What is it about W111's that makes them cool

[grober]

I can't quite put my finger on it. What makes W111's so cool? Is it the abundance of chrome, the vertical headlights, that burbling V8, the big white steering wheel, the Paul Bracq bodywork who knows but it works.
[YOUTUBE HD]yEHRTXaPgJI[/YOUTUBE HD]

 

[V12]

Most had an I6 motor.

For me I like a car with a long boot, really helps the proportions of a car to look good to my eyes. The fintails really help the side on view. Big mistake rounding off the edges on the W108.

 

[Giantvanman]

When I see cars like that, I wonder that the headlong rush into modernity has been at the price of elegance and beauty. To me, the ideal car would always be an older, elegant beauty like that with modern running gear. You would have to add soundproofing, of course, to lessen the sound of purists' teeth gnashing.

 

[Charles Morgan]

the ideal car would always be an older, elegant beauty like that with modern running gear.

Noo! My ideal is a modern car with reliability, build quality, insulation, economy and performance without the 'orrible ride, absurd size that you can't park, huge great wheels and suspension designed for legendary racing circuits which 99.9999999999999999999% recurring of drivers won't use, but with good old fashioned soft springs or better still, Citroen hydropneumatic suspension all round. I appreciate this might put me into a very small minority of about one.

Joking apart, I love old cars, for a variety of reasons, but the principle one is that they aren't like modern ones, and while I do fiddle with the ones I have restored, it is merely to get the best out of what is there with those modern bits that help, rather than dump all the bits that make them fun.

 

[V12]

I agree on the ride quality for sure.

I don't like a car when everything works 100%. I like old cars and their nuances.
Age, patina, dings, character, faults...they're all attractive qualities to me in the right car. Obviously a corsa without a heater is not quite so appealing...

 

[lisa110rry]

I know nothing about W whatsits, but I do love my two old cars. Honda CR-V (the one with the picnic table) from September 2002 for winter and the one you can see next to my name (March 1999) for summer. My husband's modern cars, Motability cars, previously a Civic 2.2 turbo (I called it the fastest Motability car in the West) and current Ford Focus estate didn't do it for me, though I must admit that on the journeys to Norfolk to the boat both were much cheaper to drive! The next one, a Tiguan, might be more to my taste.

The one thing I will never regret is saying goodbye to the Reliant Scimitar GTE SE6A given up back in 1995 I think. So under engineered. So many things went terribly wrong.

There are lovely things about driving old cars and new cars.

 

[V12]

If it's not Pre 1990, it's not old in my books.

 

[grober]

There is evidently a company in Germany who puts a modern slant on these classics. Totally unnecessarily IMHO--difficult to improve perfection
The M-Coupe / M-Cabrio: Mechatronik

 

[lisa110rry]

Old, but not 'proper vintage' V12!

 

[Charles Morgan]

Graeme - who could take such a beautiful car and put some plastic wrapped horribleness in the engine bay? Not me, no sir!

 

[Giantvanman]

There is evidently a company in Germany who puts a modern slant on these classics. Totally unnecessarily IMHO--difficult to improve perfection
The M-Coupe / M-Cabrio: Mechatronik

Perfect in my book; old style, new reliability. Much like the modernised Jensen Interceptor et al. Modern performance (including brakes) with modern electrics and air conditioning. Very much a yes please from me.

 

[renault12ts]

^And me.

Remove the plastic engine cover if you're that bothered.

 

[grober]

I wouldn't say no either obviously but I havn't got $400K on me at the moment. [video in link !]

Mechatronik's $400k 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 vs. 2012 CL63 AMG

 

[Mike Walker]

I agree on the ride quality for sure.

I don't like a car when everything works 100%. I like old cars and their nuances.
Age, patina, dings, character, faults...they're all attractive qualities to me in the right car. Obviously a corsa without a heater is not quite so appealing...

Think you need to buy my E240 V6 Estate - it has all of the things you mention plus rust for free.

 

[V12]

Think you need to buy my E240 V6 Estate - it has all of the things you mention plus rust for free.

Thanks for the offer, I already have one E240 estate to keep me occupied.

 

[grober]

After watching that Car and Driver video there was one question on my mind. Would that new CL 63- beautifully made-competent car though it undoubedly is----- engender the same admiration that that 40 year old Mercedes design is still capable of in 10 years time, or would it simply have melted into the vast "jelly mould" obscurity most of todays designs seem destined for? The only vaguely striking shape Mercedes seems to make at the moment is the C207 coupe and its replacement seems destined for amorphous obscurity if its C205 cousin is anything to go by.

 

[Giantvanman]

My bet would be, no. My reasoning is that cars are becoming more generic as time progresses, both hampered in design by regulation and their form dictated by regulation. They can only become more similar as regulation increases and it will be the details that differ; body creases, shape of lights, front grill and so on. They will not, however, be memorable in the way the shapely, different to each other classics are, formed as they were by pure design. JMO.

 

[John Jones Jr]

After watching that Car and Driver video there was one question on my mind. Would that new CL 63- beautifully made-competent car though it undoubedly is----- engender the same admiration that that 40 year old Mercedes design is still capable of in 10 years time

Nope, doubt it very much. Actually, I'd go as far to say there's not a hope just on aesthetics alone. Awesome car the CL is, modern engineering and electronics don't necessarily add class or elegance which imo the W111 has in abundance.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Will there be petrol powering cars in 20 years?