AAB-007 lives on!

[Tony66_au]

Last Tuesday was an interesting day but the highlight was picking up Alex's 450SEL aka AAB007 and driving her home.

For those of you not familiar with the car she is a metallic light green 1974 450SEL with an olive green interior and over the last few days I've crawled over her checking her out for issues and I've decided she will go on club registration for a year while I sort out a few niggles.

I must say though that the car is a credit to Alex and has over 600'000 km on the clock and yet still drove very nicely the nearly 200 km trip home.

Piccies to follow.

Tony

 

[AAB]

Tony,

You are far too kind,.. but thanks for the praise anyway.

I forgot to show you an electrical switch that is left of the radiator as you look in, & it is there so that you can jolt the starter ( even start it up in gear !! ), when adjusting the points.

The plates are now on the 300SEL.

Great cars the 450's.

Regards,

Alex

 

[Tony66_au]

Thanks Alex,

I spotted the remote starter cables but didn't follow it back to a switch but its a brilliant idea!

I think its very important to not let these old girls sit idle hence the club reg which means I can do a few school runs to keep the fluids circulating and the seals wet.

Tony

 

[Tony66_au]

BTW I guess id best rename the old girl eh?

Suggestions gents?

 

[Styria]

BTW I guess id best rename the old girl eh?

Suggestions gents?

Starlet ? Really, the old brain is not working too well this morning - as witnessed by my suggestion ! Regards Styria

N.B.. BTW Tony, other than "crawling all over the car", what else are you doing with the car - I mean, at 600K. she should be just run in !

 

[Tony66_au]

Well she has a few spots of rust that need a look in including 2 of concern on the front inside corners of the sunroof (On the inside), there are also a number of gouges in the paint work that need repair.

I had a quick look at the repair that Alex did to the cross member and its solid as a rock and in the right spot but I need to get the old girl in the air and hoist her skirts to make a final call on the work done but as she drives well so if it comes out ok I'll hit it with body shutz to hide the work and leave it.

She also idles fairly high at around the 1600 RPM mark although it drops 200 when warm but this has caused a rumble in the transmission when in drive with your foot on the brake and cant be good for the rest of the driveline so it has to be rectified. I suspect that the rumble is torque converter related and its probably broken a few vanes inside. (I hope)

I need to learn about D jet as my other 450 is a K jet car.

The front seats are in reasonable condition and will get a feed as will the back seats but sadly they have a few cracks all the way through.

Sunroof is flawless mechanically, Central locking is flawless and locks the boot and fuel flap (Jealous yet?), AC and fan are good and the heat works well too.

Cracks in the dash and she needs a new screen.

I drove her on a friends trade plate for 2 days over the weekend as a shakedown and as she is far better than my 450SE she now gets my immediate attention and will go on a 90 day historic club reg under the new system in Victoria after which I will place her on full Vic reg if there are no unforeseen difficulties.

Basically Id like to make her my daily driver.

Other issues are a slight timing chain noise, Tacho faulty and clock very noisy and non functional plus the rear windows need a looking at probably from lack of use.

I'm also toying with adding a set of arch trims in chrome or polished stainless, The wheels are painted and I was toying with returning them to their original silver but then there is the brake dust issue so they are staying as they are as a newly appreciated stroke of genius.

Ive also given her a vacuum as well as a wipe of all hard surfaces with a light wool wash and water mix.

As for Starlet? Rhymes with Harlot so that's off the table lol but as she reminds me a bit of Rita Hayworth I may end up finding something suitable there.

I firmly believe that most cars are female in personality so something vampish, large and leatherbound springs to mind.

Tony

 

[Tony66_au]

Tall and leather bound with a slight Teutonic sternness, hmmm Miss Victoria.

Ok those piccies as promised earlier, just a quick handfull of shots with a happy snap for the time being.
I'll do a bit better and use the SLR when she has been cleaned up.

 

[Tony66_au]

The interior is olive green and initially I wasn't sure about the colour but I've come to appreciate the scheme and how it fits in.

 

[Tony66_au]

And the final 2

For those of you who appreciate a big bum.........

 

[Tony66_au]

Finally a Pic of Miss Pippa, Guardian of the Benz.

 

[450SE]

As for Starlet? Rhymes with Harlot so that's off the table lol but as she reminds me a bit of Rita Hayworth I may end up finding something suitable there.
I firmly believe that most cars are female in personality so something vampish, large and leatherbound springs to mind.
Tony

Two names spring to mind:
Mae (as in West)
Blanche (as in Deveraux - from the Golden Girls)

 

[Tony66_au]

Two names spring to mind:
Mae (as in West)
Blanche (as in Deveraux - from the Golden Girls)

Hmmm Mae West works but as much as I enjoyed Golden Girls I couldn't call her Blanche.

