HMC

-this post is brought to you by photos upladed to photobucket and now ruined- This w126 420SE that looks a bit like @Volksy ‘s I Took to Germany one year in about 2010. As you can see i used to like driving it spiritedly It was freezing! On the way back and with the weather somewhat better I held it at an indicated 130mph (so 120?) for about 10 mins on a quiet stretch of autobahn. It wasnt quite flat out as i was conscious not to blow the engine on a 20 year old merc with no service history on the German/Dutch border with a lot of driving still to do. I do have a photo taken from the passenger seat of the speedo at our Vmax but i cant find it. Think its on my ex wifes hard drive. It did start to make some poorly noises as we made our way around the m25 but it turned out it was the exhaust system breaking up. IIRC It averaged 23mpg over the whole trip, but given my driving i thought that was pretty decent. Whilst we were over there my wife at the time crashed it into a gate post on a farm track. That we are no longer married has no connection to this 😂

I had a look and these are 15s as well

Just made a couple of small changes, but doubling down on the OEM vibe is starting to happen…. Before- grey carpet, later airbag/not airbag plastic worn smooth wheel After- First bit of recoloured carpet in passenger footwell, and leather non airbag wheel.

Legit and its a 1.8D!

So presently, im looking to deliver on the ambition of a former owner of having a red interior on the wagon. Great idea, but in parts fell down on the execution. E bay de is proving a fairly fertile ground for looking for oem red bits (at least ones not RHD specific) But also i thought ive nothing to loose in dyeing the current carpets in the passenger cabin, which to my eyes clash horribly with the rest of it. Plus those fur flex door seals which should be a match for the seat colour also. My girlfriend thinks its all fine, but as I have a deep seated mental disorder i cannot leave this as is. I acknowledge this is not normal, but also it will be satisfying to max out the factory spec look for the change. Handily the front carpets just pull out- so I could have a go at dyeing it whilst i try to play fur elise on the piano… factory example: Verdict- better than i expected, although my piano skills are terrible. Even ludwig Van himself was a fan, of “mittelrot” as this colour was known on the home market Mittlerot: BEETHOVEN approved for fashion accessories The images of dyeing a vehicle carpet on the dining table are brought to you, clearly, by an uninhibited batchelor living the dream*

Looks decent. At the end of the day its an old ford so some rust, and decreasing VFM as they become old school is the norm. Looking fwd to seeing the progresss

I Like how its not strayed too far from original; no saph cossie alloys here!

Looking forward to the pics, it looks period perfect.

Well done on the kidney grilles! I wanted to peel off the half peeled stuff but never got very far- looks way better.

Here a a few pic the previous owner sent me (they lived in central london) which further tap into that vibe…

I Love the enthusiasm and passion on the thread and the progress forwards happening. My own take FWIW separate from the people who have one/ are enthusiasts- We have come a long way and driving one about to “celibrate” them sits uneasily with me. I dont get it. Maybe its because like lots of historical social, medical and health paraphernalia, they were a stepping stone to better things. Maybe more fitting of a museum.

Like you with the rover 75. One of the very few cars I regret selling AP51CFO- i usually never remember the reg once they are gone.

Thanks! The spare is the same style alloy and also has a new conti tyre fitted. This guy was more of a nutter than me! (surely not!)

Actually having had more of a look, i think its got later w124 alloys ( series 3 in my home made terminology (1993-1997)) My teeth itch slightly less. Add that to the near new continental tyres and i think they should stay. I had in mind selling the alloys and getting some period steel wheels and trims. Yeah lets not get so anal; fiscally lets keep those non original but nice wheels and tyres perhaps? Money over aesthetics- this would be a HMC first. Trouble is, steels on a T (“tourisme und transport) model are reinforced and model specific. Probably irrelevant these days? Dunno. TL:DR im keeping the alloys but ditching the ugly later gopping steering wheel. (side note- my teeth are itching again at the clash of S1 bumper corner and S2/3 glitzier tailgate trim) MUST RESOLVE

IIRC also Steve Mcqueen’s cause of death- supposedly from being around boilers in ships in his navy days.

We met at dorchester mcdonalds, as the young guy (bit of a hero with wife and dog and kid in tow) was en route to a classic tractor auction to add to his collection. It sounds quite risky but we had that instant rapport where we both saw we were enthusiasts and have a level of trust in each other. Certainly from their side anyone who acquires a ropey 20 yo w220 s class in a dimly lit services has the trust 2.0 in the other party. And so did i. This w124 is perhaps unoriginal, but is very nice to drive, doesnt feel like its been hammered and very nice structurally- better than some later 124s i had at half the age of this one. Admittedly that was a very late (hence lower quality) 320 coupe (which i think had been crashed at some point)

Will do, @grogee. technically would be the first go to, but i think he was joking (?) Does the w211 have 7 seats btw?

Yes got it in one, basically the closest post office that also dealt with VED

The boot has the most dodgy bit- basically rather than dyeing the carpet- or acquiring the oem factory bits (ok thats probably impossible) - but instead they seem to have used bath rugs and turned it into Paul Raymond’s Sex dungeon

One working definition of an established classic car using HML…. Numbers fairly stable and a cyclical pattern of rising taxed examples in the summer, and less taxed over winter.

Must be why i like it (and have a German ex wife 😂) Actually it certainly didnt leave sindelfingen like this. Its my first “series 1” which tended to major in dour fabrics and plain interiors that even lots of options struggled to lift. Good thing about the “s1” is that there is less bodycladding so its easier to inspect the sills (and i think they might be less rot prone as well ) So i think this left the factory with some sort of light grey wishy washy upholstery. At some point a previous owner has gone dominatrix on it. The seats are replacements- mb tex pattern rears and boot seats (its a 7 seater) and recoloured leather fronts. The interior plastics are a mix of replacement factory red and recoloured grey. They stopped short of recolouring or replacing the fur flex door seals and the front carpets, (which want dyeing or replacing with factory red stuff) but did recover the boot carpets. The front door cards have mb tex inlays, and the rear door cards have recoloured fabric inlays. Its also got w202 alloys and a later non leather airbag wheel (although no airbag is fitted) So its a bit of a bitsa but one that will be easy to finish off- and the shell is good which is far harder to sort.

Indeed! Tax now sorted thankfully, after a bit of headscratching at the post office.