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Mercedes W124 estate: £0


Mr Livered

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I was thinking about this last night, what a great car it is. It just seems to glide around in silence, it's also really comfy and massive inside. The self-levelling rear suspension means you can put pretty much as much as you want of whatever you want in the back. It's ridiculously over-engineered, with every component built about 10 times more strongly than it needs to be (and than other manufacturers would have done). I reckon these were the last Mercedes about which that could be said.

 

HOWEVER, getting onto this particular car and its condition, I just want to re-iterate that one of the reasons I'm giving it away rather than trying to sell it is that I don't need to "prepare" it for sale. So you're getting a warts-and-all type thing. For example I don't even know what the brake pads and discs are like, haven't looked for ages. All I know is that the brakes work. Before it gets picked up I'll hoover it out but it won't be nicely valeted. All that sort of thing. I just want to make sure it's clear that although it has been looked after in the past, it hasn't really been meticulously looked after for the last year and it shows.

 

It's obvious that the previous owner maintained it really well, regardless of cost, and that shows too. But my hunch is that he stopped doing so a year or so before selling it. Maybe he ran out of money, or just lost interest. The reason I think that is that it appears really sound basically, but some things have been done on the cheap recently. For example, both the windscreen washer and one rear mudguard had been broken and bodged really badly. They have both failed again since.

 

Then the car came into my ownership, and to be frank I didn't find the time to give it what it deserves either. The above niggles I inherited with the car but still haven't got round to fixing. Now as well as that fettling it could really do with a bloody good valet and a polish would be good too, because the blue is slightly faded and I reckon it would look awesome if properly polished up.

 

It's a really good car and it could surely do another 136,000 miles and 24 years, in style to boot. But the car has hit a crossroads in its life in which it will only be able to live that long if it gets some love. When it does I'm hoping for PICKCHAZ on Autoshite :)

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I would, but it's so far away...

 

I was considering one of these recently. It was similar to this one but it only had 104K on it.

My research on it found that it was indeed the last of the over-engineered Mercedes.

Nuns and kittens are safe and loved; the world is now a happier place...

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What an awesome giveaway, cap doffed to you Mr. Livered!

 

Welcome to the W124 club Six-cylinder, will be interesting to see how you develop the car. I've had some fun with mine, although I didn't manage to get it for £0.... I took the plunge on sinking some money into mine, which is probably getting close to first year depreciation levels on a new E350 CDi Estate, but balls to it: I've saved a legend.....

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I am getting excited now one day to go to collect the Mercedes, I have collected my pre booked train ticket, arranged insurance, booked my wife to take me to the station even if the first leg is by bus replacement service!

Wow, all that money. 

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The Mercedes is home safe and well with no problems at all. My fear of a large estate car and a 2 Ltr Auto were unfounded, it goes well enough for every day use. The bonus is this morning my wife asked me if we had a car suitable for her canoe to fit on the roof, well this morning the answer was no but now we have the Mercedes with all its's roof bar kit.

 

Trouble free cannot be said for trains, first I had to get of the rail replacement bus and walk in Oxford to be sure of catching the Oxford - Reading train. Next after leaving on time the train from Reading to Exeter was an hour late after several delays.

 

Thanks very much for the car it is great. 

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Forgot, I did take the first fill up compulsory photo. I have refilled since and the Merc has done 28.6 mpg, OK for a big car with a small engine.

 

Next fix done, I now have the radio working. It was simply the plugs on the back of the radio were not pushed in properly.

 

I still have central locking, rear wash/wiper, front o/s washer, cruise control to sort out. Then what to do with the bodywork?

 

 

IMG_5299broad_zps67cab140.jpg

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Cool. I never bothered to calculate the mpg; I reckon 28.6 is ok, as you say. Great that the old girl is being used and appreciated :)

 

As far as the brake light bulbs are concerned, I'm not surprised. When we were getting some seriously wet weather a few months ago, I drove through a big flood and immediately started to experience various issues with the rear light clusters. Indicators not working, then bulbs kept blowing, but all seemed well after a week or so with the exception of the brake light bulbs blowing more recently. I think that the rear lights must have caused some problems for the previous owner, because one of the very few spares I got with the car was a rear light cluster lense, and the clips which hold the little carrier for the bulbs inside the lense seem a bit tired, as if the whole assembly has been taken apart and put back together again loads of times.

 

Anyway, hopefully it will give you no more trouble.

 

Central locking: I seem to remember it doesn't always work properly from the drivers door, but it does from the passenger door, is that right? If so there's a clue as to what might be amiss. Wash-wipe: one look at the bodgery of pipes under the bonnet tells you what you need to do there, you will doubtless have noticed that!

 

Have you found much rust in the bodywork? I was only aware of a couple of very minor areas, but then a few days before you picked it up I did notice some bubbling along the front edge of one (nearside I think?) of the front wings which made me think "uh oh".

 

It gives me a lovely warm fuzzy feeling to see the car being used and not giving any serious problems as yet.

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Thank you Mr Livered the car is great but do you have a second one you can give me as my wife seems to have taken a liking to this one! She is now loading her stuff and I am not allowed to use it. Seriously I hope after her Devon weekend I might get it back for my use.

 

The n-s brake bulb was black and the o-s simply did not work but they both work with new bulbs and the warning light has gone out. The central locking does work from the passenger side but not at all now from the drivers side. I should try and fix the washers before Sat morning but I am running out of time. The body has a couple of pimples on the tailgate and wheel arches but is generally good. I have not looked underneath yet and will leave that to the MOT guys in a month or so. 

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