For sale, Mercedes 190e 2.6.

[AndyW201]

Hi guys.

 

My beloved 190 is up for sale. It's been a bit of a project (and still is I suppose...), but has been a totally reliable form of transport since I got it last April. I dont want to sell it, but needs must...

 

So, to start with. It's a 1990 2.6 with the 4 speed Millsmatic box. Options are;

Sportline chassis (This comprises of 22mm lowered and uprated springs, uprated shocks, thicker than standard anti roll bars, firmer bushes all round, and 7J 15 hole alloy wheels with 205/55 15 tyres. Gives a really nice ride/handling balance)

Full leather interior. Complete with optional rear headrests and front armrest.

Electric sunroof.

Electric windows front and rear.

Remote central locking/alarm

Leather trimmed steering wheel and gearknob

70 litre fuel tank.

A 16 valve rear spoiler has also been fitted.

 

The engine is nice and sweet. Starts on the button, hot or cold. No cold starting or running issues. Ticks over perfectly (1000rpm when started, quickly settling down to 750 rpm) Pulls very well and sounds fantastic. One of the great straight sixes!

 

Autobox works as it should.

 

Feels nice and composed. Being a sportline, its a bit firmer on the bumps but on the flip side, very good on corners. Pretty quiet as well, no worrying bangs, or knocks.

 

Interior is very tidy, save for the rear door cards and a 10p size hole in drivers bolster.

 

When I got the car, it was apparent that some work was needed. Most of it standard 190 stuff. Work done so far includes,

 

Welding has been done on most of the 190 problem areas.

It has been mentioned on the 190 owners forum that some 190s (particularly lowered ones) can pull out the spot welds from the top of the strut tower/inner wing joint. on inspection, this had happened on this car, causing a small hole on the inner wing as well. So a mate of mine from the forum (who has done an heroic job on getting this car sorted) seam welded the tower and the hole on the inner wing. While we were at it, he donated a good solid battery tray to replace the rusty original.

Another common 190 rot area is the metal shelf under the parcel shelf around the boot hinges, and the rear screen surround. There were areas on this car that had gone there, so it has been welded around one of the boot hinges, and had a section of the screen surround rebuilt, but wasnt too bad compared to a lot that i've seen on the owners' forum.

 

Three small patches have been welded in the boot floor. (though not an MOT fail area)

The rear jacking points were done under previous ownership, and are fine. No quibbles at MOT time.

So shell is now remarkably solid.

 

The previous owner also had the front wishbones (one febi bilstein sportline spec, one unknown brand sportline spec), exhaust and rear tyres done not long before I bought the car, so have all done few miles, and no ball joint or wishbone bush woes for the forseeable future.

I replaced the knackered and seized steering damper with a new febi bilstein item.

 

Bodywork isnt 100%, but not a disgrace either. The Signal Red is largely original, and looks really nice when polished. However it needs to be polished and waxed often, or the roof, boot and bonnet go 'milky' very quickly! There are a few small bits of surface rust around the sunroof opening, which have been previously rubbed down and sprayed, which hasnt got any worse in the time that I've had the car. There are also a few small car park type dings, and some touched in chips, some done well, some not so... but has done the job I guess.

 

Otherwise, all seems well, the rear side wells in the boot are excellent, I'd be happy to take the boot plastics out to show. Rear arches are excellent. The car has been undersealed under all the wheel arches, so all seems good there.

Front wings are okay. The osf wheel arch had some scabbing when I got the car, but it was rubbed down, kurusted and painted as a temporary measure and doesnt seem too bad now. The wings are by no means rotten, and I've seen far far worse on Mercs of this era. There is also a 50p size scab on the osr door and just under the os tail light. All just surfcae rust and, again, has been rubbed down, kurusted and touched in.

 

I have been using the car regularly, and does my 30 mile commute without even breaking a sweat. However there is still a bit to do...

 

99.99% of welding is done. However the P.O had a small patch done just behind the o/s/f jacking point. I've never been happy with it, and it just scraped the MOT man's hammer of doom. I've since (stupidly) got rid of it, and it now need a small patch redoing on it, about 4"X4".

The dash lights weren't working when I got the car. They were fixed, but have gone again. Suspect the little circuit board thingy in the instrument cluster.

The speedo isnt working either, since the dash cluster came out. So, on top of the 139,000 recorded miles, it has done about another 2,000. Suspect cable failure?

The rear door cards have aren't the best. They have warped and split along the top rail. The tops have been repaired using the patented '190 forum B&Q plastic capping repair, and they do look much better.

As mentioned, the drivers bolster has a small hole, about 10p size.

Rear electric windows not working. Have tried swapping switches to no avail, so most likely the motors are fricked.

Headlight wash/wipes work, but need new blades.

The diff, as usual has a slight whine, not too bad though, on the overrun at about 70ish, but perfectly live-able with.

 

Under the previous ownership, the front springs were replaced, sadly with non sportline ones. I do have a set of 4 correct spec, sportline items in superb condition, which will go with the car. (rocking horse shite to get hold of, and not cheap)

The radiator has a tiny leak, not bad enough to be concerned about. But a good used replacement will be supplied with the car.

The car also comes with a full set of genuine MB sportline ARB bushes. The ones on the car were fine for the MOT, but they'll go nicely with the replacement springs!

 

All this makes the car sound absolutely terrible! But it's all easily sortable and there are a lot of people out there who would have this car looking and driving minty fresh in a couple of easy weekends. The car starts, goes, and stops fine, and actually got a few admiring comments when it was on the MB club stand at a recent car show. (it was raining though )

 

And it's all usable in the meantime. And legal. Taxed till May, tested till November. However dur to the GR-782 continuous insurance law, the car will have to go on sorn at the end of this month, when the insurance runs out. I was all set to finally get the niggles sorted, but I've just been given another car (a mk4 Astra, so nothing to get excited about), and I fear that the poor 190 is just going to deteriorate sitting on the drive. It deserves to be saved, either run as is as a fairly tidy daily you dont have to worry about leaving in a car park. Or it could be a real minter in the right hands! Shame, because I was really looking forward to getting it on the proper springs...

 

As mentioned, recorded mileage is 139,000, plus a couple of thousand while the speedo hasnt been working. All the books, manuals, etc are present. Service book has stamps up to 120,000, but history tails off after that. Previous owner had the car 8 years, and the car had all the work done at her husband's haulage yard. And it had done very few miles in her ownership. Loads of old MOTs are present also.

 

As can be seen in the pictures, the car also has a private plate on. This has been valued at £500. It will probably stay with the car, but I will of course drop the price if you don't want it with the car. The car is originally an H plate.

 

Anyway, have some pics, these were taken at the classic car show at York last October.

 

price is £750 ono with the private plate. £600 ono without.

Car is located in Middlesbrough. I'd be happy to pick anyone up from Middlesbrough rail or coach stations. I am not far from Tees Valley airport also.

 

Please PM me if you have any enquiries or want to chat about the car. Thanks for looking,

Andy