Dozen trips around the earth & '70 Mercedes 280SEL still runs! See the full CAR WIZARD inspection 

back when "Engineered like no other car in the world" really meant something

There is a guy on you tube called MercedesSource. He shows you how to do most jobs on the older ones. And he is the ultimate parts source for older MB’s.

I would like to thank Mrs. Wizard for her always solid camera work. She always shows the right thing, she doesn't shake the camera and she doesn't pan too fast. Watching her work is always enjoyable.

Not a car to over-restore: she’s earned her battle scars and I hope the owners let her wear them with pride. ❤️

When quality actually meant luxury.

Wouldn't Mercedes shock the world if they started building cars to this standard again?

back when being a Mercedes-Benz meant something... Mercedes Heritage Center can provide ANY part for ANY MB, for a price, but where else you gonna get it?

the badge to the right says: 'ein Mercedes-Benz aus Stuttgart Untertürkheim Deutschland.' Untertürkheim is the part of Stuttgart where the MB plant is where this car is made.

The ADAC-Badge is a old badge from the german AAA.

They just don't make em' like they used to, if you go around the middle east you'll still see these In use with over a million miles as taxis!

Back when MB's marketing tagline was "Engineered like no other car in the world". Thank you, Mr Wizard, for this great presentation. You are a class act.

It’s amazing how everyone here understands, knows and wants a car of this standard. You all are super cool!

The eagle badge says ADAC. It stands for Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club.

What a cool old Mercedes. Would be really interesting if the owners could bring it back to you, when they finish. Thanks, Wizard.

This is a REAL Mercedes-Benz sedan. Every piece of this car is quality. Mercedes, if you still built cars like this, you would be sitting at the top of the world.

"Somewhere over the Rainbow." There is the CarWizard's shop...

i think that california license plate has more to do with the lack of rust than any 1970s corrosion coating could do.

That's when the auto makers made quality

My dad had 3 of these growing up! 70-72... brown, red and a two tone blue and black 🙏🏽 still my favorite car.

Spring loaded hinges, the good old days. Fifty years later, still working.

I used to drive a 71! a classic with lots of power and a smooth ride!

EVERY part for EVERY Mercedes model ever made is available from Mercedes heritage...but theyre NOT cheap..😏

That's when Mercedes used recycled battleships to build their cars.

Bizarrely I was only just talking about a friend who had a customer with the exact Merc in silver which was still running on the original engine that had just completed 480k miles. These cars were/are awesome, don't make them like they used to!

When I get my time machine working, I'll go back and find a bunch of these old cool cars.... And a small mountain of parts!

The badge with the eagle says ADAC, Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil Club, General Automotive club of Germany. They're the German AAA.

The Kansas labor board is keeping an eye on Hoovies fleet just in case he decides to start buying Japanese luxury cars, could be a state wide labor crisis if he decides to stop buying German cars.

What's surprising when you drive those old MB is how well they handle.

Had a 280Se 4.5 (72), loved the style and the build quality. Was a great drivers car -- all day and all speeds (where possible). And very easy to work on -- obviously designed by mechanics.

The neat thing about Mercedes-Benz, is that they still make every single part for every single car they have ever made.

I have one of these ! Actually driving my 4.5 right now - sitting in a parking lot waiting on a friend.. second owner ! 72 280se 4.5

My dad owned this same year and model. Ordered it from the dealer in Harrisburg, PA. Took six months to get the car, as he had a special metallic green paint and off white leather interior. Beautiful car! He had it for about ten years. Had put about 100,000 miles on it in about 7-8 years, and then kept is for special occasions only. He purchased another car for a daily driver those last couple of years. Car had dark brown wool carpets too! I recall soon after he purchased it, we took a ride on the PA turnpike and he cruised along at 100 MPH. Car did not shake / vibrate and just felt planted right to the highway. Car was very reliable, with the exception of the auxiliary fan (in front of the radiator), which was needed to keep the car engine cool, especially when you ran the Thermo King air conditioner. The car took premium gas, and we always used Amoco Super Premium, which was a lead free gas with high octane. That seemed to work best with the fuel injection system, vs premium gas that had lead. Glad to see you have one that survived.

