This week I had a 10 hour “project” that I wanted to share, because of the cars all original beauty. This 1975 Mercedes Benz 450 SEL (W116 Chassis) is not widely considered a collectible due to their high production numbers, it is very uncommon to find them in the condition as this one. This car is in my opinion represents Mercedes Benz engineering at its finest. These cars were years ahead of comparable cars of this era in regards to performance and safety. I spent 3 hours under the hood refreshing an already fairly clean engine bay back to as close as it did back in 1975. Much of the original cosmoline was present, and all of the motors aluminum and stainless components needed gentle polishing (0000 steel wool) after carefully removing the cosmoline and cleaning all of the painted surfaces under the hood. I used some of Eastwood’s Engine black paint to touch-up where needed. Original signed paper antifreeze coolant tag installed in Germany in 1975 !!! Removed all of the vehicles carpeting and rear seat and thoroughly cleaned and treated all leather and carpeting prior to replacing. Used Meguairs APC diuted (20 : 1) on leather and treated with Colorplus Leather Softner. Carpet was thorough vacuumed shampooed and extracted. Look at the condition of the rubber pad under the gas and brake petal !!! The vinyl door skins were also cleaned with Meguiars aAPC (10:1) and then treated with Stoners Trim Shine then wiped down with a MF towel to a matte sheen. The exterior was gorgeous !!! I did a three step on the paint and waxed it with Collinite’s Marque d’ Elegance. The hardest part about detailing this exterior was removing compound splatter that was in every nock and cranny and under every piece of trim and emblem. Some “detailer” really did some rush job on here sometime ago. The paint was a red metallic known as Inca Red. All chrome was then hand polished with Mass Metal Polish and 0000 steel wool. I have only worked on this color once before on a 1976 SL, and it is gorgeous !!!
looks great, just great! What a classic too. I knew of someone who had an old Benz in that body style with a monster V-8 in it...it was a rare model. Your efforts under the hood especially are great.
Richy, That would be the 77-79 6.9. only 7830 of them were made, and of those 1816 were US spec. I know that car pretty well and previously owned a 78 model. That car sold for $40 -50K back in the late 70's. They have recently started to appreciate in value considerably based upon condition. P1et, I agree 100%. I had also owned a 73 450 SE a few years back, and the smaller European bumpers on that car looked so muck better.
