[V8] W123 addiction!

[too many quattros]

roger, u r right.  but as was the case in the 60's and 70's a number of gray
market cars made it in.  i have had the chance to drive a 3.5 (and 4.5) SL.
i LOVE THEM!  i have also driven a 3.8 SL.  i prefer the older ones.  they
are more responsive (pre cat?).  i have dreams of turning my near perfect
108 SEL into a manual tranny using likely a tremec unit...but, we shall see.
i recently finished my 550hp coupe quattro, am currently working on my 3.6
manual to 4.2 V8 conversion and 2 other projects, (another audi and jeep).
so, in time...maybe?  or maybe i will age and not give a damn if it is a
manual trans.  none the less, i sure love my 108 (my first car).


Shayne

PARTING:
1972 mercedes benz 280 se 4.5
1986 audi 4000 cs quattro
1990 audi coupe quattro
1995 audi S6
http://spokane.craigslist.org/pts/1831227937.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/pts/1831261447.html


> From: Roger Woodbury <rmwoodbury at roadrunner.com>
> Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 06:34:20 -0400
> To: 'too many quattros' <thequattroking at yahoo.com>, V8 Audi Fans
> <v8 at audifans.com>
> Subject: RE: [V8] W123 addiction!
> 
> Well, the SLC with manual transmission was never brought to the US (to my
> understanding, anyway).  I have never driven a big bodied Mercedes with
> manual transmission that I would have had in the garage.  The transmission
> gear spacing on the early fantail cars that did have manuals (190, 219, 220,
> 220s, 220se, 300on and on....) had a spaghetti shift lever and little round
> knob.  The shift lever was spindly, the little round knob about the size of
> a golf ball, and the whole rig was obviously made to vaguely move gears
> around in a gentlemanly or gentlewomanly manner where the voyage was to be
> on placid waters in a serene state of mind.  I drove quite a few of these
> cars, including an extraordinarily pristine ruby red 230S that I tried to
> get my father interested in. That car was a used car with 19000 miles or
> something, and was pristine in every way.  My father loved the car, and had
> it had an automatic he might have bought it even though it was out the other
> end of his price range.  I figured that he wouldn't care about the shift
> lever being for genteel use only.
> 
> I know that Mercedes has used ZF boxes in some of their more potent
> performance cars, but Porsche used a Mercedes automatic in their 928s
> (although with special Porsche designed gear case....).
> 
> These cars are simply not designed or intended for guys or gals with a left
> foot fetish.  Unless it's one of the really heavy metal power panzers like a
> 6.3 or 6.9, the cars made when Mercedes was still making "generation" cars
> were not intended to compete with the likes of BMW.  The big difference is
> that what Mercedes intended for its car to do, it could still be doing long
> after those other cars were either crushed into sardine cans or sitting in
> back of the barn waiting for someone to find that one part without which the
> car could run, and which BMW not longer could source.
> 
> Roger
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: too many quattros [mailto:thequattroking at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 10:34 PM
> To: Roger Woodbury; V8 Audi Fans
> Subject: Re: [V8] W123 addiction!
> 
> me too!  but i want mine to have one of those RARE coveted manual
> transmissions :p
> 
> 
> Shayne
> 
> PARTING:
> 1972 mercedes benz 280 se 4.5
> 1986 audi 4000 cs quattro
> 1990 audi coupe quattro
> 1995 audi S6
> http://spokane.craigslist.org/pts/1831227937.html
> http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/pts/1831261447.html
> 
> 
>> From: Roger Woodbury <rmwoodbury at roadrunner.com>
>> Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2010 09:44:39 -0400
>> To: V8 Audi Fans <v8 at audifans.com>
>> Subject: [V8] W123 addiction!
>> 
>> P.S.  By the way, at that wild restoration ship in Wisconsin there is an
>> amazingly nice '73 450SLC 3.5 for sale for cheap dollars. That's another
> one
>> of those cars that I have always wanted.
> 
> 
>