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A Classic Adventure Begins

A Classic Adventure Begins

Posted by Shane Teskey on 7 January 2011 in Specialist Cars & Clubs

Earlier this year I accomplished the near impossible feat of selling my 07 Range Rover Sport and to be honest I thought I’d miss it more. Granted it was a lovely car to drive and handled great for a 4 x 4 but the expense of keeping up with insurance payments, road tax and a bottomless fuel tank was drawing a lot of negative attention on the domestic front!

Thanks to the guys at FleetFirst for the very generous loan of a BMW 320 I had plenty of time to ponder over what to go for next.

You’d think that being in the motor industry I’d know exactly what I wanted and yes I did have a number of pre-requisites but having consulted with the rest of the family (mistake number 1) the list grew to include;

New (none of us wanted any servicing / reliability issues for a while)
Competitively priced (under 30k),
Cheap to tax (Band B maximum)
Economic on Fuel (Preferably Diesel)
Reliable
Big & Safe enough to cater for 2 child seats
Attractive to the eye (something I could enjoy polishing on a Sunday)
Gadget Rich (Climate Control, iPod connection, Bluetooth, etc.)

So having agreed all of the above you can imagine how popular I was when I went out and bought a 1973 Mercedes Benz 280CE (known to enthusiasts as a W114).

Nice Profile

It all started when my brother sent a frantic text message one Tuesday afternoon telling me ‘there’s a lovely Merc going for a song on eBay’. So in an effort to recapture some of my youth (Dad had one of these in a saloon version for a year or so when we were kids) I got a bit carried away and duly bid on, and ‘won’, what was described as a ‘good restoration project’.

The fact that it was 5 hours away from the nearest ferry port in Wales was a difficulty I delegated back to my brother. I had bigger problems.

Like Jack coming home with a couple of magic beans I had to sell this one hard…….When you think about it though – it does tick most of the boxes.

New – OK it wasn’t new new but it is new to me right?
Competitively Priced – A bargain at €1,500.
Cheap to tax – As it’s officially a classic car it’s only €50 per annum.
Economic on Fuel – Next question please
Reliable – TBC
Big & Safe – It’s big enough to cater for the 2 child seats and as I won’t be driving at speed of course it will be safe
Attractive – Just wait till it’s finished (a whole other blog post)
Gadget Rich – Yep. Fully equipped with an FM Radio

As you can imagine. Things were a bit, em, quiet at home for a while after that….

Fulfilling his obligations the brother dutifully flew over to meet the seller and having drove, pushed and eventually towed it home (thanks AXA!) we finally had a chance to appraise my ‘winning item’ in person.

Restorable?

This is where things got a little hairy. I asked Ben at Lichtenberg Classics.ie if he’d take a look for me. Peering over his shoulder during the inspection things went from bad to worse as his screwdriver poked holes in places that no self respecting Mercedes would want any screwdriver to go.

A work in progress

The prognosis wasn’t good. With an ‘open cheque book’ required to complete a proper restoration Ben declared my pride and joy an economic write off (ironic given what the day job is) and helpfully suggested that it may work well as a donor car. Not the result I wanted and to be honest not one I felt like accepting. The car had grown on me and having shown it to my little girl (who’s since long forgotten about it) I was determined to give it a new lease of life.

So having buoyed myself up with an extended session of ‘Overhaulin’ and ‘Wheeler Dealers’ on Sky, I decided to approach a family friend in Donegal who runs his own small bodyshop. Thankfully I managed to persuade him to take it on as a project and after 3 months and a lot of work most of the body restoration is done. Thanks Jim!

I hope to have it home soon and after its had a good ’seeing to’ by a local mechanic, fingers crossed this cars journey will continue.

12 comments so far

Michael Aherne

January 7, 2011 at 4:57 pm #

Brave or Foolish ? .. Time will tell.

Shane Teskey

January 7, 2011 at 8:44 pm #

Hi Michael, so far so good but I take your point. It’s certainly not going to be the everyday runaround but for Sunday drives in the country I can’t think of anything better.

I’m still considering options for the day to day car but more about that later…..

Les

January 10, 2011 at 12:25 pm #

I’d love to see the look on your wife’s face when the 73 280 landed in the drive. Tasty bill once finished? As for day to day driving I have to say the most reliable & light on fuel car I’ve ever had the pleasure of driving was a 01 2litre diesel avensis.
Great post :}
Les

Aidan Finn

January 12, 2011 at 8:43 am #

Hi Shane,
I have a full range f new Skoda’s down here that tick all of your boxes. As the newest dealership in town, Pilsen Auto could do with the biz too! I hope you had a pleasant Chrsitmas break and Happy New Year to you.
Regards,
Aidan.

Shane Teskey

January 12, 2011 at 9:23 am #

Thanks Aidan I’ll be sure to check out the range. I’ve heard some great things about the Skoda line up this year.

Gareth O'Neill

January 13, 2011 at 5:16 pm #

You’re living the dream. Wish I had the time and the brass neck to bring home a w123 280e. I’d say I might as well set up home in it. Don’t let em grind you down. Enjoy.

Shane Teskey

January 13, 2011 at 8:35 pm #

Thanks Gareth. Still trying to accumulate brownie points at the moment but the end is nigh!

John

January 13, 2011 at 9:46 pm #

Hi Shane,

You’re a gas man! I thought that having a bike that drinks juice, doesn’t go around corners very well and looks nice after a sunday polish would have been enough, but oh no, you have to go and buy a matching car!!

Best regards

John

Shane Teskey

January 13, 2011 at 10:36 pm #

i was wondering how long it would be before you took the mick!

About the author

Managing Director at Motorcheck.ie and Benchmark Fleet Services Ltd.

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