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1990 Mercedes-Benz 300CE - SOLD



PLEASE NOTE:

Please click here for photo gallery of Restoration Works

Please click here for photo gallery of the Finished Car!


1990 Mercedes C124 300CE

  • Straight 6 Cylinder Engine
  • 4 Speed Automatic Gearbox
  • Arctic White over Sato Grey
  • Mushroom/Quartz Leather Interior

    A very high specification car which in addition to the usual 124 Coupe refinements includes:

  • Electric (with driver's memory function), Heated and Orthopaedic Seats
  • Electric Steering Column Adjustment
  • Automatic Limited Slip Differential (rare!)
  • Headlamp Wash/Wipe
  • Burred Walnut Wood (Würzelholz) Trim and Centre Console Storage Box
  • Folding Front Armrest
  • Fire Extinguisher
  • Electric Rear Blind

    The full VIN Spec readout shows:

    SA codes

    Code Value
    147 No code designation available *
    211 AUTOMATIC LIMITED SLIP DIFFERENTIAL (ASD)
    221 LEFT FRONT SEAT, ELECTRICALLY ADJUSTABLE
    242 FRONT SEAT RH ELECTRIC ADJUSTABLE WITH MEMORY
    265A LEATHER CREAM BEIGE - MUSHROOM / QUARTZ
    280 LEATHER STEERING WHEEL AND LEATHER GEAR SHIFT KNOB
    300 STORAGE BOX IN FRONT TRAY
    301 No code designation available
    341 ADDITIONAL BLINKER LAMPS
    362 RHS IN ACC. WITH EU REGULATION
    406 No code designation available
    412 ELECTRIC SLIDING ROOF
    420 AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION 4-GEAR
    430 HEADREST IN THE REAR, LEFT AND RIGHT
    441 ADJUSTABLE STEERING COLUMN
    461 INSTRUMENT WITH MILES IND. AND ENGLISH LEGEND
    524 PAINTWORK - PRESERVATION
    544 *
    570 FOLDING ARMREST, FRONT
    584 ELECTRIC WINDOW LIFTER, 4-WAY, V 124, 6-WAY
    600 HEADLAMPS - CLEANING EQUIPMENT
    615 No code designation available
    640 15-HOLE LIGHT ALLOY RIMS
    682 FIRE EXTINGUISHER
    731 WOOD TRIM BURRED WALNUT ROOT
    873 SEAT HEATER FOR LEFT AND RIGHT FRONT SEATS

    * (147 is the Paint Code; 544 is for the Electric Rear Blind, 301 is for the Rear Wood Storage Box, 406 is for the Orthopaedic Seats, 615 is for the LHD headlamp lenses, I believe)

    136K Miles

    When I bought the car two years ago the vendor told me the owner prior to him had had it on loan and display for a lengthy period to her local MB Maindealer.

    Extensive renovation work just completed includes:

    SUSPENSION - REAR

    The whole rear subframe removed from the car and then:

  • Rear subframe meticulously shot-blasted to remove any rust and re-painted with rust-proofing paint
  • New rear subframe bushes
  • All new rear suspension arms and bushes
  • New Differential Carrier bush
  • New rear Coil Springs
  • New rear Sachs Shock-absorbers
  • New rear Anti-roll Bar Bushes
  • Rear hubs sand-blasted clean and free of rust
  • New rear Bearings
  • New rear 'One Bump' Coil Spring Pads - to give correct factory spec ride height

    SUSPENSION - FRONT

  • New front Coil Springs
  • New front Sachs Shock-absorbers
  • New front Top-mounts
  • New Steering Damper
  • New Anti-roll Bar Bushes
  • New Track-rod ends
  • New Ball-joints
  • New Power-steering Filter and Fluid

    At the end of all of this a proper 4 wheel wheel-alignment.

    The car now rides exactly on Mercedes factory ride heights for a standard Coupe:

    Front wheel-centre to wheel-arch of 15"; rear wheel-centre to wheel-arch 15.5"

    It rides and handles superbly and as a 124 Coupe should. Supple, well-controlled ride with no bumps, groans or knocks from the suspension. Drives bullet straight.

    BRAKES - FRONT

  • New Calipers
  • New Discs
  • New Pads
  • New Braided Flexible brake-lines (for improved braking feel)
  • New caliper bolts
  • Brake Backing plates sandblasted and repainted

    BRAKES - REAR

  • Overhauled Calipers
  • New Discs
  • New Pads
  • New Handbrake Shoes
  • New Handbrake Cables
  • New Handbrake Actuators
  • New Braided Brake-lines
  • New caliper bolts
  • New rear Brake Backing Plates

  • New Rigid brake-lines made and fitted
  • Brake Master Cyinder replaced
  • New Brake fluid

    GEARBOX and DIFFERENTIAL

  • New Gearbox fluid, filter and gasket
  • New Differential fluid
  • New ASD fluid

    ENGINE

  • Full Engine Service
  • New Spark Plugs x 6
  • New Air-filter
  • New Fuel Filter
  • New Oil Filter and Oil
  • New HT BOSCH Ignition Leads
  • New BOSCH Distributer Cap
  • New BOSCH Rotor ARM
  • New 3-Part Ignition lead channel and cover

  • Engine Bay extensively cleaned/detailed
  • Cam-cover stripped and repainted
  • Air filter cover stripped and repainted
  • New underbonnet insulation made and fitted

    New rigid fuel-lines - the old ones were actually so corroded and porous they were actually leaking fuel through them!