This era of cars cemented Mercedes reputation for building rock solid indestructible well engineered motor vehicles, a reputation they long since squandered. EDIT: 18:18 That's what you say to Hoovie every time isn't it? ;)

Look up Mercedes Source on here. That guy has a shop in Washington and has all the parts and information you’d even need.

A proper Merc - a true engineering masterpiece - unlike the current plastic and cheap rubbish they sell now. Great video Wizard

The fuel pump IS a modified diesel unit and they are still repairable by any decent Bosch agent that has the jig for a Unimog diesel engine.

Haven't finished the vid, however 60's Pontiacs had stacked headlights and were beautiful cars

Every part is available from the Mercedes classic center. They’ll have a windshield for this. That’s why I drive Mercedes, they are the easiest classic cars to get parts for. Anyone who has restored an American car from the 50’s knows how difficult it can be to find trim pieces. The parts may not always be cheap, but it is a genuine part that will work the first time

I love that old W108 ❤️❤️❤️❤️

The good thing about "old" technology.... it still works and is easily repairable. Great vid, Wizard.

There are 8 Corollas on one Toyota dealer's books with over a million miles. In the last 30 years they spent more than the new vehicle purchase price on tires. Crazy! My grandfather bought one new. It was his daily driver for his entire life.

I absolutely love this body style! My favorite one is the 300SEL 6.3. It had the huge 6.3 liter V8 from the model 600 limousine and was a real hot rod in the "small" sedan and had air or hydraulic suspension.

I've told this story before, on another channel I think, but I bought one of these, in this colour, but the standard wheelbase SE, probably 25 years ago now. I bought it for £250 from a scrap metal dealer, where it had been sat in his yard for 2.5 years, with both the bonnet and boot lid left open the whole time. It was pretty rough, but seemed ok mechanically. Once I'd trailered it home, emptied countless bags of rubbish out of the interior, and found the keys, I then drained the fuel tank, put fresh fuel in, put a new battery in it, coaxed the electric fuel pump back into life, and finally removed the fuel inlet pipe from the injector pump, so I could switch the ignition on to get fresh fuel in the system, then it pretty much fired straight up,once it was connected up again I cranked it⁶ over, and I was amazed as then settled into a steady idle. They really don't build cars like this anymore, and just for comparisons sake, my neighbor parked up his 2005 Merc C200 a couple of years ago and it ended up sitting for over a year, before he tried to start it again, and for three days he was tinkering with it, with friends trying to help, and nothing, it refused to start. It's still sat there to this day.

finally, a real car on this channel. By the way, no LS engine would ever last this long.

Old Mercedes will survive the apocalypse and cockroaches. ... can we roll the calendar back to the 70s?

Avocado, olive.. little bit of everything here. Hahaha nice one Mrs Wizard

That updated intro is great. Nice work on that.

Buying my son a 240D as his first car was the best auto decision I made for him. Slow but definitely cool! And when he was hit by a Lincoln Continental, the Lincoln was totaled and he walked away without a scratch. Those cars were so great and as I get older, I have begun perusing the web to find another 240D, for the wife and self.

When this car was built, they believed in making cars that would last forever. Now they make them as cheaply as possible, disposable without making it obvious, by using cheap components that never last longer than 12 months...

The old Pontiac Bonneviles etc had great looking stacked headlights as well.

Good to see a classic M-B in the Wizard's garage. A gentleman by the name of Kent Bergsma works on these vintage M-B's in Washington State and has a YT channel devoted to them: "mercedessource". A great channel to watch.

Wow! I used to be a Mercedes Benz mechanic back in the late 70's and early 80's and these cars were a common fixture in the shop. I have not seen underneath a 108 since 1981!! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!!!

It would be really cool if these guys could come back in a year to show us all the progress they've made with their restoration.

A few years newer and a slightly more expensive model than my Mom drove for many years. I was born in 1961 and this is still how I want Mercedes cars to look.

Neat vid...brought back memories. I owned a '68 280SE in the late 80s. White with blue interior. I was the third owner. The previous owner had replaced the fuses/fuse box with airplane breakers for whatever reason. Great car...a tank, nothing stopped it.

