New to list

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Hello Everyone

I recently joined the list and have already learned a lot after reading the forum topics. I've had my 1965 230 SL for about a month now and what a magnificent car! From what I can make out from the log books it was bought new in Germany in late 1965 before being imported privately to Australia. Its first local service was May 1966. I brought it from a woman who had owned the car for the past 30 years and it has a good service history. It is an automatic with power steering, soft and hard tops, jump seat and leather interior. After market air conditioning has also been fitted - fairly essential over here. The car is a mid blue colour and is quite original except for a later radio cassette which I will replace. I've taken it on a couple of trips and it hasn't missed a beat. I'm hoping to pick the collective brains of the group as there are a few problems that need sorting out such as some minor rust, repair of wood trims and a heater that is on all of the time.

Regards

Mark Ravagnani
Sydney Australia

1965 230 SL

[Cees Klumper]

Hi Mark, sounds like you happened upon a good car. When I first got mine, it was in the shop more than I care to remember. However, once fixed properly, the car will maintain its condition for a long time, indefinitely actually with proper regular maintenance and care. I have calculated (I am a CPA, so this is reliable info:) that the total cost of maintenance and repairs, once you have the car in proper shape, should average out to approximately $1,000 per year, including paint, engine/FI pump rebuild, tires, you name it, assuming you drive it around 6,000 miles per year. Lower mileage = lower annual cost of course. This does assume you do the work that the average DIY-er (like me) can do yourself with some good tools and books. If you have to have all maintenance done by a professional shop, I suppose this figure can easily double or worse. It also assumes you shop around for good prices. Example, I had my car repainted and some body work done last year, and it cost me less than $1,000, but I also got a quote from another shop that came recommended, for $9,000 !!
The $1,000 per-annum cost is quite cheap when you also take into account the fact that our cars should appreciate on average (certainly in the long run) with inflation which lately has been running at around 3%. This means that the additional cost of the money invested (net 5%?)is offset to a large degree by the car actually appreciating, rather than depreciating like modern-day cars (which ALSO tend to cost a fair amount in maintenance, new tires etc etc) AND depreciate down to almost nil, rather than appreciate. So I tell myself it is much cheaper to drive my Pagoda than my 1997 C180 - although that one achieves twice the gas mileage that the 280 SL does ....

white 1969 280 SL

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Cees. What a wonderful and very convincing justification for owning a Pagoda! Not that we need any convincing. Actually, as my wife and I are self-employed and operate from a home office, the car is a nominated work vehicle and so running costs, depreciation (if any) etc are tax deductable. Apart from Mercedes Club activities, the car is mostly used when we have to see clients in the country. We drive to destinations that are reasonably close, up to 3-400 kms away, and fly to more distant locations. It's a good arrangement as the car gets a long run with the top down. The car will do about 8,000 km (5,000 miles) a year this way. For local commuter driving I use my 1964 Holden utility or my wife's 1991 Mercedes 180E.

Regards

Mark

1965 230 SL

[hands_aus]

Hi Mark,
Bob here in Brisbane.
Congratulations on buying a great car.  
The long trips should be an excellent opportunity to calculate what your long distance fuel consumption is against what the factory specs are, any indications yet?
Is your speedo in MPG or KPH?
People say that by driving the car regularly you keep the crap out of the motor and the battery charged all the time.
Have you noticed the prices for the cars increasing lately?
I think mine has increased in value by about $15,000.00 since I bought it in June last year.

Bob(Brisbane,Australia)

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Pleased to meet you Bob
I haven't worked out fuel consumption as yet mostly because my 230 is such a slow filler! I've never been quite sure when it's full. From what I've read, it should have a 65 litre tank but I've only been able to squeeze 40 litres in at the most. As to your other questions, the speedo is in mph. I've noticed that it reads a little faster than the car's actually speed and I believe that this is due to the lower profile tyres it's running - 185 70/14's. I know this because I found this great site on the web that calculates differences in speed according to changes in type profile. Apparently it's hard to find the original 75 profiles although Michelin is making them again overseas. As to prices, it's hard to gauge unless you take a good look at each car. Certainly, from my experience in Sydney, $25,000 gets you a rusty 230 SL that needs a heap spending on it and halfway decent cars are at least $35,000-40,000. I've seen really top class cars in the high 40's and 50's but I don't know if people are actually getting those prices. Naturally, the 280 SLs bring more than the early cars. You never find too many of any Pagoda model on the market at any one time. How does this equate to Brisbane?

Mark

1965 230 SL

[hands_aus]

Hey Mark,
The Brisbane Pagoda market is equally small.
When the reserve light is comes 'on' that indicates there is about 12 litres of fuel in the tank.
What does your gauge read before you start to fill the car? If it is at a quarter full mark then you would have about 16.25 litres in the tank.
Is your fuel gauge accurate? Does the reserve light come on when you think there should be lots of fuel in it?
I ask because the gauge in my car was showing empty when I had only used half a tank. Turns out that the fuel sender in the fuel tank was the wrong one. It was short by about 30-40 mm and the bottom of the sender was out of the fuel.
A local German wrecking company sold me a good used sender from a W108 car for $45.00. BINGO!

Some advice about knowledge of these cars. Read as many of the posts on this site and any other site including Dorians' and the Yahoo site. There is so much relevant information about these cars that you will be amazed.  I have created my own library on my PC. The topics vary from chrome screw sizes to exchanging rear axles to adjusting head light focus etc it is fascinating.

One piece of information...the original tyres were 185 HR 14 Michelin. These tyres were 80% profile, and they had a rib that protected the chrome dress rim that the 230 sl and early 250 sl cars had.
Again, welcome and participate often, from my experience every question, no matter how minor the topic, receives an answer.
Remember we all learn from each others shared experiences.

Bob(Brisbane,Australia)