# The Mercedes Benz W115 chassis



## n/a (Sep 4, 2002)

Any other W115 fans among the boards? Curious. If so, do speak up. There aren't many of us out there.

Cheers,
Harris


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## n/a (Sep 4, 2002)

A couple of photos, for both the curious and those in the know:





Cheers,
Harris


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

Yes! I've always felt a well made sedan with a balance of creature comforts and performance the most gentile of all motorcars. These parade floats called limosines and SUV armoured cars are gouche.The closest I came was a Rover TC 2000, marvelous comfort and performance, but wretched reliability.I see those MBs and imagine a Mission Impossible team or Max Von Sydow inside[8D]


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## mpcsb (Jan 1, 2005)

Harris,

I don't own a car and am the first to admit I know very little about them. The photos you attached look like cars some friends of mine own, but they are older cars. The models you show also remind me of one of the last cars I owned an Audi 100LS circa 1970.

So what's the deal with the "W115 chassis"?


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

Every now and then a product line will create a particular model that is just 'special.' Even Rolls Royce has a hierarchy of fantastic to ho hum. The W 115 is just a nice car. Technology, environmental concerns and customer expectations have given us 'better' cars, safer, more fuel efficient and full of distractions we can't live without, yet did a handfull of years ago.


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## tintin (Nov 19, 2004)

560 SEC. In black. Dos that make me Trad or Euro Jet Trash?


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## rojo (Apr 29, 2004)

The W114/115 are classics, but my all-time favorite is still the W116.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Those are nice but the bigger, older W109 _Sonderklasse_ models are much nicer (albeit more costly to run, but then 40 year old cars are a challenge anyway, with quarter panels/wings running over $1000 each). Remember this Porsche killer? ()

My humble pick for the best M-B, and probably the Best Car Of All Time, is the W126. Still looks the stuff today and will always be the best balance of size, luxury, and power on the road. Nothing ever did or ever will come close.

DD


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## n/a (Sep 4, 2002)

A few more photos of W115's:







The available models:


Cheers,
Harris


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## n/a (Sep 4, 2002)

It's likely this belongs on the SALES forum, but for what it's worth: a nice looking W123 chassis 300td wagon for sale on Ebay. I am not the seller.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Harris_
> 
> It's likely this belongs on the SALES forum, but for what it's worth: a nice looking W123 chassis 300td wagon for sale on Ebay. I am not the seller.
> 
> https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercedes-Benz-300-Series-300TD-WAGON-1979-Mercedes-Benz-300TD-300D-WAGON-66K-NO-RESERVE_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6330QQitemZ4604604986QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW


Ho ho ho, you folks have no idea how good you have it down there _sans_ snow and salt and slush. Those wagons don't even exist up here anymore; the tailgates rust at the first sign of snow. Lots of 80s M-Bs, but only a few old-timers from the 60s and 70s, which usually get half-heartedly dragged out of storage by their rich owners once or twice a summer for a short jaunt.

My mechanic has been fixing M-Bs since the late 50s, when he was a teen, so he's worked on virtually every post-war Benz that was imported to North America. Nice resource in his head.

DD


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## tintin (Nov 19, 2004)

If it's in such great shape where are the bloody service records? Never, ever buy a Benz older that 20 years without decent service docs. Fanatical owners kept every document and usually had the book stamped. 

This guy's banking on two things. A clean car and a Las Vegas provenance in order to get three or four times what it's worth. That's just my very cynical and untrusting opinion.


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## rojo (Apr 29, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by Harris_
> 
> It's likely this belongs on the SALES forum, but for what it's worth: a nice looking W123 chassis 300td wagon for sale on Ebay. I am not the seller.


Pretty car. I sometimes wish my 1978 W123 diesel sedan were a wagon, but I'm not prepared to pay $10,000 to get one.


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## pleasehelp (Sep 8, 2005)

I have never been a MB fan and I cannot understand their appeal. It seems to me that any MB you can buy is offered in a superior equivalent by BMW.


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## n/a (Sep 4, 2002)

> quote:_Originally posted by pleasehelp_
> 
> I have never been a MB fan and I cannot understand their appeal. It seems to me that any MB you can buy is offered in a superior equivalent by BMW.


Answer: diesel engines. A neighbor's 1980 240d just made it to the 250,000 mile mark. Still going strong. BMW offers no equivalent to the Mercedes diesels of old.


