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I'm not sure, but I think the 350-2bbl might have actually been a credit option on the Grand Prix in '76!
For some reason, this poor rat of a '77 LeMans caught my eye. Maybe it's because I drove my '76 to work today. Anyway, I'm guessing this one might be good for about $500-600...if it runs? The one upside to this one is that it somehow managed to dodge a bullet on the assembly line, getting fitted with a Chevy 305 rather than a Pontiac 301.
The other was a white Peugeot 505 STX 2.8i (the V6) in really nice condition. I have to wonder who (and why, and with whose cooperation) has kept this thing on the road, I don't imagine parts or labor are easy to come by.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/review-1975-mercedes-benz-280s/
I do see W116s around the DC area from time to time but they are almost always 300SDs. How come we almost never see 280S sedans anymore?
RWD... Now, a wagon.. Moving the SRX from a RWD based sedan to the Equinox platform is a move in the wrong direction, I think..
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Those cars were the last carb MBs to hit this continent IIRC - that might be part of their downfall. When carbs get finicky, I think some people give up on other things, especially when parts and maintenance are so dear. They also can rust pretty handily, the seating can get a little odd if exposed to harsh climates - collapsed cushions and wrinkled upholstery, and they are guzzlers. I think the 280S was also sold in smaller numbers than the 450 series cars, and the late diesels.
Europe would have the 280S in W126 form through 1984 or 85.
I saw a 1954 Kaiser Darrin Convertible on Saturday in Irvine. The doors actually slide into pockets in the front fenders, no hinges!
Bizarre car.
The newest car I can think of without air, that anybody in my family has had, was my Mom's 1966 Catalina convertible that she bought new. It was gone before my time, so I don't remember it, but have seen pictures. I remember asking her if it had air conditioning and she was like "Why would it have air conditioning? It was a CONVERTIBLE!!" FWIW, my '67 has it, but it doesn't work.
Those older cars from the 60's and earlier, including the 60's designs that held over into the 70's, seemed to have better fresh air ventilation than their replacements, so I don't think a/c was nearly as necessary. 70's cars also seem sealed tighter. I know with my '76 LeMans, '85 Silverado (dates back to 1973) and '79 New Yorkers are all pretty tight, to where, if the windows are all rolled up, you have to really slam the door to make sure it shuts right. Just don't do that with the window down though, or something will break!
Having rear windows that roll down definitely helps, too. My '76 LeMans can get pretty stifling in hot weather, with its stationary opera windows. My two NYers though, being 4-door, seem to air out much better.
A '77 Caprice coupe, though, especially as well-equipped as your neighbors was otherwise, seems a real oddity in not having a/c! And I bet with that big wraparound rear window, it was perfect for baking the back seat passengers!
Indeed they did. You bring up a very good point. I recall my 67 Mustang had vents on the underdash C-pillar that could be opened with a little pull knob that were great, as long as the car was moving. Air from outside blew on your legs and up over the seat. Even in urban stoplight traffic enough air came through that I didn't need AC.
But things changed and on my 70 Mustang I had AC and the vents were gone.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
When I moved to Denver, the car I had at the time ('91 Nissan Sentra SE) didn't have A/C. I traded that in for a '93 Accord DX, also w/o air. Never again!
Get yourself either a 60s/early 70s Benz for the styling, minimal emissions controls, and rugged dependability, or an 80s Benz and get all the improvements of better technology top to bottom.
You don't see the 75 280S because they are all in the wrecking yard, to be blunt about it.
5 grand will still buy a decent W108 or even an acceptable fintail. These aren't expensive toys. Or for a driver, a well kept W126 or W124 can't be beat - the same high build quality, but they can drive in modern traffic every day.
Fintail, you'd know this better than me - by 1988 and '89, the final two years of the 560, were all the bugs worked out of the car? (Those concerning emissions systems, bad timing chains, etc.) I will see an occasional example pop up on Ebay with 150k+ miles on it and it will still look amazing. I'd imagine the a/c is still bad on them, though, as the R107 wasn't really designed for it.
Those chrome fender trim pieces are either rust concealers, or rust nests. Seeing wheels from a R129 etc on an old car just looks poserfied. The cars need to be pretty stock. Factory chrome wheels are about as much as they can take.
560SL is easily the superior R107 and I can't really say anything bad about them. HVAC will be iffy...but it's an old MB, most of them are that way.
we got letter stating we had to get our mustang emissons tested by 7/20 before we could renew the registration.
i called our insurance guy and put the coverage back on, so i could burn off the old gas and put some fresh stuff in it. still working on it.
in the mean time, my wife sent in the renewal paperwork with a check, and we got a new registration in the mail today.
