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Tag: W126

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1991 Mercedes-Benz 300SE

As some readers will know, while I toyed with the idea of replacing my W201 with another old Mercedes for daily driving duties, on a whim I went with a similar era BMW instead. My E34 is a fine car, but I really miss driving a Benz. For that reason I like to torture myself by browsing them online. Lately, I’ve been obsessed by the W126. There’s one always parked outside my apartment building in DC. It has rust, faded paint, a broken bumper and a broken headlight. You could say it’s pretty beaten up. And yet, I’m still charmed by it every time I see it. I often think about buying one myself. At the moment I have a very long commute, which rules out the V8s on grounds of fuel economy. The diesels have their own problems, leaving the 300SE/SEL. I wouldn’t exactly call these “frugal,” but they do offer the best fuel economy in the W126 without going down the diesel route.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300SE on eBay

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1985 Mercedes-Benz 300SD

2Another day, another old diesel Benz. I know, I know. But when I saw this one I couldn’t resist. Yesterday I wrote up an ‘87 300SDL. While that car presented very nicely, in truth the better W126 diesels are either the early, short wheelbase models (’81-’85), like today’s car, or the very late ones (’90-’91), during which time the short and long wheelbase diesels shared the same engines. As noted yesterday, the diesel motors in the cars in the period in between had a few design faults that could potentially affect their longevity (quite unusual for a Mercedes product). This particular car is an ’85, the last year in which you’d find the legendary OM617 engine under the hood.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300SD on eBay

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1987 Mercedes-Benz 300SDL

The other day I wrote about how I was getting the itch to swap out my daily driver, an E34 525i, for an older Benz. One contender for the car’s replacement is a W124. But I’m also very tempted by the W126. There’s something irresistible about these timelessly classy and stately cars. A 560SEL would be my first choice, but I have a long commute and a V8 is therefore out of the question. So if I were to take the plunge on an old S-class for daily duties, it would have to be diesel model. From what I’ve read online, the six cylinder diesel engine in the 300SDL gets pretty similar gas mileage to my 525i – around 27-28MPG on the highway – which is pretty remarkable given the size of these things.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 Mercedes-Benz 300SDL on eBay

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1981 Mercedes-Benz 280S

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Believe it or not, at the beginning of W126 Mercedes-Benz S-class production, you could still spec one of these luxury sedans with a carbureted engine. Built from the beginning of production up to the 1985 facelift, a little over 42,000 280S models with the M110 inline-6 were manufactured, none of which were sold new in the US market. This 280S for sale in Aachen, Germany has yet to break the 30,000 mile mark and comes equipped with features not commonly seen in US spec W126s, such as cloth interior, rear crank windows and a 4-speed manual gearbox. With prices trending upward on all W126 variants, an extremely well-preserved example is a tempting proposition, no matter how base level the spec might be.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1981 Mercedes-Benz 280S on Mobile.de

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1989 Mercedes-Benz 500SE

In the wake of the Brexit vote, the British pound has plummeted against the US dollar. This means that importing a car from Britain has suddenly become a bit more affordable. As a Brit living in America, I feel a bit guilty recommending that you take advantage of my home country’s economic plight to get a good deal on a car. But only a bit. Which brings me to today’s car. The 500SE was a V8 powered, short-wheel base version of the W126 S-class. Made for the European market and never offered in the US, it offered the grunt of a larger engine in the slightly smaller and (in my view) better proportioned chassis. This one is for sale on UK eBay. Not only is it reasonably priced, it’s a LHD car. So no need to worry about the steering wheel being on the wrong side if you choose to bring it over.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1989 Mercedes-Benz 500SE on UK eBay

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