Hi all,
Regretfully, I have my 190 up for sale.
The car is a late (1993) example, with a quite low spec. (which I find strangely appealing!). 1.8 engine with manual box, electric front windows only (which have been retro fitted, the car had manual fronts originally), manual sunroof, front headrests only, and cloth trim. The only nods to luxury when first ordered are the taxi console, Blaupunkt Atlanta radio cassette and electric aerial. Being a 1993 model it does have ABS and drivers airbag however.
The car is fairly well known on the 190 owners forum having been owned by another forum member before me.
First, to get it out of the way. The car was in a low-speed accident in June this year. The car sustained damage to the nearside front wing, headlight/indicator, bumper and a small part of the bonnet above the headlight. The wing, bumper and headlight were replaced and the ns corner of the bonnet had some repair work done. There was no structural damage, or suspension or steering damage either. The main inner wing, chassis leg, etc were also unaffected. It is now all fitted up and repainted and lacquered, albeit by rattle cans for now, but still looks tidy and respectable. It was always my intention to get it into my local spray shop once Winter's out of the way. They quoted £200 or so to get the wing and bonnet back to 'factory' which I reckon the car deserves. The repairs were done out of my pocket, so has no insurance claim against it, no write off marker, etc.
Bodywork wise, apart from the aforementioned, it's pretty much a good 'un! No rust on any panel, a handful of small pin dents of the 'car door in supermarket' type. Front and rear arches are immaculate and the replacement front wing I used is as rust free as is possible to get, with soft wax still covering the inside. While the front was stripped for repair, it was noted the front inner wings, chassis leg fronts, bumper mounts, etc are quite superb, the best I've seen on one of these. The paint gleams although there are a number of light scratches, touched in chips and small scrapes, etc. Generally though, it looks well for a 20 year old car and compares well with more modern stuff.
Not forgetting the fact that it's Nutria brown. This is a lovely retro shade which only came on a handful of 190s in the 1993 model year. Pictures don't do it justice!
Engine runs well and sounds sweet enough. Oil pressure is especially healthy and under the oil cap is clean as a whistle. No sign of oil and water mixing anywhere. Cooling system was flushed and refilled with fresh coolant at the start of this year. Warms up quickly, never goes over 80 deg when driving and fan kicks in at 92 deg in traffic and cools it down as it should. The manual boxes on these cars have their critics , but I personally like them and the one on this car works as well as it should. The bonus is the 5 th gear makes for more relaxed cruising than with the 4 speed autobox. There is a slight bit of diff whine, but only slight, diff oil was changed earlier this year. The car sits on lowering springs (GSF 40mm by the look of it) but they don't seem to have hurt the ride all that much. A set of period looking AMG 15" replicas are also fitted.
Interior is in pretty good shape. No bolster wear on the cream cloth seats. There is a small pen mark on the rear seat (covered by the lap belt). Carpets are in good shape having had ribbed MB overmats from new (which are still in very good condition). What equipment there is works well, along with the original Blaupunkt, which is a lovely bit of kit.
Right, its a 21 year old car, so there are a few bad bits...
Like an idiot I flattened the battery last week. The battery is now fine, but I seem to have spiked the OVP relay as the ABS light is now on, and the car can take a while to start and idle when cold. A new relay has been located and will be all sorted before the car leaves.
While jacking the car up recently, I noticed that the offside front jacking point (the side jacking point that is used by the factory jack, hidden by the small square flap in the sill cover) has rusted. This is a small hole (about 4 inches wide max) going around the tube that the jack goes into. However the tube itself is unaffected and still strong enough to lift the car with. All invisible with the sill cover on, so doesn't need doing immediately. The usually rot-prone trolley jack points underneath are perfectly solid though, with the factory rubber protective bungs in place. The only other bodywork worry is there is a small trickle of water down one of the inner rear arch covers after a heavy downpour. Now the previous owner provided photos of the rear screen surround and shelf panel before I bought the car, and it is all solid, so most likely it just needs the rear screen seal replacing before it gets worse. (£32 for a new screen seal and a common fault on the 190)
The exhaust has had a slight rattle since I bought the car. The front pipe, cat and mid section were all brand new just before I bought it. It sounds like either a rattly heatshield or a loose baffle somewhere?
3 of the doorcards have lifted along the top edges, another common 190 niggle. The previous owner had attempted to fix them with some channel over the tops, which held them for a while, but they need something thicker to jam them into the window channels.
Hopefully this doesn't detract from what is still a fantastically reliable and lovely looking retro Merc in one of the 190s rarest colours. Car is on 125,000 miles. Not a lot in the way of service history, paper wise, apart from the book stamped up to 118,000, 20 stamps in all. The car had a thorough going over just before I got it, with reciepts.
As mentioned, the car is tested until February next year, but the tax runs out in February this year. I will be taxing the car anyway, so it will have six months on at the end of the month, or if you want the car earlier, I can come down on price accordingly. Either way, its ready to go and will go anywhere!
Price is £800 ovno, that'll be after I've taxed it for 6 months.
The car also comes with complete mechanisms and new winders to convert the front windows back to manual, along with a gearshift surround without window switch holes, if required as the car was originally specified with manual windows all round
Pics are a bit of a problem right now, laptop went 'phut!' just recently (great!) and can't upload pics on this phone.
Best I can do for now is put some links up, these show how the car looks at the moment, including the repaired front ns quarter,
img834.imageshack.us/img834/8651/wywv.jpg
img35.imageshack.us/img35/5889/yvym.jpg
img818.imageshack.us/img818/4357/wfsg.jpg
I can email more photos to any interested parties.
Car is in Middlesbrough, very near bus, rail and airport links. Any interest or enquiries, PM me or ring me on zero seven eight one three hundred nine eight two five.
Cheers all.