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## rojo (Apr 29, 2004)

Harris is right. The diesel's durability, reliability, and longevity are the attractions. You don't drive a 1978 300D for its acceleration (although the 300SEL 6.3 did just fine). Last month a man saw my car, said that he and his wife had a 300D until someone slammed into it and wrecked it, and it was the best car they ever owned. Another time someone saw my car and hinted that he would buy it from me because he wanted one to convert to bio-diesel.

One time I was in a small Oregon town off of I-5 looking for a fuel station with a diesel pump. After two or three tries, I found myself waiting at a traffic light wondering how I was going to get home without more fuel when I noticed that the car ahead of me was another old Mercedes diesel. "I'll just follow him," I thought, "and he'll take me to a station with diesel." Sure enough, he drove right to it. I pulled in behind him, and a moment later another old Mercedes diesel pulled in behind me.


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## pleasehelp (Sep 8, 2005)

Of course most diesels are going to last several hundred thousand miles (regardless of whether it is Ford, MD, VW, BMW). The truth is that most normal engines if they are not too tightly tuned can last a couple hundred thousand miles as well (although many newer diesals can theoretically last 4-6 hundred thousand miles).

However, most newer diesal engines are far superior to those old MB diesels. I don't see why one would be interested in old MBs. I can understand why, at the time, someonw may have bought them (I knew a fair number of people who had them), but I don't see any appeal to having an old MB now. If one simply wants a diesel, then BMW now (and has for the last 20 years) offers superior alternatives.

Don't get me wrong, I love certain old cars, but the MB does nothing for me.

I do, however, respect all of your opinions and I like to see people who are passionate about cars.


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## Coolidge24 (Mar 21, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by pleasehelp_
> 
> Of course most diesels are going to last several hundred thousand miles (regardless of whether it is Ford, MD, VW, BMW). The truth is that most normal engines if they are not too tightly tuned can last a couple hundred thousand miles as well (although many newer diesals can theoretically last 4-6 hundred thousand miles).
> 
> ...


I like the old MBs because I think they're nice looking cars.

However, as foreign cars go I like Jags best of all, both in operation and appearance.

At heart, however, I'm a big American car man.


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## Doctor Damage (Feb 18, 2005)

Currently I am running an 18-year-old BMW with over 468,000 km on the clock. Most Mercedes of a similar age are superior vehicles, especially in terms of engineering and overall reliability. Old BMWs are generally more expensive to run and some of the engineering bits are a lot fussier, but on the other hand they had quite simply the best handling and performance _for their time_. Mercedes were always heavier and clumsier than BMWs, but that weight went into better overall reliability and solidity.

These days (late 90s and newer) both brands produce over-priced, over-computerized, un-reliable garbage.

DD


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## mgw (Jul 29, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by pleasehelp_
> If one simply wants a diesel, then BMW now (and has for the last 20 years) offers superior alternatives.


I'm not aware of too many BMW diesels in the U.S. market. The 524td (E28) comes to mind from the mid-eighties. For years, Mercedes had a diesel in every sedan model range, through the early nineties, I believe. For quite a while, they were the only credible game in the country. That may help explain the fondness for the MB of yesteryear. That and their perceived quality of being built to a standard and designed to last.


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## pleasehelp (Sep 8, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Doctor Damage_
> 
> Currently I am running an 18-year-old BMW with over 468,000 km on the clock. Most Mercedes of a similar age are superior vehicles, especially in terms of engineering and overall reliability. Old BMWs are generally more expensive to run and some of the engineering bits are a lot fussier, but on the other hand they had quite simply the best handling and performance _for their time_. Mercedes were always heavier and clumsier than BMWs, but that weight went into better overall reliability and solidity.
> 
> ...


What engineering bits are "fussier" on a BMW? I would be interested to hear your views about what specific parts of a MB are better engineered than a BMW? I would think your old BMW would at least give you faith in their engines (which are IMO remarkable).

I do agree that both brands have taken a turn for the worse in terms of producing "good" vehicles. BMW still produces some of the best engines in the world and they handle quite well for being so heavy, but the electronics are always a mess. As for MB... ugh. BMW will need to really improve their poor luxury quality control before I buy another.

Heavier rarely contributes to reliability. It normally just wears out a car faster.


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## pleasehelp (Sep 8, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Coolidge24_
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Jaguars are better known for their failure to operate, rather than their operation.

I am quite fond of the appearance of the old xks, but functionally, jags are a nightmare.


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## pleasehelp (Sep 8, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by mgw_
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is a good point... I don't know how many of the BMW diesels made it to the US.


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## Coolidge24 (Mar 21, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by pleasehelp_
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I don't refer to their reliability but rather how they drive when operating, even if that should be rare.


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