Mint 1979 350SE 4 Speed Manual

[toronto_car_collector]

I bought this 1979 350SE over a year ago. Car was maintained very well. Was sold new in Italy, the original owner brought it with him when he moved to Arizona in the early 90s. Sold it to the second owner in 2000. Second owner traded in it for a R129 SL and I bought it from the dealer he traded it in to and imported it to Canada. The car is 100 percent rust free and all original. The second owner spent 10k in 2015 mechanically sorting it out. It drives like a new car. The 4 speed manual and euro spec 3.5 V8 make this car amazing to drive. Only if Mercedes made more manual transmission cars. They make fantastic manual transmissions. The license plate on the car now is W116. And I got the plate W113 for my 1967 280SL. Usually chassis code plates are taken. I got lucky.

[toronto_car_collector]

extra pics

[kampala]

Toronto car collector,

Your collection is impressive or some might say obsessive.  Welcome to the W113!  Do let us know which of your collection gets the most thumbs-up from the ordinary public. 

I do have to ask -- what kind of garage space do you have to house these beauties in a not-so-accommodating climate?   Are you a business?  No problem if you are as a collector is a collector.   

Best,

[toronto_car_collector]

The best cars for thumbs up, out of my mercedes would be the 1967 280SL and the 1974 450SL. People love those cars! I have more cars then I could list on here. I hit 50 cars this year. 23 of those cars are Mercedes. I have a passion for Porsche, Bentley and Rolls Royce as well. I also have some nice American cars. The most special car in my collection is my 1985 930 Turbo Slant nose.
You are right Canada does not have the best weather for a car collector like me lol. At home I can fit about 18 cars in my garage, then on my farm I have a big shed with about 15 cars in there. And at my business is where I store the rest. The cars are part of my personal collection I have no intention on selling any. I never drive them when its raining or if their is Salt on the roads. Cars only come out when the roads are dry and clean. I do my best to preserve them and enjoy them.

[FGN59]

Wow!

[franjo_66]

Fantastic car !
What a great collection you have !!!!

[johnk]

Must be a full time job just to drive them
As needed.

[kampala]

The best cars for thumbs up, out of my mercedes would be the 1967 280SL and the 1974 450SL.

I am sure you felt no peer-pressure to include your w113 in the most thumbs list 

Amazing and serious collection!   

[zak]

Beautiful collection. You should be proud.

jz

[stickandrudderman]

In my 40 years in this business I have only ever seen one other 116 with a v8 and manual shift. Nice!
I've also only seen one 107 v8 with a manual shift and maybe 2 or three 126 as well.
It used to be the case that nobody (here in the UK) wanted a manual transmission so if you were trying to sell one you would have a hard time finding a buyer and a dealer would seriously knock the price.
However, if said dealer had a manual in stock and you enquire after one, he would elevate the price because he knew that no-one else would have one in stock!

[MikeSimon]

I am a strong believer in Automatic trannies for cars/engines of a certain size and low-end torque. Pure-bred sports cars that are designed and driven as such are an exception.
I changed too many clutches on a regular basis in cars to be a fan of manuals in regular vehicles. A friction clutch is a wear part and no matter how good of a driver you are and how many miles you get out of one, eventually you have to change it. And that can be a pain-in-the-neck. If the transmission tunnel does not allow to remove the transmission, the engine has to come out.
Have fun!

[toronto_car_collector]

I am the complete opposite. I have rebuilt way to many automatic transmissions over the years, those are nothing but headaches and they ruin the driving experience. I would much rather have to pull everything to replace a clutch. That's simple for me. The worst automatic experience for me is when I bought my 1991 Euro spec 600SEL with 90k km and it had a bad transmission. I pulled the auto trans my self to get it rebuilt by a reputable shop. Long story short I had to pull the transmission out 3 TIMES ! because it kept having the same issue. Second gear slip. They could not fix it. I ended up taking it to Mercedes and it cost 8000 dollars for them to pull the trans and rebuild it and they had to pull the trans TWICE!!! They had the same issue. They ended up getting it working but now it hits the rev limiter going from Second to third gear WOT. They don't want to touch it anymore. I wish I did a 6 speed manual swap. I have a custom fab guy that does all types of manual swaps. He quoted me 7000 to manual swap it. I didn't want to spend that much on the car so I though rebuilding the original auto would be cheapest. Boy was I wrong. It ended up costing me over 10k dollars to get that auto trans working. What a nightmare that was. Took 2 years before it was working right.

I wouldn't have bought my 1967 280SL or 1979 350SE if they were automatic. The manual transmission makes the driving experience so much better and enjoyable. I also swapped my 1980 300TD station wagon from auto to 4 speed manual. What a difference that made. The automatic in that car sucked. I think it was the 3 speed auto. Those 3 speeds ruin the way these cars drive. The 4 speed autos are miles better.