I am a huge fan of this forum. I literally spend hours a day viewing the archives finding out new and fascinating things about my car. I am currently 19 years old and own a 1988 420 SEL. Before this I owned a 1986 420 SEL that my Father gave me as a 16th birthday present. I had just got my license and my first car was a Mercedes. I was in love with the car and everything about it. About a year after I got it I made the mistake of letting my girlfriend drive on Valentines Day on the way to school. Being it Valentines Day I had bought her balloons which were in the backseat. Somehow the backseat door flew open and the balloons started go out. She turned around and instead of looking at the road she ended up going head on with a semi-truck.The car was destroyed, but we came out unscathed. I knew if I had gotten any other car I could have been seriously hurt. Since that day I vowed I would get another Mercedes similar to that one which was so viciously taken away. After 2 and a half years I finally discovered one that was at a Mercedes mechanic shop in North Phoenix. It was the mechanics 88 420 SEL that he was looking to sell. I got it for a flat $5000. I has 150000 miles but the timing chain has been replaced and a valve job was done. The interior and exterior of this car is imaculate and I couldn't be happier. I've had the car for about 2 months and have driven it to Vegas and California with no problems. I get compliments on it everyday of how well kept the car is. I love this car and plan on keeping it a long time. Thanks to this forum I've learned great techniques on cleaning it and maintaining my car. One thing I've noticed that seems to be unique about my car is that the headlight wipers are black instead of the standard gray. I think they look a lot better as black and I was wondering if any of you have seen this elsewhere. Thank you guys for everything and maybe I'll see you around sometime.
Hey congrats on having an amazing car! and Yay for all us young guys with a Benz. Thats why no woman will ever drive my car, we are having a thred about it at teh moment in the W140 section. Love your car looks good got any plans for it?
Real nice, I like the all black body
I painted my headlight wipers black, along with the grille, bumpers, sidepanels and door mirrors
I think you should pull the grille insert and paint it black too
I am a huge fan of this forum. I literally spend hours a day viewing the archives finding out new and fascinating things about my car. I am currently 19 years old and own a 1988 420 SEL. Before this I owned a 1986 420 SEL that my Father gave me as a 16th birthday present. I had just got my license and my first car was a Mercedes. I was in love with the car and everything about it. About a year after I got it I made the mistake of letting my girlfriend drive on Valentines Day on the way to school. Being it Valentines Day I had bought her balloons which were in the backseat. Somehow the backseat door flew open and the balloons started go out. She turned around and instead of looking at the road she ended up going head on with a semi-truck.The car was destroyed, but we came out unscathed. I knew if I had gotten any other car I could have been seriously hurt. Since that day I vowed I would get another Mercedes similar to that one which was so viciously taken away. After 2 and a half years I finally discovered one that was at a Mercedes mechanic shop in North Phoenix. It was the mechanics 88 420 SEL that he was looking to sell. I got it for a flat $5000. I has 150000 miles but the timing chain has been replaced and a valve job was done. The interior and exterior of this car is imaculate and I couldn't be happier. I've had the car for about 2 months and have driven it to Vegas and California with no problems. I get compliments on it everyday of how well kept the car is. I love this car and plan on keeping it a long time. Thanks to this forum I've learned great techniques on cleaning it and maintaining my car. One thing I've noticed that seems to be unique about my car is that the headlight wipers are black instead of the standard gray. I think they look a lot better as black and I was wondering if any of you have seen this elsewhere. Thank you guys for everything and maybe I'll see you around sometime.
As a long-time viewer then you are familiar with all the mods/upgrades/restorations for the 126. As you're in AZ you might want to consider loosing the headlamp wipers altogether when you install the Euros.
Thanks for your kind words and warm welcome. I have considered getting Euros very serioulsy but the more I think about it, I like the original lights Mainly becuase mine aren't faded and don't have scratches, so they look pretty allright. One thing I do plan on doing is painting the grill black. I really think that a black grill will go great with the black color car. I also plan on getting some new speakers for the front and rear, and a new CD Player. I don't wanna get crazy and get subwoofers and all that shit becuase I don't think that really belongs on our W126's. They are meant to be elegant luzxary sedans, not a loud vibrating boombox on wheels. That what Honda Civics are for. I want to keep my car how it was meant to look. Thanks for all your feedback, I really appreciate it
Thanks for your kind words and warm welcome. I have considered getting Euros very serioulsy but the more I think about it, I like the original lights Mainly becuase mine aren't faded and don't have scratches, so they look pretty allright. One thing I do plan on doing is painting the grill black. I really think that a black grill will go great with the black color car. I also plan on getting some new speakers for the front and rear, and a new CD Player. I don't wanna get crazy and get subwoofers and all that shit becuase I don't think that really belongs on our W126's. They are meant to be elegant luzxary sedans, not a loud vibrating boombox on wheels. That what Honda Civics are for. I want to keep my car how it was meant to look. Thanks for all your feedback, I really appreciate it
HAha! I don't think Civics were meant to be "boomboxes", more like old-school mini-trucks which could haul all that stuff in their beds. Even though your stereo system is nice, it could use some upgrades. Before I added my one (and only 1) sub in the trunk, my upgraded dash/rear speakers where doing a great job. I left the factory woofers in the doors since they were still in excelent shape. Your rears are 6.5" while the fronts could use either 3.5" or 4". You may have to alter the front mounting holes for larger speakers.
Right now I have Memphis Audio co-axials in the front and 6.5" co-axials in the rear. The Kenwood Excelon runs RCA cables to my amps in the trunk and then to the dash/door/deck speakers. Sounds excelent!
Iwould replace the gear knob with a wood one and maybe chrome the wheels (which MB does not recommend, because they claim the sand blasting or acid to remove the original finish may weeken the wheels).
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