And to think Mercedes was just begining to become one of the 2 greatest quality carmanufactures ! By 76 they reached their last step into that category and reached their pinacle in 85 ! With the S123 ( Kombi ) European version of course !!! Conidered as the finest saloon of the 20th Century !!!... That was luxury for real !!! I am a proud owner of one ! She has 180000km and the rear hidraulic shocks just started giving troble for the 1st time ! , Front o tes a few thousand km ago !!! The interiorvis like new ! So its paind and its a rust free car !!! I wish i could pst pics here ! By the way , her interior is dark green !!!

Those old Mercs used to be just rust below the door handles here in Finland. At least if the first half million kms were on salted roads.

Now this is a Mercedes I can get behind. Learned to drive on a stick shift one back in the 90s pearl white with black interior with the nicer looking euro headlights.

I loved the Mercedes from late 50’s to late 70’s. I drove 280 and 300 on the highway in Europe, good running vehicles. Your wife made a comment about no rust under the car. I used to take my car to the gas station and have it power wash and sprayed with oil every 6 months. We did our Alfa, Fiat, BMW and Our American cars, none rusted.

Mr. And Mrs Wizard. You are a great team. I love both of your mechanical and aesthetic perspective, I also appreciate your calm, respectful and direct approach, er, honesty to each vehicle you take on. A new subscriber, I enjoy your channel. I learn immensely beyond my limited knowledge. I look forward to your every upload. Keep up the great work.

The old Mercedes when only the best was good enough

I had a 66 230s Fintail.that was amazing...:)

Amazing. its the first time I stumble with someone shooting a video on these. THANK YOU. This car was the image of MB that was imprinted in my mind when I was little (1985). Here in Mexico, there were many of these. Now there are none. It wasn`t until early 90`s that MB came back to Mexico with the refreshing 1994 C280-

I love those Mercedes. Drive beautifully. 6 cylinder run for ever. Plenty room in the back.

Back when buying a German car meant you bought a quality car. Just bought a w108 4.5 for 1000 bucks to restore. Gonna be so worth it at the end

just 300K miles? thats nothing for a mercedes like that

Bought a 92 Nissan D21 with 272,000 miles. Still runs like a top, no leaks and no noises. It's amazing how well built it is.

I love it when The Wizard refers to The Wizard in the third person. Perfect.

In Sweden these diesel Mercedes was the typical taxicab, they ran forever.

Back when german engineering was known for reliability and quality

As someone who has owned and loved two of these, I would like to say a few things. It is important to know that the main chassis power wire is soldered to the back of the headlight switch along with a few other important wires. When the switch gets old it will get hot and melt the solder and then you will have many issues as the connections then become loose. The car will not start and then it will some times randomly. Get another switch and modify the connections so that it isolates the wire from the switch. I had a 1970 300SEL 6.3 and a 1972 280SEL and they both had this problem. To correct some statements, this 108 body came with a compensator for the rear suspension that automatically adjusted the ride height for the rear, unfortunately they wear out and are almost unobtainable and this car has had it replaced by a spring from a cheaper Mercedes. The 109 body is fully air suspended and has a mechanical air pump like a truck for air brakes. Mercedes Classic Center will sell almost any part for these cars, but they are not cheap. I used to get my used parts from Sun Valley Mercedes Dismantlers in California when I needed things. From memory Fairfield Injection is the place to get pumps rebuilt.

New spark plugs really make them run well. Had a 76 280 SE 4 speed and has mechanical injection

I have always had a soft spot for these beautiful old Mercedes sedans. I just have the urge to buy one & dump absurd amounts of money that I don't have into it. One day.....🥰 For me, this is *_FAR MORE_* desirable than, say, a newer GL-Class SUV.

When cars were build to last instead of breakdown on purpose. And no garbage electronics

Hey Wizard, the ADAC badge is the biggest German Car Club which owns most of the tow trucks in Germany 🇩🇪 as well as helicopters monitoring the German Autonahn, and when you’re a member, they’ll take care of you for free when your car breaks down or in case of an accident. BTW, checkout our Mercedes-channel.

