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350SLC owner from Australia G'day!
- tony66au
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Im Tony and I thought id add a little about myself.
I live in Country Victoria, Australia.
Im an Aussie of Dutch parents in my 50's
My first Mercedes was a 1990 W126 300SEL
After that I owned numerous Volvo's and I still own a handful including a few 740's, a V40T, a few 850's and an S90 Royal.
As well as the Volvo's I have collected numerous Mercedes and this is where my heart remains.
I currently own a D Jetronic W116 450SEL, 350SE.
I also have a K jet 450SE, a W116 280S
But the reason I am here is a present I bought for my Wife being a 1973 C107 350SLC.
The D jetronic system is something I am familiar with but the Body and suspension of the 107 is totally new to me and as I am restoring the old girl (The Car, not my wife) as close to a state of mechanical perfection as I can I came here.
Luckily the SLC has been Garaged most of its life so the firewalls and plenum are in great condition, The rest of the body needs attention and restoration to its original glory and this is where I will be seeking information.
I am fine with the Mechanical, Electrics etc having spent hundreds of hours on the other 2 D jet cars, I can weld well enough and work with sheet metal comfortably but its the rest that is all new to me.
Thank you for letting me join this group and I have added a few photos from when i bought the car.
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Cheers,
Tony
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- Rudiger
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Rudiger
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- tony66au
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The basic issues as I saw it where that it had a really bad paint job, redone at some point in 2k and in a Ford Colour.
The Wheels where terrible and cheap but I have spare Bundt's and the Car also came with the original Hubcaps if I wanted to return to Steel wheels.
There was Rust, many perished rubber hoses and Vac lines and the AAV was seized along with a general lack of quality service work.
But as an Anniversary present for my Wife it was great and She still loves this car today however now it is time to do justice to her and repair what needs repairing.
As she sat a few weeks ago when I started to explore what needed doing, although much of the body and paint issues are hidden under the quite thick mess of cheap paint the solvents used with the 2K paint has made everything underneath it quite soft including the Original factory colour and red primer so it all has to come off the car.
The Dark Grey sections are to temporarily seal the fresh metal from the weather.
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- Rudiger
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Have fun,
Rudiger
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- Dr-DJet
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welcome to Startime-107 (Sternzeit-107). You found the right place for 107 lovers and passionates! Thanks for your nice introduction from Australia.
I was always hoping that our website would be come more popular with English speaking 107 fans when I created the English 107 SL/SLC forum 1.5 years ago. So maybe with the help of Jim, Rudiger and you we will make my dream come true. So far I have translated a few of our famous technical articles to English. The next one is going to be released in 1.5 weeks about R107, W123 and W126 mon and duo valves.
And of course a double welcome with your D-Jetronic experience by Dr-DJet! I am sure you also know my other website jetronic.org with my D-Jetronic compendium.
Your car looks pretty original - if I ignore those modern rims. Antenna still on front left fender, piano player steering wheel. Great!
So be our guest and make English 107 SL/SLC forum as vivid as our German forum.
And while you are overhauling and welding the car: Please move the steering wheel to the left side, some funny guy must have mounted it wrongly.
Have a look at 107 manual, that is the nearly complete English workshop manual.
And one last question: We are collecting data cards that are not publically available in a database. So if you have one for your 1973 SLC (or even just the one from under your seat), please submit it to
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.
Viele Schraubergrüße - best regards, Volker, Admin und Betreiber dieser Webseite
Fast alles zu Zündung und Jetronic auf jetronic.org
Workshop Hzg/Klima 13.4 (ER), D-Jetronic 8.6. (F) & 20.7. (ER), K-Jetronic 29.6. (ER) & 31.8. (F)
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- Marcel
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a great warm welcome to our 107 forum. For sure there is a lot of work to be done with your SLC.
Most of the people around here at the Sternzeit 107 are infected with the 107 virus.
If there would be a leaflet to this forum, it would tell you that you have to be very carefully because its addictive.
Best regards to Down Under
Gruß Marcel
300 CE-24 Bj 7/90
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- tony66au
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I have a D-Jet 450SEL that has extensive front end chassis cracking due to very high mileage and I have borrowed the Bundts from Her to fit on the SLC, I have a full set of Hubcaps however and will at a later date source suitable wheels as I had issues with the Bundts on the rear not clearing the brake backing plates.
The Early 107 Steering wheel is currently removed and replaced with the Wheel from my 1977 450SE as the Horn buttons need refurbishing on the older style wheel.
I have now stripped the entire RH rear 1/4 panel and there is little in the way of Rust and the Sills seem fairly intact as is the Jack point tube and I am slowly stripping and revealing what needs repair and then resealing with Etch primer.
Yes there is Trim missing but that isnt a priority for me as I am concentrating on the Body, structure and mechanical.
