SEC that Jim B snagged for me off Craigslist in Sacramento) through the hills and hollows of St rd 49 going to the Marin French Cheese Factory. I think we and possibly Jim B were the only one that DIDN"T brake going into the turns. LOL! LUVLAW drives it like he stole it! Nice car!

[alabbasi]

I have four of them!

[JPMOSE]

This is a really interesting thread!

I bought my W116 because of the styling! I have my 560SL and Pagoda...but they are more garage queens. I also have a 2003 4Runner Limited that is supercharged (TRD package). Great vehicle but a gas hog. My W116 was converted to 1973 USA bumpers, as I prefer the Euro bumper look. Quite frankly, I am bored with the W126! It is a great car, but I drove one from 1986 through 2003 (totalled with 345k miles) and I want to experience other Mercedes'. I can't begin to tell you all how many more compliments I getting with my W116 versus my W123, which I sold to family in NC last year. It is not seen that often and is a chassis of beauty if it is in nice cosmetic shape.

I think the day will come that everyone is more intrigued by it's styling (again)!

Sadly, many have rusted out quicker than other chassis due to the steel strike in the 1970's. I love my baby and wish it could have a garage space like the other three...but I do cover it in the summer months and never expose it to salt. If I could trust that a lot of wax would prevent new aluminum garnish moldings from turning dull in 3-4 years, I would replace all of it!

[Skippy]

If anybody in northern Nevada or Nor-Cal wants to rescue a 116 450SEL, there are two rough ones available in my area. One that I considered buying (until folks on this forum steered me toward the W114 I bought instead) is sitting behind Eagle Gas on 395 in Carson City. The sign says $1000, but considering how long it's been there, I'm thinking the owner would let it go for much less. It's yellow/beige and has straight sheetmetal, so-so interior, and I don't know if it runs or not. The other is silver, non-running (don't know why), and sitting off to the side of a lemon lot on 50 over on the east side.

There's only one 116 in the junkyard I work at, and it's a 380SE Euro in remarkably good shape, or at least it was when it got to us. In other news, we just set 72 or 73 220. It was there three hours before someone snagged the hood ornament (which I wanted). I went back after work and grabbed the headlight bezels and driver's mirror.

[royalpagoda]

I've owned my 78 450SEL for three years now and aside from the AC servo draining my wallet (and battery) a couple of years ago I have had no serious issues with her. It is rough on gas BUT I've found that it makes a decent hyper-miler. Due to its substantial heft, she can coast along in neutral for quite a distance (downhill of course) before needing to gear-up. Once it begins to dip under 45 or so, I rev her up to @2000rpm and drop into drive again.

The bank-vault build quality, excellent materials, anachronistic lines, and modern features makes for a very satisfying experience. I am quite certain that with adequate preventative maintenance and TLC, this car will be able to soldier on for many happy miles. Consider it the ultimate recycling experiment.

It also doesn't hurt that the first owner invested in a new leather interior (even the door panels are leather!) and respray before I bought it. I'll post some pics in the near future.

-RP

1972 MG-BGT
1978 450 SEL
2007 Mazda CX-9 (Wife's ride)

[pj67coll]

Originally Posted by royalpagoda

It also doesn't hurt that the first owner invested in a new leather interior (even the door panels are leather!) and respray before I bought it. I'll post some pics in the near future.

-RP

1972 MG-BGT
1978 450 SEL
2007 Mazda CX-9 (Wife's ride)

Would liketo see them.

- Peter.

[Don Buchanan]

Well, they are out there folks. I have a 1973 450-SE with about 110 kmiles on the clock. It stays sheltered and has not seen a wet road in years. My Sunday driver you might say. Somewhere in one of my computers are some pics. If I can locate them I will post a couple. Its a gas hog.

[ozawa]

love my 1973 450se! my w108 doesn't get much use for i prefer driving the w116. i do have to admit that i don't much like the 5mph bumpers that they had to slap on in 1974 but overall, i love the W116 series.

even with 12 mpg, and the sometimes finicky D-Jet fuel injection, all is well when cruising along a wide open highway.

i lust for the 6.9 in the movie "Ronin."