Your production tech is awesome !!! great audio and crystal clear video and excellent camera work!!

My car has been around the world 12.5 times :) 2001 Jetta TDI 5-speed

Best stacked headlights = 1965 full size Pontiacs.

Mrs. Wizard You always do a great job filming the details!

Man thats is a cool Mercedes - I just love them W108, 109 111 They certainly dont make nice stuff like this anymore !

Wizard, I'm sure you asked them about going ahead and replacing both rear wheel bearings...

I like the stacked lights on the riveria with the clam shells

Great video wizard! Thank you, I love old Mercedes, that’s next to buy on my list to put next to my 124 and 123! Keep up the great videos

There was a kid that went to the same high school as I did back in the late 1970's, that drove an old model Mercedes to school and a few years after we graduated in 1978. This video reminded me of him and that tank he drove back then. Love your RU-vid channel Car Wizard ! Peace and Respect from Alabama 🙏

I had the 1972 version of that car with a 4.5 liter engine. Great driving car once I got it sorted. It had a primitive computer controlled fuel injection system. Once I replaced the computer it stopped filling random cylinders with gasoline.

This is more of a safe buy than a 2010+ e class lmao

I had a green 66 Rambler American 440, it was also green on the inside. Looked a lot like the Mercedes. I sold it at 130,000 miles to my nephew who put on another 60,000 miles before selling it to a guy for $50, who wrapped it around a telephone pole a few months later while driving "under the influence." It had a York Air compressor identical to the one in your Mercedes. They were used in AMC, Ford and Chrysler vehicles. GM had their own design of AC compressor built by Frigidaire. What was great was that everything was serviceable on the York Compressors. Seal leak? Replace that seal for a few dollars for the part. I could change the seal and bearing in an hour on most cars, and never remove the compressor from the car. You could get any car undercoated back then for around $10. Did all my cars and never had any rust, while seeing floor pans on those who did not do it rot out and get holes in them. Rust proofing improved so that now I have no problems with rust in any car, in spite of the salt in the air from our nearness to the Gulf of Mexico.

Thanks for posting this Wizard. Reminds me of being a kid growing up in a military family; these were the cars we saw all over the Autobahn in the mid-70's. Looked great then, look great now.

I lose it when the Wizard says, "BEEFY" hahahahahahaha

Back when German Engineering meant we'll save you money. Now it means we'll take your money.

Thanks for showing this. I grew up in a 1971 250. I love these old Bendz. When a car was made to last.

Wizard after hearing you say how impressed you are with that 70 Mercedes having 340k miles on it; I wonder what you would say about my 01 3.0 DOHC Sable with 364K miles engine and transmission which have never been touched and still doesn’t burn any oil! She still has the original starter and exhaust system, but the damn Water 💦 pump went out after only 340K miles. I expect to get over 750K miles out of her! FYI I’ve had the oil analyzed recently and every single PPM for everything that they check shows that the rings, bearings and all the other stuff they check reflects that is virtually new!!! I still love driving her every day to 👢. I really enjoy your videos ; thx for doing them for us.

That looks so beautiful ❤️😊

3rd view here Also want to remark how some of these were also built in Venezuela and were exported to the US market. A lot of them are still on the road in good shape over here.

I have 2 w108s, one is a six inline with dual carbs, the other is a fuel injected V8, 4.5 liter. They are built like tanks, and a pleasure to drive. Nice to see one in your shop. Did the rear wheel bearing on one, too, not hard to do.

So cool to see one of these still in the road. Very neat.

You would need to send it to california. there is a specialist in LA who is German and does rebuild them. That is the fuel injection system.

ADAC. German roadside recovery

I was born in Germany as an army brat. My parents brought one of these exact models back. Same year. My Dad gave it away.

My Father-in-law had a '78 Ford 150 4x4 manual w/a 300ci six that had over 400,000 miles on it (the odometer stopped working at around 375,000, drove it a couple more years). The only reason he got rid of it was the Crank had turned over so many times that the rear main seal had worn a groove in it and wouldn't keep sealed while running. He sold it to a neighbor Farmer that used it to bring hay to his cattle in winter, and last I knew it was still running.