Fast forward to 2011 and I still hadn’t ever owned a Mercedes, but had owned two BMWs, a E34 88 535i and a E39 530i M-Sport. This all changed when my father passed away and I inherited his W126 88 300SE (Oskar), which led to two additional W126 purchases, a 91 420SE (The Gangster) and a 85 280SE (Max). You could say I had the W126 bug! But as for a W116, it was still under my radar. Maybe, this was due to how good the W126 was and how much I respected Bruno Sacco’s design.

The 450SE had been garaged for many years and the service history indicated it was last serviced in 2012. I had read a few articles in Around the Benz to avoid laid up cars, but in these moments, you don’t act rationally. All I could think about was the rare colour combination of brilliant red metallic and anthracite velour interior, highly optioned with a sunroof, Bundt wheels and headlight wipers. Rust was my biggest concern, so got my neighbour (who runs a body shop) to come up and have a look. A brief inspection confirmed rust was confined to workable areas, this led to Naomi’s approval to purchase.

In hindsight the mechanics were the least of my concerns. Stripping back the body deadener, the more I removed, the more rust that was exposed. Rust was identified in the wheel arches, driver’s floor, and boot floor, but surprisingly there was no rust in the firewall, bottom of doors or bonnet. In all we spent far more time (and money!) repairing rust than I ever envisaged, totalling 160 hours.

In July 2019 I finally got the car on Club plates after so much more work than I had envisaged and turned my attention to naming the car, an important step in welcoming a new car to the family. As she is a pinky red colour, she was obviously a girl, and what better German name than Claudia.  At the same time, some further history on the car came to light. Claudia was privately imported from the UK in 1986 by a chap who lived in Canterbury and at a minimum has had an additional two owners, one of them being an MBCV member who won Concours with a 300SL Gullwing. As she was UK delivered, she’s endowed with the 220HP M117 4.5 K-Jet engine (without the emissions constraints of Australian delivered examples).

Driving Claudia reveals plenty of character, from the rich V8 burble through her original exhaust, while the weight plants her firmly on the highway, refusing to be moved by gusts of wind. The rich torque provides ample acceleration perfectly matched to the three-speed automatic, enabling her to keep up with modern day traffic. The velour interior is supremely comfortable, providing warmth in winter, while in summer you don’t have the problem of sticking to the seats.

Was it all worthwhile? Rationally you’d have to say no!! It would have been far cheaper to buy a better example which would have also been Australian delivered, but once you start a project like this, there is no turning back. After getting Claudia on the road, the maintenance kept on coming with jobs like the timing chain, engine mounts, injectors, radiator refurb and even the gearbox needed to come out as the large o-ring broke in half. More money! Fortunately, over the last two years, the maintenance has been contained to fluids.

What do I think now? Well, I’ve ended up with a much-loved new member of the family who gets regular use, is very comfortable and enjoyable to drive and gets driven rain, hail, or shine. The pinnacle of my ownership was displaying Claudia at Mercedes-Benz Ringwood with the latest W223 S450. The feedback I received from the Dealership and MBCV members made the whole project worthwhile.

Author:  Nick Gruzevskis is a member of the Mercedes-Benz Club (Victoria) and the owner of this 1979 450SE, a 2005 CLK320 and a SLK230

The post Guest Article: My W116 Journey appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

About the 450SE W116

While Mercedes had used the ‘S’ designation for their upper class cars for some time, the W116 model was the first time they used the moniker ‘The S Class’.  Since the W116, the top of the range saloon car has always been referred to as the S Class.

The W116 was introduced in 1972 and carried over a lot of the styling and running gear from the R/C107 range introduced in 1971.    Mercedes has a habit of introducing a lot of new technology in the S class and the W116 was no exception. For example ABS brakes were available later in production and there were a lot of other clever features in the car.  Many of these taken from the experimental safety vehicles of the time.

The W116 was also the first time Mercedes offered a diesel engine in the S class and the 300SD model with its turbo-diesel motor was very popular in the markets it was offered.     The W116 is probably best known for the 6.9, which was a development of the 6.3 litre motor from the 600 and 6.3, now bored out to 6.9 liters with a dry sump and standard hydro-pneumatic suspension.   These cars are very susceptible to rust, so there are now few W116 in good condition left.

The W116 was available in two body lengths, standard (short wheelbase) and Long Wheelbase with 10cm more room for the rear passengers.

About this 450SE W116

This car is a 450SE W116, meaning it has the M117 4.5 liter V8 and the short wheelbase body.   The car was purchased by the previous owner about 10 years ago, originally to provide an interior for another car.   It has been sitting in a carport for some years and looked a little unloved.    However, once the interior was removed, the car was shown to be generally rust free and the paintwork after a wash and polish in surprisingly good condition.       Therefore, the owner set about doing a mechanical refurbishment and sourced a replacement MB-TEX interior.  He also fitted brand new carpets which looked lovely.

During the refurbishment, the brakes were rebuilt, the timing chain done, replacement cams fitted, suspension checked, new dashboard and carpets fitted.      The car was put back on the road, but a bad water pump meant that it was parked again for a couple of years as other projects took priority.

Sadly, the car sat under a tarp for 2+ years. During that time the paintwork suffered badly with the clear coat lifting on both the front and back and some surface rust developing.   The photo of the car is from before it went into storage.

Why did I almost buy it?

I needed a car that could fit three child seats across the back seat, but only used 1x per week.   Therefore a pre 1986 car fit the bill because it could be put on historic registration that allows 60 uses per year.    The car would park out in the sun all day near a child daycare center, so a car with low running costs, but some body issues was ideal.

I liked that all the known mechanical issues such as water pump, timing chain had been done as well.    The iron block M117 is very long lived, if the timing chain has been done.

Why didn’t I buy it in the end?

As the car was being recommissioned, it was found that even though 18 months ago it ran great, it had lost all compression on one bank of cylinders.     This was too much work for the seller to rectify for the price I agreed to pay.   In the end, he found another buyer who would buy it in non-running condition.     The car is currently being worked on by a mechanic to get it back on the road.

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