A few weeks back I wrote in these virtual pages of my quest to replace my modern BMW 220i Coupé – a perfectly good, competent but ultimately fairly dull, uninvolving car, like so many moderns – with a classic that would become my daily driver.
Having gone through the process of consideration and elimination that all of us do when faced with making a difficult choice, I had narrowed it down to three, with a Yugo 45 just missing the cut, despite Dave Leadbetter’s best efforts to persuade me otherwise. Of course, Dave knew full well that the odds of me buying a Yugo were probably even longer than finding out that Elvis is still alive and working in a chip shop in Manchester, though that didn’t stop him trying, even with tongue embedded deeply in cheek.
The short list – well, three of them, at least…
It’s probably also true to say that there was always going to be a strong chance of it being German – I’m half-German, I love German cars and for it to be a useable daily driver, it was very unlikely to be from my other favourite classic car country, Italy, beautiful as so many cars from the boot of Europe are. That may be unfair, but it’s my money.
I’ve long admired the W and C123 series of Mercedes-Benz and the coupé is one of my favourite designs – a subtly elegant, stylish shape, especially in pillarless profile, yet it can seat four and take a fair amount of luggage. While the 2.3-litre four-cylinder is a bit pedestrian, the 2.8-litre six offers pretty decent performance delivered with typical six-cylinder smoothness, even if it isn’t as overtly sporting as the equivalent BMW – I’m thinking 2800CS E9 – and overt performance matters less and less to me as I get older and older.
Two very elegant – yet very different – pillarless coupés
It’s also considered to be the case that this era of Mercedes-Benz was the last when they over-engineered their cars, with build quality of the highest standard – indeed, Mercs from this period are often deemed to be bullet-proof, with some examples having racked up astronomical mileages – an important factor if the car is going to be used as a daily. Obviously it’s still a 35 to 45 year old car, so it’s always possible something might break, but a carefully maintained one should prove to be no more unreliable than a modern car.
The W123 series was a great success for Mercedes-Benz, with 2,696,915 built during a decade-long production run between 1976 and 1986. Almost 100,000 of these were coupés, 32,000 of which were the six-cylinder variety, and survival rates are pretty high, so you’d think finding one would be straightforward compared to some classic car searches.
In the event, tracking one down proved not so easy – or at least, finding one that would not (hopefully) need me to invest huge sums of money within a short time of buying it. To begin with just 100 280CE’s remain on the road in the UK – a total that includes C114’s as well as C123’s. I did see a couple that were well under £10,000, including one at an auction but it was clear it would need several thousands spent to bring it up to a reasonable standard.
I also saw a couple advertised that were the wrong side of £20,000 (unlike a BMW E9, C123’s are generally still available for under £20k), one of which had been sitting in a private collection for years, another that is still for sale and will remain so as long as the asking price stays at £27,995, even if it’s as good as the advert claims. I found another that appeared to be in excellent condition but Mango Green with a green interior is simply too much green, and not a particularly appetising shade of green either, much as I love mangoes; despite the advice our International Editor gave to his friend when searching for a TR6, there are some colours that I could never grow to like, no matter how much I might otherwise love the car.
Eventually, while surfing through carandclassic.com, I came across what looked like it might be the 280CE for me. It was a 1982 car, so roughly mid-period in the model’s production life, which ran from 1977 to 1986, and in a great colour – Signal Red, with mid-grey cloth seats and cream/ivory headlining, a nice combination. The mileage was over 110k but provided the car had been maintained well – and it came with a superb history file – this shouldn’t be a problem. Ultimately this is less than 3,000 miles a year – hardly over-used. I would ideally have preferred a manual, but the fact that this was an automatic didn’t concern me overmuch; it’s not as if I was going to track it. Still, it’s the first automatic I’ve ever owned, perhaps another indicator of my advancing years…
A couple of photos from the advert that caught my attention
It had the “Mexican hat” alloys, which I like (though I would have been equally happy with the body-coloured wheel trim covering steel wheels), and although just a few years newer than die Zitrone, it was equipped with many more mod-cons such as power steering, central locking, electric windows, sunroof and aerial; even an electrically operated passenger door mirror. And the price seemed about right if it was as good as the advert claimed it to be.
