A gas engined Mercedes 250se with over 1-million miles

[MarrsCars]

Here's an article I wrote and posted up today. It features a lovely car similar to my own but with one big difference, approximately 10x the mileage! Some of you may know that high mileage on German cars is a badge of honor for their owners (literally and figuratively) and that must make Ben Clopot one of the most honorable Benz guys out there.

Enjoy folks!

Million Mile 250SE Coupe is SoCal Owner's Daily Driver

[Dandy Dave]

Nice. Back here in the not so great North East they rust away from Saltitis way before they quite running. Dandy Dave!

[Rusty_OToole]

Shows that if you have a good car and maintain it by the book, it will give reliable service for a long time. The California climate doesn't hurt.

Most impressive is the appearance of the car. Wonder how much of the maintenance is for dent repairs and detailing.

$88,000 in upkeep for 1,000,000 miles = 8.8 cents per mile.

[MarrsCars]

$88,000 in upkeep for 1,000,000 miles = 8.8 cents per mile.

Actually even less per mile cost, the car actually has just over 1,280,000 miles today!

greed, classics can become almost "free" cars if you drive them enough (and can trick yourself with the math into believing that as I have). My car is very similar to this one, but a 220 instead of a 250, and I'll say I sure don't mind the cost per mile for one of these cars even tho I'm at around 23-cents per on my own.

Just gave me an idea for a thread!

[Bleach]

It took 2 bottom end rebuilds along with 4 top ends to get as far as it did. That's not really that impressive for a Mercedes, gasoline models included. The bottom ends are quite robust on most of their engines. I believe Mercedes has the most vehicles making it to over a million miles. Their engines were designed and built with precision and tolerances seldom seen anywhere else. Few engine builders are capable of remanufacturing a Mercedes engine to factory specifications. These remanufactured engines are very expensive as a result.

I've owned 4 Mercedes autos over the years, 3 diesels and 1 gasoline model, all early to mid 80's W123's and one W124. The engines just seem to keep going and going with regular maintenance. It's everything else that ends up needing attention and end up nickle and dime-ing you to death. The cars themselves feel very tired and worn out by the time you reach 200K miles. By then the steering is sloppy, the seats springs are breaking, trim is crumbling and the windows leak. Cruise and climate controls of the 70's and 80's was horrible.

The W111 in contrast was a fairly simple and a well built model but was not immune to wear and tear like its successors. I've worked on a W111 before and it takes particular care, skill and tools to get things done right.

[Rusty_OToole]

I think Volvo has the highest number of really high mileage cars although Mercedes may be up there. Some American cars of the past were very strongly built and could have set records but were usually done in by changing fashion and neglect. Very seldom do you see an American car that was maintained by the book, that wore out before it rusted out.

[MarrsCars]

It took 2 bottom end rebuilds along with 4 top ends to get as far as it did. That's not really that impressive for a Mercedes, gasoline models included. The bottom ends are quite robust on most of their engines. I believe Mercedes has the most vehicles making it to over a million miles. Their engines were designed and built with precision and tolerances seldom seen anywhere else. Few engine builders are capable of remanufacturing a Mercedes engine to factory specifications. These remanufactured engines are very expensive as a result.

I've owned 4 Mercedes autos over the years, 3 diesels and 1 gasoline model, all early to mid 80's W123's and one W124. The engines just seem to keep going and going with regular maintenance. It's everything else that ends up needing attention and end up nickle and dime-ing you to death. The cars themselves feel very tired and worn out by the time you reach 200K miles. By then the steering is sloppy, the seats springs are breaking, trim is crumbling and the windows leak. Cruise and climate controls of the 70's and 80's was horrible.

The W111 in contrast was a fairly simple and a well built model but was not immune to wear and tear like its successors. I've worked on a W111 before and it takes particular care, skill and tools to get things done right.

I think when we consider the era for this car is is acceptable. With 1,280,000 miles that means an engine rebuild at every 300,000+ miles, which is reasonable for the 1966 technology. Also these had an aluminum head on a cast iron block so the differential in metals caused head leaks causing them to need rebuilt more often, but still no more than typical cars of the era. I do see your point and feel the bottom end should be good for more miles, even in a gas engined Mercedes, but we don't know the reality, maybe the original owner had a shop that simply said "let's do it all" and just went with the flow. It seems to be a money-was-no-object car so that could easily be the case. I just got my own W111 coupe back from an extensive repair, was going to just be the head at $2,500-5,000 but once we got into it I agreed that we should go ahead and do the timing chain and tensioners and sprockets, then why not go ahead and do the injectors, and how about the front main seal while it's accessible? $10k and one month later I get my car back (just a few days ago) from it's "head rebuild" but the money spent all pencils out and I am happy with the work done. The real difference with an SE (fuel injected) W111 is the mechanical fuel injection system that can be costly and delicate to bring back online if neglected, but once sorted is among the most fascinating, well designed and wonderful systems to enjoy on any modern motorcar. Oddly enough, on many old cars the fuel injection rarely gives any problems if it has never been tampered with, but once a backyard mechanic tries to fix it by tampering with the various screws, plates and linkages, it gets all out of whack. The best thing you can do to one of these early MFI cars is to simply never touch it if it retains factory settings, it will usually remain in-spec for several lifetimes.