Mercedes-Benz W114s lasted forever and held their value pretty well, which means that plenty of them still show up in self-service yards nearly 15 years into the 21st century (though most of the time I skip photographing the sedans). So far in this series, we’ve seen this ’73 280CE, this ’73 220, this ’73 280CE, and this ’74 280C, and now I’ve found this coupe in Denver.
The sun has not been kind to this car’s vinyl roof.
The interior has been picked over deeply, to the extent that this may have been a parts car that was scrapped after all the useful stuff was gone.
No shortage of these engines in wrecking yards, so it’s unlikely that this one will be rescued from The Crusher’s jaws.
For some reason, 95% of 1960s and 1970s Mercedes-Benz cars in self-service wrecking yards have the model-number emblems removed. Are they worth big money, or just favored garage decorations?
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My brother had a ’72 that looked like this, but I think it was a 280. Bright red and gleaming chrome. That was 25 years ago and I wasn’t very impressed at the time. It had an automatic and was very upright. Today I’d appreciate the solidity and presence and ask him to let me know when he was trading.
I like, I like.
My dad got a 1975 250C as payment for a loan debt around 1981. Good looking car, but ridiculously slow from a standstill, appallingly bad air conditioner (not unusual for a Mercedes of that vintage), and weird electrical issues (one time driving down the highway during a heavy downpour, the wipers refused to work – that was fun. Oh, and the front and rear defrosters did not work either, adding to my joy). Another time, a hot girl in my neighborhood asked me to give her a ride to the mall in it, and it would not turn over. Dead. Ten minutes after she’d gone back home, the stupid car started without a problem. Then about a year later, on my way to do an errand, its engine caught on fire. Did not burn up the car completely, but just enough so that the insurance company totaled it. Good riddance!
Maybe the glue that they used on the badges is really crappy and they keep falling off.
The deck badges were held in with pins, see the holes in the pic?
This is the SOLID STATE Mercedes era, son!
Garage decoration all the way. They’re pretty kitschy with the hipster crowd. I personally don’t think it looks terribly classy, the font they used for them looks painfully dated now, still attractive but so far out of touch.
The white Camry next to it is sinking!
Vinyl roof? What was the owner/dealer thinking?
(I say that because I’ve never heard of a w114/5 with a vinyl roof and it’s … not MB’s style, so I assume it was an insane aftermarket thing.)
Vinyl was a little more classy in the 70s than it is on a Chrysler 300 or Impala today. My grandfather’s brother had one of these in a light yellow with a dark green vinyl roof. I saw him rarely since he lived in Virginia but every other year or so he and the car would turn up in grampa’s garage next to the Valiant.
We had a neighbor that had one of these, in bright silver metallic with a black vinyl top. Believe it or not, it actually looked pretty good.
I don’t know that Mercedes offered a vinyl top option at one time, but there were other European makes (Simca, for example), that did offer them. It was very rare to see a car equipped as such, but it did happen.
You *could* get the roof factory painted in a different color, but I don’t ever remember vinyl being a factory offering. But all the trim would be there if a two-tone was done so the dealer could easily provide it or the owner could have it done. Vinyl tops were popular back then and so were Mercedes-Benz cars. A vinyl top would be a pretty simple, high profit item.
Back in the 90’s I used to see one of these parked near where I worked. It was silver with a painted black roof. Very classy looking especially with the driving lights and chrome/rubber stripped bumpers.
Probably one of my favorite Benz models including the Pagoda roof SL and 80’s CE coupes and convertibles.
There’s a pretty good market on ebay for emblems, and you can load your pockets with the smaller ones like this at the self-service junkyard and walk out without getting caught.
Is that a green Fintail Merc I spy behind it?