Regretfully, I have my 190 up for sale.
The car is a late (1993) example, with a quite low spec. (which I find strangely appealing!). 1.8 engine with manual box, electric front windows only (which have been retro fitted, the car had manual fronts originally), manual sunroof, front headrests only, and cloth trim. The only nods to luxury when first ordered are the taxi console, Blaupunkt Atlanta radio cassette and electric aerial. Being a 1993 model it does have ABS and drivers airbag however.
The car is fairly well known on the 190 owners forum having been owned by another forum member before me.
First, to get it out of the way. The car was in a low-speed accident in June this year. The car sustained damage to the nearside front wing, headlight/indicator, bumper and a small part of the bonnet above the headlight. The wing, bumper and headlight were replaced and the ns corner of the bonnet had some repair work done. There was no structural damage, or suspension or steering damage either. The main inner wing, chassis leg, etc were also unaffected. It is now all fitted up and repainted and lacquered, albeit by rattle cans for now, but still looks tidy and respectable. It was always my intention to get it into my local spray shop once Winter's out of the way. They quoted £200 or so to get the wing and bonnet back to 'factory' which I reckon the car deserves. The repairs were done out of my pocket, so has no insurance claim against it, no write off marker, etc.
Bodywork wise, apart from the aforementioned, it's pretty much a good 'un! No rust on any panel, a handful of small pin dents of the 'car door in supermarket' type. Front and rear arches are immaculate and the replacement front wing I used is as rust free as is possible to get, with soft wax still covering the inside. While the front was stripped for repair, it was noted the front inner wings, chassis leg fronts, bumper mounts, etc are quite superb, the best I've seen on one of these. The paint gleams although there are a number of light scratches, touched in chips and small scrapes, etc. Generally though, it looks well for a 20 year old car and compares well with more modern stuff.
Not forgetting the fact that it's Nutria brown. This is a lovely retro shade which only came on a handful of 190s in the 1993 model year. Pictures don't do it justice!
Engine runs well and sounds sweet enough. Oil pressure is especially healthy and under the oil cap is clean as a whistle. No sign of oil and water mixing anywhere. Cooling system was flushed and refilled with fresh coolant at the start of this year. Warms up quickly, never goes over 80 deg when driving and fan kicks in at 92 deg in traffic and cools it down as it should. The manual boxes on these cars have their critics , but I personally like them and the one on this car works as well as it should. The bonus is the 5 th gear makes for more relaxed cruising than with the 4 speed autobox. There is a slight bit of diff whine, but only slight, diff oil was changed earlier this year. The car sits on lowering springs (GSF 40mm by the look of it) but they don't seem to have hurt the ride all that much. A set of period looking AMG 15" replicas are also fitted.
Interior is in pretty good shape. No bolster wear on the cream cloth seats. There is a small pen mark on the rear seat (covered by the lap belt). Carpets are in good shape having had ribbed MB overmats from new (which are still in very good condition). What equipment there is works well, along with the original Blaupunkt, which is a lovely bit of kit.
Right, its a 21 year old car, so there are a few bad bits...
Like an idiot I flattened the battery last week. The battery is now fine, but I seem to have spiked the OVP relay as the ABS light is now on, and the car can take a while to start and idle when cold. A new relay has been located and will be all sorted before the car leaves.
While jacking the car up recently, I noticed that the offside front jacking point (the side jacking point that is used by the factory jack, hidden by the small square flap in the sill cover) has rusted. This is a small hole (about 4 inches wide max) going around the tube that the jack goes into. However the tube itself is unaffected and still strong enough to lift the car with. All invisible with the sill cover on, so doesn't need doing immediately. The usually rot-prone trolley jack points underneath are perfectly solid though, with the factory rubber protective bungs in place. The only other bodywork worry is there is a small trickle of water down one of the inner rear arch covers after a heavy downpour. Now the previous owner provided photos of the rear screen surround and shelf panel before I bought the car, and it is all solid, so most likely it just needs the rear screen seal replacing before it gets worse. (£32 for a new screen seal and a common fault on the 190)
The exhaust has had a slight rattle since I bought the car. The front pipe, cat and mid section were all brand new just before I bought it. It sounds like either a rattly heatshield or a loose baffle somewhere?
3 of the doorcards have lifted along the top edges, another common 190 niggle. The previous owner had attempted to fix them with some channel over the tops, which held them for a while, but they need something thicker to jam them into the window channels.
Hopefully this doesn't detract from what is still a fantastically reliable and lovely looking retro Merc in one of the 190s rarest colours. Car is on 125,000 miles. Not a lot in the way of service history, paper wise, apart from the book stamped up to 118,000, 20 stamps in all. The car had a thorough going over just before I got it, with reciepts.
As mentioned, the car is tested until February next year, but the tax runs out in February this year. I will be taxing the car anyway, so it will have six months on at the end of the month, or if you want the car earlier, I can come down on price accordingly. Either way, its ready to go and will go anywhere!
Price is £800 ovno, that'll be after I've taxed it for 6 months.
The car also comes with complete mechanisms and new winders to convert the front windows back to manual, along with a gearshift surround without window switch holes, if required as the car was originally specified with manual windows all round
Pics are a bit of a problem right now, laptop went 'phut!' just recently (great!) and can't upload pics on this phone.
Best I can do for now is put some links up, these show how the car looks at the moment, including the repaired front ns quarter,
img834.imageshack.us/img834/8651/wywv.jpg
img35.imageshack.us/img35/5889/yvym.jpg
img818.imageshack.us/img818/4357/wfsg.jpg
I can email more photos to any interested parties.
Car is in Middlesbrough, very near bus, rail and airport links. Any interest or enquiries, PM me or ring me on zero seven eight one three hundred nine eight two five.
Cheers all.
