Normally, when a W116 Mercedes appears for sale, it is either a lower-tier model with huge miles or a restored 6.9L car that’s going for all the money. We don’t often feature a lower-spec edition like this 280 S that wears under 100,000 miles and looks nicely preserved, right down to its California blue plates. Find this 1974 model here on craigslist for $5,500.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader j liu for the find. One of the real tragedies of the 1970s was the awful “park bench” bumpers cars of all varieties were forced to wear in order to meet strict crash test requirements, and their appearance is sadly noted here. The good news is the slimmer European bumpers are still possible to find and a very worthwhile upgrade.
In addition to a handsome body, this 280 S shows a very nice interior, with hardly any signs of wear in typical Mercedes fashion. What’s always amazing is how good the interiors look on cars with huge mileage; then, you see a car like this with 90K and the cabin still looks damn near new with beautiful wood trim and thick carpeting.
The headliner and backseats continue the theme, and there’s little to fault inside the car. The seller notes the presence of some rust, but calls it minimal and doesn’t include any photos. The W116 cars are a great choice for a starter classic car, and plenty of spares (like these Barn Finds Exclusive Mercedes parts cars) will help keep preserved examples like this one on the road.
As a car fan and classic collector back in 2015 I bought very original black ext with tan interior 79 450 SEL 6.9 had 59K miles now has 61K its a beauty with all documentation and manuals . I paid 38K back in 2015 and Not for sale these are Very Rare machines ! just sharing love for hobby.
Nice! I wonder what $ they’d ask if it was a 4-speed manual?
I don’t know why the bumpers are always talked about.
I bet there are a lot of older cars still on the street because the bumper saved the rear body work from getting damaged, which would have totaled the car.
I personaly like the larger bumpers on my 6.9 I agree they do protect the vehicle better in minor accidents !
Summer 1978. My Dad picked me up from work in his 77 Grand Marquis. Absent-mindedly, he put the car in reverse instead of park when getting out to let me drive. The car started rolling back at a brisk walking speed, and slammed into a 1976 Cougar. The Cougar driver slammed on the brakes but his car was still moving at a brisk pace. Gotta love those FoMoCo “battering ram” bumpers. Neither car had any damage whatsoever. If this should happen with modern new cars, both would likely be written off as the insurance company would access the damage exceeding the value of the cars.
The new cars have ZERO protection. A minor collision at 4 or 5 miles per hour results in thousands of dollars of damage. I am of the age where I remember the 1970s cars, and despite the “malaise era” label these cars have, I like the styling of that time period.
Reminds me of my mom’s ’77 280SE she had 20 years ago. And I miss the days of bumpers that actually protected the car, regardless of the looks.
Great price but those bumpers would have to go.
I like it ..
Awesome looking Mercedes-Benz! I’ve always loved low mileage (or even low kilometre) cars. Assuming the mileage is correct, and the car is still driveable, I hope whoever purchases the car enjoys it and cares for it.
I think this is a gray market car. I don’t believe they imported these to dealers. I had a 1977 280 SLC that needed a lot of mods to get thru customs. That straight six, is a fine motor.
Nearly all blue interior, but a big black rubber steering wheel. mercedes never got the idea that color matching does wonders for impressions. Not that it matters; the rest of interior looks pretty cheap too.
Nice looking W116. I owned a 1976 Euro version 280SE, M110 6 cyl. double overhead cam (with D-Jetronic fuel injection) for over 32 years! What a great car it was. This one is a most likely a U.S. version, with the same engine, but with a carburetor that produces less power. This is an engine that likes to rev. No rust is evident, being from CA it should not have any, but under chassis pictures would help since these did rust especially in the lower fire wall area ultimately compromising the frame and support structures for front suspension. Rockers and rear quarters should also be looked at.
I almost bought this car in September 2017, when it was for sale by the son of the second owner, an older woman who no longer drove it. At the time, it was heavily decorated with hundreds of seashells hot-glued to the roof and trunk (luckily they were easily removable), as well as a mermaid mannequin in the passenger seat, a “shellphone,” and vanity plates that said “MRRMADI” (I’m not sure what it was trying to spell out, but the owner had donned it “the Mermaides-Bends”).
It was a questionable creative choice for sure, but it kind of made sense knowing that the car was in Carmel-By-The-Sea and that the owner was a bit of an eccentric artist herself. Still, I was willing to look past it all so long as the car was in good mechanical and cosmetic shape, and that the modifications could easily be reversed.
The car was listed for $4900 (above my budget at the time), but the seller told me that the price was negotiable. I went with my mechanic to take a look at it, and despite being in great shape for a 42-year-old car and only having 94,500 miles, it had a couple of major problems I couldn’t overlook (that didn’t involve seashells).
For one, the carburetor had been replaced with a Holley unit but hadn’t been tuned right. Apparently, the seller’s mechanic couldn’t get it to work correctly, and the seller was tired of trying to deal with it (already a red flag). These 280S models were underpowered from the factory (the smallest motor in the biggest body), choked down further by emissions regulations, and were known to have problematic carburetors (it was the only carbureted W116 model). This one was no exception.
The car drove like it had a cold. It ran rough and could hardly get past 20 miles per hour. We only drove it around the block before bringing it back to the seller’s house.
The second big issue was rust. Even though the car cosmetically looked good from a distance, there was plenty of hidden rust under the hood. The entire radiator support had succumbed to it, as well as the metal behind the front bumper and under the grille. Even in these pictures, you can see it seeping from under the headlights.
That was it for me. I knew the car had potential, but I wasn’t looking for a project car; I wanted the reliability and durability that were more associated with diesel Mercedes-Benzes of the era, which is what I ended up buying a week later (a 1984 300SD).
I thanked the seller for his time, who had been courteous, hospitable, and an all-around standup guy. He had even offered to use his own Hagerty auto insurance plan to have the car towed to my house, which was an hour and a half away. But his persistence in selling me the car while talking the price down all by himself (first to $2,000 and then finally to an implication of giving it to me for free in exchange for consulting work) signaled to me that this was not a car I would want to own.
A few months later, it ended up at Dodi’s Auto Sales with its original blue California license plates, sans the nautical theme. They incorrectly listed it as a 1974 model (it was a 1975, and the plate sequence and smog history reflected this). It sat unsold for several months or even years, if I’m not mistaken. Even without the seashells, this car was a hard shell—I mean, sell.
Regardless, I hope it went to a good home. It was smog exempt and definitely savable by the right owner.