The funniest thought crossed my mind this morning over coffee, Considering I've now sold almost all of my Jaguar related bits and pieces in favour of concentrating on Mercedes Benz the name of a fictional German seductress by name of Lili von Shtupp sprang to mind.

For those of you not familiar with Lili or Blazing Saddles she was a Dietrich pisstake/clone played by Madeleine Kahn.

And id bet that Mae West was part of the inspiration along with Marlene Dietrich.

 

[450SE]

Lilly rocks! It's twue!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-pmpgrYQgs
2:55 would have been inspired by Miss West - one of her more famous quotes adjusted to suit the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v0OLW3Qhc8
Favourite 20 second grab from the movie, right there.

 

[SEL_69L]

That milan brown w116 looks rather familiar to me; I may have driven it! Is it a 6.9? Did it come from Sydney or Adelaide?

 

[Tony66_au]

That milan brown w116 looks rather familiar to me; I may have driven it! Is it a 6.9? Did it come from Sydney or Adelaide?

Sadly its a 450SE, just your run of the mill 4.5 M117.

I should also point out that my digi happy snap isn't always accurate with colour and she is Topaz as far as I know.

She hails from the Western District in Victoria most recently Horsham and there are many more detailed pics in a thread I started just for her.

 

[Tony66_au]

Lilly rocks! It's twue!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-pmpgrYQgs
2:55 would have been inspired by Miss West - one of her more famous quotes adjusted to suit the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v0OLW3Qhc8
Favourite 20 second grab from the movie, right there.

Twuely suited to her name I christened her Lili Von Shtupp today and then spent an hour explaining to my Wife and my older kids the significance of the name followed by a special screening on DVD while I went and dug my Range Rover out of the front paddock (Buried to her sills in a soak for 7 months) and came in just in time to try and explain the Yiddish speaking Indian chief on the second screening.

Its been a good day.

 

[Styria]

Judging by the first video, Tony, AAB007 has a lot to live up to. As she says, everything below is kaputt - I hope that is not the case with the Silver Green 450. Thanks for the light hearted moment. Regards Styria

 

[Tony66_au]

Im probably a bit weird when it comes to my happy to work with criteria when it comes to old cars and number 1 on my list is provenance and low number of owners, and as Lili is not as Shtupped as one might think and because she has been owned by Alex for a long time I thought she deserves to live on.

Part of it is emotional and i become very attached to my cars and tend to see this in other owners whether its there or not and the drive home certainly was a great way to find any niggles which is why I refer to them as a "shakedown".

My 450SE did far better than I thought she would on the trip from Horsham leaving at 6pm and travelling some very ordinary roads at highway speeds with no sound other than the engine a few hours after having a working starter fitted and mechanically she is in better condition than Lili but she has an MB tex interior and the colours are blah so I didn't quickly form a strong bond and although I love the Poo Barge (I couldnt think of anything better than what my 14 year old son christened the car) and drove it for a few months before the issues surfaced I wanted a second 450 so Jenn and I could travel in convoy and comfort in 450's instead of a 450 and a 230TE which looks like a poor cousin next to its older brethren.

Now the Silver green SEL drove nicely although it has an obstruction stopping more than 1/3rd throttle, Idles high and has a driveline rumble in gear when stopped due to high idle, but she also does very nicely at highway speeds, handles and stops well and has had a lot of care and attention in Alex's hands.

Structurally she is also well up to snuff and she demonstrated this during the run home and everything works.

So she gets to live on as a club car with me taking full advantage of a 90 day per year permit and possibly at a later date returning to full Vic reg.

Alles is goot as my Dad used to say.

Tony

 

[AAB]

Tony,

Great to see the old girl has a good home.

Those dreadful blue seats were leftovers from the 450SEL wrecker I bought a few years ago, but they were covered by the black seat covers, ( thank the almighty !! ).

The original green of my 450 was apparently a popular colour combination for Sydney delivered cars, as my car was.

The original driver's seat was ruined by trouser hip pocket buttons, & henceforth, all of my trousers are sans hip pocket buttons,.including the new pair that I bought yesterday.

Keep up the good work,

Regards,

Alex

 

[Tony66_au]

They will be recovered some time soonish Alex but Ive got to get some food into the leather first and as Jenna is horsey she gets the job.

I agree re buttons, keychains and mobile phone holsters and usually vet anyone who climbs into my cars beforehand but they usually know better.

So was the respray in the original colour or is it a similar colour?