Didn't get a car with any real A/C, until I married my wife... That was in 1993.. and was a 1990 Nissan. (her car, not mine).
Even now, I'm a windows down kind of driver..
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A V8 R107 will be a pig, but I bet a 560 is better than the older cars.
MB AC won't win any awards.
I ordered a Mustang. V8 but with air conditioning yet with a manual instead of automatic. Worse was no 4-speed, just a three-speed. Dealer thought it was a real poor combination. It was a fancy coupe model.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
As for cars with no air, in general it doesn't bother me, since even in the cars I've had with factory air, it's worked intermittently or not at all. Now our only vehicle is no a/c, so it's always a luxury to ride in one that has it. Problem is, I think people get too used to it and use it when not necessary, so then it becomes mandatory.
Back to those W116s...I'm pretty sure the 280S was only sold here for a year or two (not after 1975); the 280SE was a whole lot better, but I've never been crazy about that body style (they haven't aged well aesthetically or physically) and their seat foam in particular tended to rot away. Now that others are so cheap (190Es, W124s and 126s), I can't see why anyone would bother.
I remember one memorable leg of a cross country tour in our Fiat 124 Spider. It was about 100 degrees out driving across Missouri. The sun was too intense to leave the top down so we had the top up, windows down and little vent windows taped open cuz they wouldn't stay open at highway speeds. :sick:
It wasn't til I started working outside sales in Boston and New England that I felt a need for air con so I got an '83 VW GTI with factory air which worked much better than the marginal system in our later Honda Prelude despite having a larger space to cool.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
Not for the shy
Of all the things to import
Yeah right
Interesting use of resources
Of all the things to preserve...or maybe these were worn out by this mileage
Handsome little fixer-upper
Different
Another lemko-mobile, better color
I bet this drives like a dream
Unusual restoration
Maybe a good thing this wasn't born
In the '60 and '70s people tended to be more tolerant, in terms of comfort, and although excellent A/C systems were available on all domestic cars, many, especially in northern climates, considered A/C a luxury. Among those who considered A/C a luxury, there was a sub group who felt it was only appropriate on luxury cars and high end medium priced ones.
Fintail, where DO you find these things? The other monstosities aside, I can't decide if the Datsun truck or the Fiat Brava would be a stupider (I know that's not a word, but it applies) move at almost $8k. My mom and stepdad had an '80 (non F.I., I think) Brava for about four years (half of which were spent in a shop, while they drove our super-reliable '72 Econoline)....at least ours was a four-door with a 5 speed. It was replaced with a Camry, fortunately. I think I'd take the truck, if given a choice of spending 4x as much as either vehicle is worth in this case. Really like both Lemko-mobiles, those are quite up my alley, garish colors aside, though probably wouldn't be so happy in my garage.
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But if you were driving in the desert, or on a crowded city street with 90 degree humidity, you just suffered.
Most 50s and 60s cars also put out a tremendous amount of engine and transmission heat. I remember T-Birds were notorious for this.
I also recall one time sitting in traffic in my old Jaguar, on a 20 degree winter day. The engine was overheating and starting to boil, and yet, just on the other side of the firewall, my feet were blocks of ice. I often wondered why the British couldn't get that amount of heat up front, good enough to melt steel, just a few inches backward into the passenger compartment.
I agree that was a common attitude. Don't forget that city and town dwellers don't use their cars that often. That explains a lot of the reason why I never bothered getting air when I was a New Yorker but I didn't hesitate to order air con once I was doing sales routes and commuting by car.
I knew a woman from Vermont who as recently as the early 90s bought cars without air. I had no idea you could even order a '92 corolla without it. :confuse:
A lot of people might be surprised to learn that most residents of Northern New England, like myself, still do not have air conditioning in their homes. We don't even have (or need) a window unit. When it gets too hot/humid like today I just head for the basement. For the life of me I don't understand why homes in the hot, arid Southwest are built without basements, It's always cool below grade level.
Cars and trucks are a different matter being metal boxes that heat up quickly, cool down slowly and have no basements. :shades:
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Not me, I hated those things, not only did they spoil the line of the car but they weren't all that efficient at cooling the interior (or at defrosting). About the only thing my old TR-4 was better at than the Fiat 124 that followed it was top up ventilation.
TRs didn't have little vent windows, they had (what a concept) in-dash vents that resemble those on air-conditioned cars>
Those got air from a simple flap forward of the window, simple, bullet-proof and a lot more effective than a couple of puny little windows.
'Course they were the only thing on a TR-4 that worked every time.
See my previous post for a tale of how piss poor vent widows were.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Also saw a VW Transporter that must have been from the late 50s, and it was unrestored. It looked as alien among the modern cars today as it must have when new. Also saw a T-bucket and a late 60s Riviera.