    The Complete Exhaust system was also replaced with good secondhand sand-blasted to remove any slight surface rust and painted with VHT paint

    COOLING AND HEATING SYSTEM

  • New Radiator
  • New Viscous Coupling
  • New Thermostat
  • New Thermostat Housing (upgraded metal type) and bolts
  • Entire cooling system (including Heater matrix circuit) flushed numerous times!
  • Heater control Duovalve replaced.
  • New Coolant/Anti-freeze

    AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM

    This car was not specified at the MB factory when with an A/C System when new.

    An after-market (DIAVIA) system had been retro-fitted in the past.This was non-functioning/open due to a missing and would have run on the old R12 gas although all the electrics, buttons etc to it did work.

    This system was therefore removed thus bringing the car back to its original factory spec.

    The rationale for this was to avoid the unknown cost (potentially very expensive) of the exercise of trying to get the after-market system working and having to convert it all to run on modern R132 gas. Also, it isn't really needed in the Coupe, im my opinion. The very days one might need A/C are the very days when one would wish to take advantage of the pillarless design and enjoy opening all the side-windows and/or the sunroof!

    I also weighed the A/C components removed (fan, condensor, evaporator, A/C pump etc). It makes a weight-saving of massive 2 Stones and 9lbs and that would otherwise be an extra 2 stones 9lbs right where one doesn't really want it i.e in the nose of the car and most of it off to one side!

    This did however present a further problem:

    The dash heater controls and surround still had the three buttons (fully functional) present. Initially, it proved quite tricky to find a wood surround that incorporated slots for five switches above the heater controls but also without the three for the A/C switches.

    Five were needed as this car has an extra switch for the electric rear blind. Initially, I could only find one in the Zebrano wood pattern whereas this car has the Würzelholz pattern.

    So there was a mismatch above and below the stereo unit. However, I have subsequently been successful in sourcing an exact Würzelholz one with the correct number of apertures and so now all matches again! (see photos)

    The electrics and switches for the A/C are all still present and function behind this. Only the button tops to the switches have been removed to allow fitting of the wood trim and stored away.

    The components of the removed A/C system have been saved and stored (along with a brand new DIAVIA Evaporator that I bought) in case a new owner really had a burning desire to re-instate it.

    Finally, because of the removal of the A/C pump obviously a new and shorter engine Poly-belt was installed.

    GLASS

    Prior to me purchasing the car it had just had a brand new front windscreen installed so this is pristine with no chips, scratches or delamination (common).

    The rear screen does have a small amount of delamination around the bottom edges but this is almost ubiquitous on these Coupes. In fact, I have only ever seen one that didn't have this and that was on a car that had had a new rear screen fitted. On my car it is quite minimal but should mentioned.

    Passenger front side glass replaced as the existing one was badly scratched.

    Driver's side window seal replaced (secondhand) as the original one was badly distorted.

    All windows re-aligned. These were originally woefully out of alignment when I bought the car causing very unacceptable wind-noise and the windows were not closing properly.

    I actually paid a Mercedes Specialist to do this (it's on one of the bills at a cost of £80). But it wasn't done properly or to my satisfaction so I spent a further two days on painstaking adjustment myself (very tricky!). The result is that now the windows close properly and wind noise has been cut right down to a very acceptable level - even at high speed.

    Indeed,it is now less than on my W124 E320 Estate which obviously isn't even a pillarless design!

    (Whilst doing this I discovered that the thin plastic sheet inner lining on both doors was completely absent! I therefore made up my own out of much thicker quality sheeting before re-assembling the doors.)

    ELECTRICS/LIGHTS

  • New BOSCH Battery
  • Front Windscreen Wiper Mechanism overhauled and lubricated (was previously sticking halfway across the screen)
  • Wiper Relay replaced
  • Light Relay replaced
  • Passenger Seatbelt Butler/Presentor fixed (by auto-electrician, new microswitch required)
  • Nearly all dashboard bulbs replaced as nearly all were non-functioning
  • Constant Warning light on dash fixed and traced to mismatched rear licence-plate bulbs
  • Brand new front indicator lenses both sides (one side previously had a crack in it)
  • Headlamps removed and fully cleaned and wiper mechanisms checked and new wiper-blades installed.

    I.C.E

    When purchased the car came with an ugly, modern and cheap looking Sony head-unit. This has been replaced with a much more appropriate looking "Mercedes Audio 10" unit which looks the part, sounds good and allows CDs to be played.

    Once working it also became apparent that one of the original front speakers was torn/blown.

    These W124 original front 25W Blaupunkt speakers aren't great. They have now been replaced with a set of W124 specific Clarion 60W speakers which incorporate their own tweeter and sounds miles better!

