Mercedes was the name of the daughter of Emil Jellinck. Jellinck, who
“unofficially” sold Daimlers, joined the Daimler “Board”
in 1900. He persuaded them to create a high performance car (5.9 ltr,
35 bhp) that didn’t look like a horse drawn carriage, and so the
modern car was born. This “super car” was entered in the
“Nice Week” of 1901 under the pseudonym of Mercedes. It
couldn’t be called a Daimler because Panhard-Levassor owned the
Daimler licence in France. (Jaguar acquired Daimler in 1960)
Very good cars, but they too have their irritations. They suffer from the “Jag problem” - poor front and rear screen rubbers. It’s essential to check for signs of water or condensation in saloons and coupes when purchasing (rag tops will be damp anyway). Also, bodywork can be very “iffy” at times, depending on where the metal came from. Check floor pans and body panels very, very carefully.
In the main, classic Mercs are good, very well engineered cars - better than BMW in my opinion. They keep their value, especially low mileage SLs, but they are getting silly money. They’re not a starter classic, but they’re OK if you have up to £20,000 worth of “spondooleys”. With that sort of spare dosh I’d buy Premium Savings Bonds - at least you’ve got a chance of winning a million, and the odds are only 330,000 : 1 (based on the number of maximum bond holders). That’s better than the lottery at 14,000,000 : 1, and when you’ve won, you can go out and buy as many SL’s as you like, but I’m digressing again.
I wouldn’t buy a saloon, unless it was for work, then I’d go for a 380, or bigger, make sure it’s bought cheap and be prepared to throw it away at the end of its life. Most people don’t like big cars for some reason, but then, on safety grounds, I wouldn’t buy a small one either. Give me something that can accelerate out of danger, or if some “wassock” hits me, I can at least climb out unhurt.
Good starter classics in the Merc range are Fintails,
‘59 to ’68 all models, 250/280 CEs circa
‘68 to ’76 (they’re the ones with the “locust
eye” headlamps) and 280/300 CEs circa ’77
to ’88. Just coming onto the market are the model W 124
SEC’s. Now they’re awesome. A 500 SEC
in 1984 would have set you back well over £80,000. A lovely car,
but only 300 bhp (must be de-tuned, mustn’t it ?)