Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[ChrisD]

I wonder how many of the members here drive a classic as their daily car?
I do and here it is. A 1971 Mercedes W108 - the perfect antidote to modern driving.....for my needs anyway.

A large, stylish saloon that can seat 5 in comfort with all their luggage. It has factory disc brakes all round, power steering, a good heater and is built like a tank.
Here's the best part though - its incredibly cheap to run for the following reasons:
Tax exempt and very cheap insurance naturally, but it also runs on vegetable oil!

How so? Well, out came the 2.8 petrol that guzzled ridiculously expensive petrol at a frightening rate and in went a 3L diesel from a slightly later Merc W123. Its a shame they never made these cars with diesel from the factory.

The engine has electric injector heaters and a water heated fuel pipe but that's it - I just pour Tesco's finest straight into the tank! These engines are among the most suitable for running on oil, but that's a whole topic in itself I won't go into here.

MPG is around 30 and fresh oil can be had for below £1/L . It can be had free if you put the time in to collect and filter used stuff from chippys etc. It'll easily cruise with modern traffic all day on a motorway or anywhere else.

Importantly for daily use, its very reliable. These engines are known for covering huge mileages with little maintenance. Heavy cast iron construction, mechanical injection and no ignition system to go wrong all help.

I know from another thread that modifications are a controvertial topic, but the engine swap could be reversed, its still the same marque's engine and from nearly the same era. If you weren't a Merc expert, you wouldn't know.

My only concern really is rust, but the car has been cavity injected and stone-chipped underneath.

Every trip brings a smile to my face!

[welshrover]

nice car , a lot nicer than the modern plastic mercs .when you bought one of those you got your moneys worth .
me and my wife drive classics every day i drive a 63 morris oxford and my wife drives a 65 hillman minx deluxe .

[Rick]

That's a very neat conversion, someone I know vaguely through a friend was going to set up his own chip oil recycling plant on a farm. Despite his operation looking very impressive with huge containers all plumbed in together, I'm not sure if he actually ever got it going properly.

RJ
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[clan chieftain]

nice Merc..nice Minx...nice Oxford....I keep mine on the road but dont use it much in the winter because of the road salt.
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The Clan Chieftain

[ukdave2002]

[colwyn500]

So Dave, does that mean I can use Diesel in my central heating tank? Think of all the Tesco points I will get

[ukdave2002]

[welshrover]

a lad in our village put heating oil in his shogun last year ,it did 200 odd miles and it was buggered ,damaged the injector pump and damaged 2 pistons .

[ChrisD]

Yes, older diesels will run on heating oil, but sadly its illegal unless duty is paid. Cooking oil is perfectly legal though.

I won't go into it in depth, but I'm a long term member of the vegoildiesel community too.

You have to be selective about which engines will run oil. Modern cars will fail in very short order - another reason to drive a classic diesel! Also avoid anything a bit older with a Lucas pump.

These Mercs are particularly good on oil because they have indirect injection into a pre-chamber, bullet-proof mechanical suction pump and a crankshaft operated injection system that looks like its been hewn from solid iron!

I personally have never heard of a single Merc engine failure, but even if it did I've saved quite a bit more than the purchase price of the whole car on fuel alone in 5 years!

[roverdriver]

I am retired so I don't need to drive daily, however we have three cars on full license (registration) that are used on a regular basis.






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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[ChrisD]

Very nice Hillmans and Rovers.

Ah, to be in Oz right now, I can only dream!
Here its heavy rain and floods, gales and now freezing weather with mountains of corrosive salt all over the roads. Two of my classics won't see the road again until spring, but the Merc soldiers on....