    New Electric Aerial to replace the previously non-functioning and jammed (in the half up position) aerial.

    INTERIOR

    The leather seats and leather inserts in the doorcards have just been refurbished at Bepsoke Leathering (www.bespokeleathering.com) who have done a superb job and they look stunning! Please see photos.

    Brand new front centre armrest - so no sagging or cracking on the leather or piping as is common.

    Replaced driver's door electric plus memory seat switch (difficult to find and not cheap!). The previous owner had glued on the broken switches!

    Replaced missing headrest switch on passenger door.

    All Carpets thoroughly machine cleaned (please see the dirt that came out of them!)

    Fixed the function of the electric rear blind. This again proved quite a task as required rear headrest and parcel-shelf removal and re-installation. The rear headrests have a powerfold function. There are two variants of this...and this one has the more difficult!

    The internal spring in the rear blind rolling mechanism had lost its tension. It proved very complicated for me to fix it. But it now works perfectly!

    The rear parcel shelf was then thoroughly cleaned before re-installation.

    The car comes with two steering wheels (both of which I have now renovated). There is the orignal wheel and also a visually identical but very slightly thicker and smaller diameter one to suit preference.

    New ribbed-type Overmats.

    BODYWORK, PAINTWORK, TRIM, BADGES ETC

    Once the exhaust, rear differential, rear subframe, rear suspension and axle components had been removed £520 worth of welding repairs were carried out to the subframe mounting areas.

    This is one of the common areas of potentially serious corrosion on these cars. Indeed, if you are contemplating buying one of these here in the U.K and this hasn't been done there is a significant probability that this may be required now.

    This was then all re-undersealed before re-assembly.

    The underside of the rest of the car was then thoroughly cleaned, re-stonechip and repainted white.

    Replaced missing engine under-tray.

    Immediately prior to my purchase the car had had two new front wings fitted ( these are commonly rusted through from the inside outwards on W124s).

    Both sides of the car (above the lower 'Sacco' panels) and the bonnet had then been repainted to avoid colour mismatches.

    However, whilst the paint had been sprayed in sufficient thickness the final finish was not to my satisfaction. It appeared that not enough time had been spent on the final finishing stages. I therefore gave the car to the paintshop that I use to 'finish' the paintwork.

    As I knew this would require fairly aggressive initial stages, I wasn't confident to do this to a whole car myself even though I do a lot of machine detailing and paint correction myself normally.

    They resprayed the small panel at the boot entrance (as that had chips on it from stuff being loaded in and out of the boot).

    They then had two men spend 3 full days finishing the paintwork. Firstly, this involved hand-sanding the car with 1500 Grit. Then using 2000 and then 3000 on a DA sander before going to Autoglym 03B and Farecla G3 and G10.

    The result is now a smooth, orange-peel and swirl-free paintwork which I have finished off with S100 Wax.

    I removed all the bumpers, sill covers and Sacco panels. All was perfectly sound and rust-free underneath these. So they have been cleaned and treated with clear Waxoyl.

    The remove panels, sills and bumpers were all then thoroughly cleaned, primed and then repainted in original Sato Grey with the correct slightly matt/satin finish. Most of the holding clips were replaced with new.

    At the same time all chrome trims were removed and polished.

    With the front bumper off the old, scuffed black plastic insert was removed (Laborious! As the holding bolts at each end were rust in and I had to cut/gring them all out). A brand new inert was then installed.

    The chrome trims on this were also removed, polished and then re-installed.

    The rear bumper was repainted and the insert repainted with a special black plastic bumper paint as this was in good condition.

    The Front Grille removed and disassembled.

    A brand new front grille insert placed - to replace the cracked original- along with several new chrome strips to replace the bent and dented ones before polishing the chrome grille surround, reassembling and re-installation.

    New front number plate carrier

    The Side Mirrors were disassembled, rubbed down, masked off and repainted with satin black.

    Rear "300CE" badge moved from its incorrect position on the right-hand side of the boot to the correct left.

    Mercedes "Star" boot badge re-installed to its correct flush fitting with the contour of the boot (yes, even that was wrong before!).

    New number plates front and back.

    WHEELS AND TYRES



  • 5 x 15-Hole Alloy wheels fully professionally refurbished in Deutsche Silber finish
  • All wheelbolt heads polished
  • 4 x New Michelin Tyres
  • Tyres fitted and balanced

    SUMMARY

    As I hope can be seen by the above, this car has undergone a most extensive renovation. This has taken me two years. I'm sure there probably more that I've even forgotten!

    Notwithstanding the many hundreds of hours of effort I have spent working it myself the project has now also cost, in purely financial terms alone , a figure that is (even though I've now found it impossible to exactly calculate) well into 5 figures!

    There are many C124s out there for sale but I am fairly confident there won't be very many, if any, that are better or that come anywhere close to this one now for sale.

    As people who have visited and followed my website will know, I have renovated many cars over the years. This was probably my biggest, most difficult, most extensive and certainly the longest project.

    It is also my last!



    SORRY, THIS CAR HAS BEEN SOLD



    Numerous additional photographs here:

    CLICK HERE

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