I have been collecting parts as I find them mainly from US Vendors such as FCP, Autohaus and eEuroparts particularly D jet hoses, Body seals, Sunroof seals etc.
Driveline and steering components seem plentiful from the OEM suppliers and I have a D jet 350SE and 450SEL parts car for AAV's, MPS's and assorted D jet hard to find parts although Im told Bosch still does refurbishment in batches and im going to have the Manifold pressure sensor professionally refurbished at some stage.
The Car when finished will spend some time in Satin black while I ensure the Mechanical side is A1 and then she will get a good paint job but as you all know there is a lot of work involved in a period correct paint job so this will be last.
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- tony66au
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Yes there is a missing piece I didnt receive with the car, I was thinking of carefully modifying a piece of W116 Trim to suit but the profile im not sure is the same.
The car was badly disassembled for a bad paint job as well so the trim is half glued on and half correctly fitted so the whole lot comes off soon as I remove ALL the Paint, Spray filler and even the original Red primer as this has been damaged and made soft by the 2K solvent when the car was resprayed.
Many of the Mounting holes too are either rusty or damaged and I will order some more of the trim panel plugs and simply fit them in the holes for the time being.
The finer details will have to wait until last im afraid.
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- tony66au
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I am a Mercedes W116 tragic already owning in no order a 450 SEL, 450SE, 350SE, 280S and previously a 450SEL 6.9, 280SEL and my first ever Mercedes a W126 300SEL (1991) many years ago as well as an ill fated 230TE (124) which was the Family car for a while.
The SLC was in fact a Wedding Anniversary present to my Wife as thanks and to fill a wish she had to own an SLC but I spent more time driving it than She did and of course I get to repair and restore the old girl (The 107 not Jenna).
My Wife is one of those Rare Wives who encourage my Mercedes Fetish and will make endless coffee as well as come and get her hands dirty helping when needed and if I annoy her she will cruelly message me with Mercedes and Volvo's for sale often remarking "Oh look at this, Its so cheap and not far away!" knowing I have a hard time resisting a bargain car.............
Anyway, the sun is shining here on this lovely 25 degree Sunday afternoon and I have a Data card to find!
Is it ok for me to continue this thread in the Deutsche Welcome section or would it be better in the Englisch forum?
My Deutsche is rusty as is my Niederländisch but im happy in either.
die Grüße,
Tony
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- tony66au
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Bare metal on the LH Side now starting with the spots already exposed and bubbling.
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- tony66au
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This job took a while as someone had decided to use Sikkaflex instead of renewing the tail light and trim seals.
The lenses came out ok-ish but the alloy light bodies fought me as did the trim pieces...
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- MB350SLC
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welcome to the club! Great to see what you are up to with your 350 SLC. It's a nice early car! That body looks like nothing that's ever even come anywhere near a salty Northern European winter...
A RHD 350 SLC is a rather rare breed - would be interesting to find out how many are left! I also own one - a 1973 UK car.
In the UK, there are 25 left, and another 15 are SORN, Statutory Off Road Notice - ie they aren't taxed but haven't been scrapped.
That number plate is interesting! A quick google revealed that this is a special system of the Victoria Roads Authority?
Best regards from Switzerland ( I now have the car on Swiss plates, sometimes giving me funny looks as people wonder for a split-second where the driver is, with an empty left seat;)
Phil
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- Doodoo
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Viele Grüße
Andreas
Hubraum ist durch nichts zu ersetzen, ausser durch noch mehr Hubraum.
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- tony66au
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MB350SLC wrote: Hi Tony,
welcome to the club! Great to see what you are up to with your 350 SLC. It's a nice early car! That body looks like nothing that's ever even come anywhere near a salty Northern European winter...
A RHD 350 SLC is a rather rare breed - would be interesting to find out how many are left! I also own one - a 1973 UK car.
In the UK, there are 25 left, and another 15 are SORN, Statutory Off Road Notice - ie they aren't taxed but haven't been scrapped.
That number plate is interesting! A quick google revealed that this is a special system of the Victoria Roads Authority?
Best regards from Switzerland ( I now have the car on Swiss plates, sometimes giving me funny looks as people wonder for a split-second where the driver is, with an empty left seat;)
Phil
Thanks Phil,
Yes Victoria has a great Classic and Vintage Car permit system (CPS or Club permit System) where you can arrange a 45 or 90 day permit to drive the car for any reason so long as you dont charge for hire or make money from its use.
A 45 day permit is $73 AUD per year and a 90 is a bit under double that amount and it means that you see many of these days out on the roads on sunny days instead of being locked away.
To normally register the SLC for use in Australia would cost me in the region of $700 AUD so the CPS allows me to enjoy my W116's, Range Rover Classic (1983) and my SLC for half the cost of a single normal registration.