There was just one problem – it was in Dublin. This was inconvenient enough, without all the issues surrounding Covid-19. I had bought new cars sight unseen – there’s no other way, of course – but never a used car. This did make me think quite hard for a while, but then my head began to hurt, so I did the next best thing – arranged to see the car over the internet via a Zoom call with the very personable architect owner, who had already demonstrated his classic car credentials by sending me photos of his other cars, including a BMW E12.
This worked a treat – I was shown the underside of the car up on a ramp, electrics working, car starting, even being driven. While no substitute for seeing it and driving it myself, it was the next best thing.
Prior to the Zoom call, we had also arranged for our respective mechanics to talk to each other about the car, so this combined with the virtual viewing was enough for me to decide I wanted to buy it. We agreed a price in short order, after which it was all about arranging delivery, which the vendor kindly took care of.
A few days later, at 7.15 on a Saturday morning, a trailer bearing the red coupé turned up outside my house, and thirty minutes later it was sitting on my drive. Now the car was known to the vendor and his family as Frieda, but I’ve never been one to give cars proper names. Even my ’02 wasn’t christened die Zitrone by me, but by my other half, obviously due to its vivid shade of Golf Yellow. A similar feat of the imagination has resulted in the 280CE being called die Tomate, which I’m OK with – apologies to the previous owner!
On it’s way!
However, having got the car over here, I couldn’t drive it without going through the HMRC and DVLA bureaucratic processes. The first part – notifying HMRC that the car was now in the UK, was very straightforward and done online, and they responded very quickly to confirm that no duties were payable on the car.
I posted the logbook to the DVLA, who – due to part-time working through the Covid-19 crisis – had, and still have, a considerable backlog of paperwork to get through. I expected a lengthy delay so decided to try to call them. After several attempts to get through, I eventually was connected with a very helpful lady who told me (on August 1st) that they were still dealing with registration applications from June 30th… however, she gave me her direct contact details, told me what other paperwork she needed and just 5 days later – having got the car successfully MOT’d (something that will no longer be necessary once it hits 40 years old, nor will I have to stump up the annual £270 vehicle excise tax), my registration documents arrived. This allowed me to get plates made up and I was almost ready to go.
Die Tomate and die Zitrone – the 280CE still on Irish plates at this point.
I got new keys cut – the originals were in pretty bad shape – and finally, had the car given a full service. There are a few minor niggles still to fix, such as the rear passenger side window only opening half-way, and there is a small split in the side of the driver’s seat, but these are not urgent and will get seen to another time.
From first seeing the advert for the car (27th June) to it arriving on my drive (July 18th) to finally having it ready to use (August 29th) has tested my patience yet in reality the ten weeks it took in these Corona times and with the car having to be imported, that doesn’t seem so bad.
During this time of course I spotted a couple of other very nice examples of 280CE’s for sale in England… isn’t that always the way of things? – that would have been more straightforward purchases, though they were significantly more expensive.
Since then, a little over a week has gone by since die Tomate has been road legal and I’ve had the chance to drive it a little, covering 150 miles, and I love it. The auto box changes cleanly without hunting for gears, pick-up is smooth and the car rides well. I’ve sat for a few miles at 110km/h on the motorway – 3,500rpm, not dissimilar to die Zitrone, but the Benz is quieter and feels more stable; it is of course quite a lot bigger (4.64m compared to 4.23m for the ’02) and heavier, with a kerb weight of 1460kg as against 1010kg. In fact it feels altogether more substantial and the doors shut with that reassuring “clunk”. None of this is a criticism of the ’02 – they’re very different kinds of car.
Getting in the 280CE feels special in a different way to my 2002 – as I said, it’s an entirely different kind of animal, not remotely a sporting saloon, more a sedate cruiser, but none the worse for that; in fact, I enjoy the contrast. It’s very comfortable, visibility is very good despite the relatively thick rear three-quarter pillars, and performance is brisk enough – it is, after all, a 2.8-litre six, originally producing 185bhp, coincidentally one horse more than the BMW it’s replaced. Oh, and it looks great – it really suits the red. Die Tomate and die Zitrone look very cool parked alongside each other in the drive!
As the summer starts to fade and we approach Autumn, I’ll be using the Mercedes more and the BMW less, so will get to know its quirks and foibles better, something I’m really looking forward to!
