My W140 S280 - Recent Purchase

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richard300

Active Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2005
Messages
110
Location
West Sussex
Car
CLK230Kompressor (factory AMG sport pack) & Jaguar XJ8 (X308)
Here is my S280.... I bought the car just over a week ago, after deliberating for a couple of weeks. But after checking the AC over 2 visits, spaced 10 days apart, thoroughly checking that everything electrical worked, checking the motor for overheating and Head gasket issues and all the other (non W140 specific) stuff you check for when buying a used car - I decided to go for it.....

I should maybe mention, that i recently moved to South Australia from the UK (This is an AU car).

The car did have some minor/annoying issues that needed addressing (but i negotiated this into the price) Namely:

Wheels needed a refurbish
The front dummy tow eye cover/access trim was missing from the drivers side of the bumper.
Laquer/Paint on the roof was ruined
Rear View mirror casing has come apart in several pieces
No recent service history - It was evident that the car had been serviced, but no invoices had been kept in the sellers period of ownership
There is an S320 badge on the boot instead of an S280 badge.
The car was fitted with Chrome wheel arch trims.
There was a big monitor mounted to the dashboard (luckily not screwed to any trim) and wiring running (badly) through the car, to a rear view camera, mounted next to the boot release button.
The car needed a lot of deep cleaning.
There was a blow or excess noise coming from the exhaust - Nothing major, bur definitely there.

Basically, i bought the car from an elderly lady, who had stopped driving the car a long time ago, as she had lost confidence in her driving such a big car (she had a W126 560SEL) before this, and so had switched to a C-Class, and her husband works in the tropics for 9 months of the year. And so the car had become a driveway ornament.

Here are the pictures from the advert - I think they must have taken these when they first bought the car some 3-4 years before advertising it for sale.

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First thing i did was remove the arches and give the car a good clean and a quick polish, so that i could double check for any further paint damage, marks, scratches etc - She actually came up quite nice:

rear%20q2_zps2852iym5.jpg


I removed the monitor from the dash and pulled out the wiring to/from it. Then gave the interior a good clean, hoover and fed the leather.
As a real bonus, i found the trim from the front bumper, under the passenger seat!!

dash_zps3w6u4bfz.jpg

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I then set about giving the wheels a new lease of life:

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wheel%20painted_zpsn9hauiv8.jpg

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Then started sanding down the roof and filling in a dent that was next to the sunroof - ready for prep and paint.

roof%20sanded_zpsj0uxzy3b.jpg


Once completed i gave the car another good clean and a coat of carnuba wax, and took some pictures:

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As i write this, the car is at a local exhaust fabricator, having a new rear box made/fitted as the baffles in the original exhaust were shot. I have also changed the plugs and the air filter (all the fluids were new, when i bought the car) and carefully inspected the wiring harness - which, thankfully is clear of any of the biodegrading issues that some W140's can suffer from.

All in all, with the purchase price, the parts, paint, and labor for things i couldn't do. And with 6 months rego and a years fully comprehensive insurance, the car will owe me $5000 which is about £2600 - Great, when you think that there is a huge import tax on European cars, which meant that this car cost $145.000 when it was new in 1996!
Oh, and fuel is equivalent to about 68p a litre..... Which i think is proper barge motoring :)
 
Nice!

I cant belive you didnt remove the wheels when working on them...!

Whats with the S320 badge though, if your going to 'up badge' it, you would surely go for a S500? :)
 
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Yeah, i have no idea why someone would put an S320 badge on the car.... I have an S280 badge on order.

In an ideal world i would have removed the wheels but the driveway is on an incline and i don't have a trolley jack or anything like that over here.

The finish is spot on though....
 
Looks like a good one. I'd just remove the S320 and be done with it.
 
Looks like a good one. I'd just remove the S320 and be done with it.

Agree, debadge is the way to go, for the clean look, then everybody can guess.
 
De-badge would have been my first option, but i dont think i will be able to get the paint nice enough if i remove the badge - I think the 'S' has been glued on!!

If they come off clean enough and the paint is fine, then i wont put the S280 badge on.
 
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Would look great with an S600 grill on the front.
 

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