There were two cars in particular I was interested in seeing – the Jaguar XK140 FHC and the Mercedes 280SE 3.5 Coupe.   Both of these cars are on my ‘car bucket list’ and I wanted to see what they were like to understand the final price.   The XK140 in particular, because it was an unmolested car.   Most of the XK140s that have come up for sale in the last couple of years have been modified to look like rally cars.   Personally I think this ruins the car.

The Mercedes was in nice condition and I think that the price guide of $70-$85,000 is about right for this model in this condition.  I would rate this car at about a 7.5/10, although I have not driven it.   It looks fairly original, and the A/C looks like the dealer fitted units from the period.   It has been fitted with a white steering wheel, which is not original, but overall looks like a nice car.   This car also has the options I would want were I buying – Sunroof, A/C, Power Windows, twin arm rests and still has the Becker radio.     It is  in a great colour – and not white which is the most common.   I don’t like white cars.

The Jaguar is quite nice, although there are some areas where the paint is cracking so it is possible there is some rust or filler underneath.   The interior is lovely and unmolested and it stil has the lovely little Jag touches that are gone with those rally recreations.

Some other cars of interest for me were the BMW M6, which I think would be a great buy at that price,  The Jaguar Mk2 (outside its horrid steering wheel, the rest of the modifications don’t seem too drastic),  and the E-Type was lovely.

There was also a 1924 Star Mercury which was a really interesting old thing and about the very definition of patina!   I still believe that the VW Kombi/Microbus are drastically overpriced, but if I owned one I would be cashing in while the baby boomers can’t get enough of them.

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I just saw an interesting story of a 250SE coupe in America that has always been used as a daily driver, is kept in great condition, and now has over 1,000,000 miles on it.     My 250SE, which was used as a daily driver until the 90s has almost 300,000 miles on it, which compared to this car is only scratching the surface of what these cars are capable of. (like the car in the URL, I also have the high mileage award, but at the 250,000 level. I am still about 60,000km from the 500,000 level).

I use my 450SLC as a ‘daily driver’ although I ride the bus to work.   Having said that, one of the cars at the time I considered as a 280SE 3.5 sedan. In the end I went for the SLC because I wanted the Coupe, but not because I didn’t think the W108 could not do the job.

Probably with the exception of some of the smaller engined diesel cars, the Mercedes range from the 60’s can keep up with modern traffic, is nice to drive, offers ‘modern’ safety features like disc brakes, crumple zones and so on.   These cars are well designed and put together and with the proper maintenance can be used every day.    Sure it might not be as reliable as a corolla, but who wants to drive a corolla every day?

It is also great to see these cars on the road on a regular basis.   In my view, there is nothing worse than Classic cars that end up as garage queens.

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