Talking about the 300SE Sedan that Patrick found. I can add a fair bit more to this post as I did own the 1966 300SE Lang version ! It might constitute a good yarn talking about this car and the one I used to own. More later. However, at one stage and some years ago, rumour had it that there was only one Lang example registered for road use in Germany. Regards Styria
N.B. In addition, Craig S. would be the perfect person to talk about restoration of the 300 engine, as found in the Adenauer versions, and also the 300SL (about 1961), the Gullwing and the various versions of the Heck tail 300s built between 1962 and 1966.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay, as I have already said, I did own the 1966 300SE "Lang" version for about seven years and 100,000 miles. It was a great family car, with a huge boot (as in all Finnie models), self levelling suspension and a "noisy engine" on account of its all Alloy construction, but as speeds would build up, so disappeared that noisy engine. It was not an easy car to work on, as evidenced by the picture hereunder of one of Carl Middlehauve's cars that's gone through his hands.
https://www.mbgrand600.com/vin9479-1967-300se-coupe
This picture clearly illustrates just some of the complexities of the engine -apart from some very minor changes (LHD vs. RHD) what you see is what I had in my car. A major bugbear - that huge York Air Con Compressor that just so successfully restricts access to the Generator, and also the Water Pump that sits at the side of the engine block and is driven by a flexible coupling connected to said Generator- the fitting of the last named - very unique in that it abuts against a cradle bolted to the block, and a metal band then secures the Generator to the cradle. The Generator is huge - Mercedes probably had the same arrangement on its trucks in the fifties.
Also, the Starter Motor was very unique to this model (the M189 engine range) and I vividly recall the cost of reconditioning a unit back in the latish '70s - a cool $1300.00 which was a lot of money then - well, even today. A feature of the Engine related to the head - all flat, with expansion chambers provided by specially machined "concave" pistons. It was all a work of art, almost. Another feature was a hydraulic, engine oil filled cooling fan boss that would only come in when the engine oil attained certain temperatures. One of abl 567 friends owns a later model (CH. 109) which is just about a younger brother to my "Lang" version. Very rare, but I wonder how long it will take his friend to restore the car. An onerous task not lightly undertaken.
Another issue always of concern relates to the engine down pipes. I think it relates to all 6cylinder models of that era. In order to remove it, one need to move it towards the front of the car to be able to disengage the whole exhaust system from the exhaust manifolds. In those days MB used to slip joint connections. I had similar on my Gleaming Beauty (6.9) but one of my first jobs when acquiring the car was to fit flanges between front and rear mufflers, and further flanges securing the front exhaust pipes to the engine down pipes. Anyway, have a good look at Carl's details - his website is full of absolutely precious information and photos. Regards Styria
N.B. BTW, it had a five core Behr Radiator !
