The W111 was the car that started my fascination with Mercedes-Benz. Shortly before I was born, my father owned a 1967 230S with a 4 speed manual on the floor. He waxed poetically about this black fintail sedan and after a childhood filled with Hondas and Volkswagens, I was determined to move up the automotive food chain in my adult life.
A decade of Mercedes-Benz ownership came to a close last year for me, but I know that someday, I’ll have another one. More than likely, I’ll be seeking out a classic one that I could drive on a semi-regular basis, which is more realistic than it sounds. A colleague of my father’s bought a 1968 280SE brand new and used it for over 30 years as his daily driver. This 200Sb for sale in The Netherlands is a collector quality W111 with a column shift four-speed manual transmission that looks sharp in this shade of gray.
1964 Mercedes-Benz 220Sb on JamesList
Mercedes Benz 220 in the wonderfully beautiful tail fin configuration. Fully restored and revised in every detail. More information: Transmission: 4-speed manual
Fintails, with exception of the rare 300SE flagship, are some of the most affordable Mercedes-Benzes from the period. Typically, those in good original condition or ones that are restored will bring anywhere between $13,000 to $20,000. Average runners usually exchange hands for $10,000 and under. This car is no doubt one of the nicer examples I’ve seen and it’s appealing to me because of the manual transmission. The asking price of over $28,000 is very strong money for one of these, especially for anyone that may contemplate bringing it stateside.
-Paul
Love the look with the Euro trim. Beautiful colors too. Paul, was the column vs. floor shift an option owners could choose between, or was it one or the other depending on model year or engine choice?
I know you could get the 230S with a column shift or floor shift in either a manual or automatic transmission. It seems that way for most W111s, but I doubt few 300SE models diverted from the column shift layout. From what I understand, the W116 S class was the last Mercedes-Benz to feature a column shift auto before the Mercedes-Benzes of the modern era started featuring the smaller, electronic shifter stalk on the column.
Interesting. Mercedes was always a pretty traditional company. Maybe they wanted to offer both so their customers could choose which shift location they were more comfortable with? Of course, that would never happen now – we barely get a choice of manual or automatic on most models.
In case you are interested in what a W116 interior looks like with the column shift:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j27/nuts4benz/hans5.jpg
Thanks, Paul. It looks a bit odd…likes there should be something in the empty area of that center console. Maybe I’m just too accustomed to seeing a shifter of some sort there. Or at least not just an empty space. Or maybe most of the column-shifted manuals I’ve seen didn’t have center consoles. Interesting…