1972 Merc.-benz 280se 4.5 V8, Sun Roof, Rust-free, Stunning, Leather, No Reserve on 2040-cars

1972 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 4.5 sedan 

NO RESERVE AUCTION!! NO RESERVE AUCTION!!

131,500 miles; 3 owners, California car, unique color combination and equipment level, excellent condition, full history

Circumstances force me to part company with my classic 280SE 4.5 in extraordinary condition.  It was originally ordered by a lady from San Diego, CA and she went to Sindelfingen, Germany to pick it up herself, a real Mercedes lover!  I have the original invoice to prove it.   She ordered the car in a very tasteful and exceedingly rare two tone metallic paint job in tan and teal with dark brown real leather interior.   I have never seen this color combination on a Mercedes!  After 20 or so years she sold it to her friend who died 10 years later and she left it to her nephew in Bradenton, Florida.   He had no use for the car and sold it to me in May 2001.  Hence the low mileage of 131,500 miles.

It is a very beautiful car and a regular driver; it is surprisingly agile in today’s traffic due to the very powerful V8-engine (230 bhp) and the confidence inspiring brakes (ventilated disks in front, disks in rear!)  The Billstein shocks combined with the Mercedes 16” wheels on Bridgestone Potenzas (225/50/16) are planting this car on the road like a modern car.  The original wheels with the pretty hubcaps are included in this auction (I also could include a set if the original alloy wheels).  The chrome is excellent, paint in good condition.  This car turns heads wherever you go and you will receive complements wherever you go.  The best thing is that you can maintain this car as a daily driver, all parts are readily available.

Es wuerde mich besonders freuen, wenn der Wagen nach Deutschland gehen wuerde, denn dort war er in den fruehen Siebzigern (meiner Kindheit) ein echter Traumwagen.  Bei der Ueberfuehrung bin ich gerne behilfreich!  Dieses Auto ist noch nie geschweisst worden und praktisch rostfrei, ein in Deutschland praktisch unerreichbarer Originalzustand!!

In addition to the standard equipment this car is equipped with (all working!):

Two-tone metallic paint (tan and teal), factory original

Air Conditioning

Electric sun roof

Pneumatic power locks incl. trunk and filler cap!

4 power windows

Power brakes, ventilated disks in front, disk in rear

Power steering

Brown leather interior: seats and door panels! (The leather has a wonderful patina with some cracks in drivers seat, see photos, also some sun damage on top of the rear bench, which I keep covered)

Electronic fuel injection (one of the first production cars to have it!)

Eclipse cd player with 4 eclipse speakers (professional installation with minimal visual impact!)

Right side rear view mirror

Classic period Momo steering wheel in Mahogany wood (I can also include the original steering wheel in chrome and black)

Retracting 3-point seat belts in front.

 I owned the car about 12 years (all in Florida) and I replaced the complete brake system with 4 new OEM calipers and master cylinder (now it brakes like a modern car, way ahead of it's time!), the a/c compressor and dryer (currently the temperature switch is suspect),  repaired the power locks and a window regulator, replaced engine sub-frame mounts (which transformed the handling),  suspension bushings front and rear,  4 new Billstein heavy duty gas shocks, cold start injector, spark plug wires, modified the ignition with an electronic unit, power steering compressor, shifter linkage,  3 fuel injectors, rebuilt distributor, many relays, regulators and valves, all little pieces of fuel line in the fuel injection system; new fuel pump (original, super expensive!) and filter, restored the gas tank with inner liner (very expensive), regular oil changes and services.  I invested over $15,000 upgrades and repairs to keep the car in good running condition; it will make somebody very happy!

The car spent most of his life in San Diego and the last 12 years in Florida: The car is rust free in all critical and typical areas; the wheel arches are completely rust free with a small exception in the right front on the inside:  the rust protection at the foot well had a slight crack that went unnoticed for some time which led to a small hole; again, an easy fix.  All door bottoms are rust free, inside and out.

Just a little reading material/research on the car just in case you need convincing:

The 1972 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 4.5 - the period equivalent of today's S-class - is perhaps the best and most attainable example of Stuttgart's golden-age greatness. Internally designated W108, the big four-door first came into the world in 1965 powered by a 146-hp, 2.5-liter six-cylinder and was dubbed 250S/SE. In time-honored Mercedes-Benz fashion, the following six years saw the W108 receive a host of different six-cylinder power plants, a long-wheelbase variant (code-named W109), coupe and convertible body styles, and no fewer than three different overhead-cam V-8s.

That said, all you really need to know is this: in 1972, the engine swapping came to a head. That year, Stuttgart gifted the short-wheelbase, four-door W108 with V-8 power - a 230-hp, 4.5-liter unit derived from the 3.5-liter engine first seen in the 1970 280SE coupe and convertible. This combination, sold stateside for only one model year, offered the best of both worlds, pairing the nimble chassis of the short-wheelbase model with some of the thrust of the 300-hp, long-wheelbase, $15,000 300SEL 6.3. What once was a plodding, low-powered autobahn cruiser had morphed into a torque-packed sport sedan with all-day-long, 125-mph legs.

On modern roads, surrounded by modern cars, a 4.5-liter 280SE is something of an enigma. It's that rarest of beasts - a big, old sedan that simply doesn't feel that old. The light, stiff doors shut with an endlessly solid, safelike whong that echoes a little through the interior. The fuel-injected V-8 lights off after a moment of cranking and then settles down to a smooth, almost imperceptible idle. Switches and latches feel heavy and substantial; the dash-mounted, key-shaped headlight switch chunks into position like a household circuit breaker. The stark interior is an exercise in restraint, a sparse combination of short-loop carpet, thin pillars, and unapologetically simple, well-trimmed surfaces.

It's an odd reminder that the word "luxury" once meant something very different to Europeans - it was more of a mind-set about build quality than an endless supply of deep-pile carpet and butt-massaging seats.

You can still crank it down the highway at an easy 100 mph with two fingers on the wheel.  Most amazing, the 280SE does a surprisingly good imitation of a modern car. It's torquey and relatively quick, it stops well, it handles like a car half its size, it's comfortable over long distances, and it's quiet on the highway. At high speeds, you're met with a slight wind rush from the A-pillars, a restrained rumble from under the hood, and a relentless, quiet urge from somewhere aft. You want for nothing, save a long, fast stretch of highway. Or maybe a reason to drive to the south of France.

Mercedes would continue to build cars without compromise for some time, but the pressures of profit margins and burgeoning competition put an end to the engineering-at-all-costs approach in the early 1990s. The 280SE 4.5 sedan offers the best of the big-inch, classically upright Benzes, only with little of the associated repair and maintenance costs common to the more iconic long-wheelbase cars (air suspension, for example, was standard on the 300SEL, and it is neither cheap nor simple to repair). Prices are absurdly low, and good drivers can still be found for about $5000. And while parts and service costs are relatively high, you can take consolation in one thing: no matter the buy-in, greatness rarely comes cheap.

Year Produced                   1972

Number Produced                        13,527

Why Buy       The 280SE's long-wheelbase siblings get all the glory, but repair costs mean that those cars often make little sense for the average owner. And while coupe and convertible versions make great drivers, prices are often staggeringly high. Six-cylinder 280S and SE variants can be temptingly affordable, but their low output make them feel cumbersome in modern traffic.