In most of Australia Insurance isnt mandatory so between $270 and $2000 for 3rd Party (Damage to other cars and property) or Comprehensive Insurance for everything.
Club Permit vehicles have the advantage of far cheaper Full insurance and my SLC was Insured for $12000 AUD plus salvage rights on the wreck for a mere $270 per year as it is rarely driven so the scheme is very good for Classic car owners.
The CPS system requires that the Car/Truck/Motorcycle is more than 25 years old (Date of Manufacture) and requires a roadworthy inspection and then you simply fill out some details in a Log book, Sign the entry and you can enjoy the vehicle from Midnight to Midnight as you would any car.
As for the SLC?
She was a very original Car when i bought her including the early Steering wheel and Stereo but at some point had some horrible AMG Hammer copy wheels fitted.
The original Steering wheel is currently packed away for refurbishment and I have a set of Bundt alloys on the old girl from one of my W116 S class parts cars until I can find suitable steel wheels to allow the use of the original hubcaps which came with the car.
The D jet system is aging badly and although i have a D jet 350SE (116) for spare parts as well as a 1974 450SEL (D Jet) with badly fractured sub frame and rear chassis cracking I suspect that the MPS unit in both parts cars will soon enough fail (Although the D jet 450 drove well last I enjoyed it).
I am currently researching a discreet ECU upgrade to Microsquirt or Haltech for reliability, Economy and for far greater tune options and I am also slowly building an OEM parts collection to do a full rebuild to either the 3.5 in the SLC or replace the 3.5 from the W116 350SE which is a 1973 model.
The 350SE is badly rusted in the sills, Plenum and floors but its unusual in so far as it has an Alloy skinned Boot and Bonnet (Hood) and I suspect the Roof (Turret) Skin is alloy as well so before I scrap her I need to make sure she isnt something special.
As for the existence of 350SLC's I believe it was only the RHD market that used the 350 on the 3.5's as the LHD 3.5's where named 450SL/C's?
Either way I haven't seen another 350 and even the 350SE and SEL are rare as i believe the Mercedes Importers in the early 70's may have held back on the 107 and W116 models until they cleared the W109's they had imported and looking at the numbers of 4.5 M117 powered S class on the roads in Australia from 1974 it was that year that the 107 gained attention in the Australian Market.
Price too will have played a part and i know my 1974 450SEL cost nearly $25 thousand dollars that year and for that sum you could buy 3 houses in Suburban Melbourne and have money left over to buy a Local produced Family car.
The price of Luxury cars was always inflated due to protection tariffs, Understandable as Aussie and English Cars where horrible in comparison and very slow to use European technology such as Disc brakes, Seat belts and Passenger Crumple Zones.
Astounding but it was the mid 1980's before 4 wheel disc brakes where common, Far later for side intrusion bars and anti spring door latches, ABS etc and even the humble 4 speed Automatic transmission was not common until the early 1990's as the Government protection of local Ford/GM-H/Toyota/Nissan and Chrysler made them lazy and greedy and I remember being amazed at the handling and braking quality of my old 1967 Renault 10 and the sure footed nature of my 142GT, 164 and later 265 Volvo's in the wet and even Snowy roads while Aussie Cars failed at the slightest Signs of snow and Ice and where really bad in heavy rain, Fog etc.
Even my First car A 1965 1300cc Volkswagen Beetle was far better in snow and ice than my Aussie cars where.
Economies of Scale basically meant that owning a 116 or 107 Mercedes Benz in 1970's Australia was a Status symbol similar to owning a Koenigsegg or McLaren today.
And after working on and repairing may Aussie and English cars over the years the European toys I collected where a delight in construction, design and function and made me truly appreciate the engineering pride and expertise in these Cars.
My Daily driver today is a 1989 Volvo 740 Estate with a bit over a Million Kilometers and it is still cheap, reliable and safe although i have a nice Topaz Brown 1977 450SE that will take over the Daily duties some time in the next few years.
Anyway, Im waffling lol
Regards, Tony.
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- MB350SLC
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great to hear your story about the SLC and the energy that went into it! Hope the project comes right.
There were 350 SLCs in Europe as well, it wasn't on offer for very long/hardly anyone ordered it after the 450 appeared.
The D-Jet issues sound only to familiar - have you checked out jetronic.org? Volker & crew have been super helpful to get my system running much better. The issue that you cant adjust anything - all components have to work! Volker redid my MPS for example.
I have a Zimbabwean friend in the UK who told me that the situation re Mercs in Zim was similar in the 70s and 80s - they were eyewateringly expensive. The farmers loved the 116s though - you just couldn't break them. Generally as there was little rust, lots of Pontons etc were still on the road in the 80s and 90s.
Good luck with extended car collection and keep us posted!
BR Phil
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