albertchampion

have been considering my little sacco collection recently. wondering what i should do with its contents for the future. here is my inventory and my current thoughts. what do you think?

1. 1979 450sel 6.9. brilliant silver/blue leather. 52,000 miles. rust free. and virtually immaculate. still running on 14" bundt cakes. 15" bundts are in my garage, virtually brand new.

quit driving the car 5 years ago when i had a lack of sufficient braking moment. car never had enough brakes for the engine output and the weight of the car at speed. i know i could retrofit w126 brakes, but i prefer to keep my vehicles as close to original as possible.

as i see it, i have three options with this car.

a. return it to driving condition and sell it.

b. prepare it for storage and retain it in the collection.

c. donate it to the petersen automotive museum[or similar].

2. 1986 560sel. diamond blue metallic/blue leather. 253,153 miles. rust free and virtually immaculate. lovingly cared for.

my most favorite car of all time. so bulletproof that i have labeled it the first refrigerator of a car.

quit driving the car 3 years ago after methheads broke into my garage and vandalized it unnecessarily[ripped out the glove box door which was unlocked].

also, its age had begun to surface. i no longer found it as comfortable to drive. i suspect that it needs an extensive renovation. not the body. not the interior. not the engine. not the tranny. but the suspension. the steering gear.

personally, i think this is the watershed sedan of the postww2 era. and will one day be recognized as such. and will have its moment at pebble beach. but perhaps not in my lifetime.

i moved it out of my garage today to my long-time mechanic's shop because it was smelling of gasoline. no liquid on the floor, but the odor of gasoline was pronounced. i am having him replace all the fluids and repair any leaks.

but i am thinking that the time may have arrived to recognize that i shall not be driving it any time soon[like the 6.9]. so, what do you think i should do?

as i see it, i have three options with this car.

a. return it to driving condition and sell it.

b. prepare it for storage and retain it in the collection.

c. donate it to the petersen automotive museum[or similar].

3. 1987 560sec. arctic white/blue leather. 100,000miles. immaculate and lovingly cared for.

i still drive it. but not as often as i once did. i am terrified of it being hit by a cellularidiot and the insuror wanting to total it out. despite the infrequency of driving, chubb would not insure it on an agreed upon basis because of my many and long-term speeding tix. even though i have never had an accident.

like its 126 brother, i consider this a future pebble beacher. no rust.

so what do to, do you think?

as i see it, i have four options with this car.

a. keep it in driving condition and drive it sparingly.

b. prepare it for storage and retain it in the collection.

c. donate it to the petersen automotive museum[or similar].

d. sell it.

4. 1995 E320cabriolet. white/blue leather/blue canvas top. 32,000miles. very cherry.

i drive it only when the weather in metro-houston is spot-on for top down driving.

to my mind, it is one of the most elegant of the sacco designs.

to my way of thinking, still an operational keeper.

5. 1997 s500coupe[c140 chassis]. ruby/black leather. 62,000miles.

a wonderful driving car. until i acquired the 2006 cl500 two years ago, this was one of my daily drivers[in rotation with the 560sec and a 1996 gmc yukon].

rust free and immaculate. a wonderful road car.

this series will probably never make pebble beach. but it should. it is another watershed in automotive design. and historically, one of the cars that almost brought down daimler-benz. no other chassis[140 series] ever brought such financial losses.

the 1997 production year was the first to finally put those problems to rest, i think.

to my way of thinking, still an operational keeper.

after this, we get to my recent acquisitions, the 2006 215 series[cl500, cl55amg].

the last of the sacco coupes, i think.

contrasted to all the predecessors, these are the best balanced, most congenial touring coupes[though i must confess, the amg goes beyond that].

along with my 2008 porsche cayenne turbo, these are my daily drivers now.

and when i want to haul stuff, or use varlet parking somewhere, i prefer to use my 1996 gmc yukon[160,000 miles]. a great truck.

i welcome all thoughts.

i have brought this issue up to this board because a friend is recommending to me to divest myself of most of the benzes and acquire a very special ferrari. i have always coveted certain ferraris. i have just never thought of metro-houston as being a ferrari-friendly driving environment.

and to drive the one that i am considering, some insuror would have to issue agreed-upon value coverage.

or, it would have to be garaged/stored as if gold.

WGB

Concerning the 6.9 brakes - I think you must have a problem in the hydraulics or with glazed pads as the usual problem is that they grab a little fiercely and can easily lock up front wheels with the standard Textar soft pad.

They are usually quite adequate for normal driving in road conditions but the extra weight of the 6.9 motor is felt in the brakes. and if the motor has a faster than normal idle eg faulty air conditioner which will raise the idle to 1100 revs it can take a bit to stop the car at low speeds.

There is very little difference between the 116 and 126 brakes but the 6.9 is heavier than any 126.

?Has your 6.9 been fitted with harder pads.

I hope your 6.9 is started and run from time to time as the hydraulic suspension does not like long term sitting and a good low mileage model would be saught after by some.