Extrapolated Production Figures

Mercedes W111 220SE/250SE Coupe/Cabriolet

For reasons of their own, Mercedes gave the 220SE and 250SE models the same designator (111.021 for coupe and 111.023 for cabriolet). In addition, the chassis number was shared with the 220SE sedan. This was not continued for the later W111 coupe and cabriolet that have their own model designator and sequence.

From what I know there were:

220SE Sedan: 66,086 220SE: Coupe: 14,173 220SE: Cabrio: 2,729 250SE Coupe: 5,259 250SE Cabriolet: 954 That should mean that there were a total of 82,988 220SE. The last 220SE sedan was 82,687 produced in August 1965. Coupe […]

Almost Shiny DS

The DS was painted at home by the previous owner which resulted in the paintwork being extremely dull and rough. Today I had the whole today aside, so I wanted to get started on improving the paint.

I started with a wash as the car was a little dusty. From there, I used a clay bar to try and remove any contaminants in the paint before I wet sanded it. I started with 1,500 grit and then went to 2,000 grit. While many of the videos I found on YouTube used a sanding block, I found it easier without one.

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W123 280CE further evaluation

I got the W123 280CE out again today and gave it a quick wash down. It was covered in bird poo from it’s time for sale and I doubt I’ll have much time to work on it until later this year so I wanted to get that off.

Drove it around the industrial complex where the garage is and the more I look at this car the more I think it’s fundamentally a good car. Somebody has rebuilt the steering box as there is minimal play, the transmission is very fast to engage and the car is quite nice to […]

Leaky coupe

Yesterday I put the 280CE up on the hoist to see where the water leaks were coming from. I had bought the car knowing it was leaking, presumably from the radiator. From looking underneath, it looks like the leaks are actually coming from the water pump, not the radiator.

That should make the job more time consuming, but cheaper overall.

In addition, I was pleasantly surprised with how good underneath the car looks.

2013 French car display day

Today I went to the annual French Car display day. This is organized by the French Car clubs including Citroen, Peugeot, Renault, Simca etc. It’s held on a weekend around Bastille day, which this year happened to be the day of the event. It was a good day and good to see familiar cars and faces of the Citroen Car club members. Lots of interesting cars around, including a couple of early D’s, a custom DS convertible that one club member made himself, a lovely Traction Avant, and a really interesting Hotchkiss with a wooden body.

I had just got […]

E-Type to Mt. Victoria

It had been a while since the E-Type had been on a good long drive, so a friend of mine came over to the warehouse and we took the E-Type out for the drive below.

View Larger Map

I’ve done most of this route before – Galston Rd is always a good one, as is Bells Line of Road. I was also impressed withe the Commenara parkway – will take that again instead of Pacific Highway.

The pie shop on Bells Line of Road is also a good stop off point.

The E-Type performed well, and was […]

Road trip to Canberra

I had to go to Canberra for work today, so I decided to take the 250SE on a road trip. I hadn’t taken it for a long drive for a while, and I thought a road trip would do it good. It was too cold to open the roof, but It was nice to get the car out on the open road.

250SE in front of old Parliament house.

After I had finished work, I headed over to the national library as I had wanted to do some more research on the original owner of the car, the […]

Another pillarless coupe joins the garage

I’ve always been partial to Mercedes-Benz pillarless coupes, owing a 450SLC, and having owned two 560SECs and a 250SE coupe. That means I was unable to resist a 1982 W123 280CE on ebay that I wasn’t planning on buying. The CE looked like fundamentally a nice car that needs a few things done to get it back to where it should be. For starters the radiator leaks, and it’s not registered, but these things can all be sorted out.

First things though, I need to go through the car and work out what I want to do to it.

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