Conventional wisdom would suggest that a big, old, heavy and diesel-powered car is not the ideal auto-x weapon. Conventional wisdom in this case was not wrong, but I nonetheless brought out my 1970 Mercedes-Benz 220D as part of my plan to make maximum use of it–that, and also because at times I rather like being unconventional. While no one would accuse it of being fast, it did do better than I thought it would thanks to some solid handling.
There is some pretty serious sporting machinery here … and one elderly Benz in the lineup to go. Admittedly, that Subaru STi in front of it has been modified, but it makes more than double my total horsepower (for the record, 59 hp when new) in just one of its cylinders. The Corolla GTS in front of the STi features wild fender flares, a gutted interior and a Lexus V8. My not-so-rigorous preparation consisted of removing the floor mats and spare tire, as well as adding a little more air to the tires, to about 40 psi.
The old 220D felt surprisingly agile through the cones, especially given the car’s age, condition and size. Braking was equally strong, thanks to discs all around. I think I held my own on the curvy bits of the course, but lost a massive amount of time on the straight bits. The heavy sedan oozes, rather than bursts, out of the corners, and accelerates with the utmost reluctance. I suppose it is rather like asking the queen to compete in a 100-m sprint; while theoretically she could hike up her skirt and run, she’d probably rather not. The old girl can dance but not run.
A large-diameter steering wheel and no power steering means you get a bit of a workout behind the wheel. Since the flat, slippy MB-Tex seats offer no support whatsoever, you’re left to hold onto the wheel as tightly as possible and angle your non-accelerator pedal leg to keep in place. The seat belts often came undone mid-corner, so attempting to use one’s bracing leg to operate the clutch while trying to shift through the turn is likely to put you in the passenger’s seat.
I managed to get a ride along in that LTD later in the day. An ex-police special, it had a V8 and was extremely fast and well driven.
I did manage to produce some dramatic looking body roll, but from the inside it honestly didn’t feel too bad. With some proper horsepower, this car might do reasonably well.
Here are a few of my competitors, including a much more auto-x appropriate Honda S2000…
and a Mazda Rx-8, to which I came closest in the final times…
a modern and turbocharged Volkswagen…
a Hyundai Accent gaining speed…
and a savagely fast Subaru STi.
After the first set of runs I removed the color-keyed hubcaps so that they didn’t escape during cornering. It gives the Benz a Beirut-taxi sort of look, don’t you think?
Not surprisingly, the Mercedes and I ranked dead last in the best-of-the-day raw times, although I did get consistently faster as I became more comfortable with the car. I might not have been fast, but I know who had the most fun–and also probably got the best mileage!
I like your car. It looks just like the one driven by Jean, the lab manager of the local hospital where I worked at here in North Carolina.
Mr. Bill
Well done David it’s the taking part that counts.Far better to have actually used your car than for it to be a never driven trailer queen.
This is very cool. I’ve always wanted to get into auto-x, but was concerned by mediocre Civic would be laughed all the way out of the parking lot. Not so, apparently – all are welcome.
A Civic would be a very fine auto-x car. Small and toss-able.
Congrats on giving the old girl a workout. Sounds like a fun day. I wish I had thought to do this when I had my 77 New Yorker Brougham with factory HD suspension and fat new Goordrich Radial T/As – it would certainly have been the most unlikely (and most comfortable) competitor. It probably would have surprised a few people.
I saw the tail end of that LTD in one of your earlier pictures – THAT would have been a fun car to autoX.
Here is another shot of the LTD from an earlier event – http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/3720548062/
Thanks. Cool car. I always kind of meant to find one of these, but never got around to it. Now they are pretty well all gone, at least as regular drivable cars.
Hmm…I like it better with the Mustang LX wheels, rather than the blacked-out Turbo Coupe rims. Cool car either way though.
I just saw a Fox Marquis Brougham in traffic today, two-tone light and dark blue. Sadly, I was not able to get a picture.
The “Blue Collar” Mercedes from my young(er) years.
A cattle dealer’s/contractor’s/farmer’s/market vendor’s/taxi driver’s wet dream. A trailer puller. The Mercedes That Was Often Very Dirty. Mix the diesel with gasoline when cold. And then send it to the Balkans or Northern Africa, some place with a nice dry and warm climate, where it can finally rest and enjoy it’s retirement…
Thats cool dont let anyone tell 59 hp is going to be slow going fast has NOTHING to do with acceleration if you dont need to slow for corners anyway its irrelevant, thats how I roll in my diesel Citroen if its pulling in any gear I can do a 90degree corner at the in town speed limit,50kmh roundabouts intesections of any kind when the traffic is quiet the boyracers and the odd great handling hatches go out and play, they pull Hondas, Subarus, Evos, out of powwer poles here no green Citroens, Googlo Meanee road Hawkesbay expressway interchange and check what they planted nearby you can legally do 50kmh all over that, I can do it in my own lane in my Citroen either lane no-one can follow me I can brake from 50kmh in my driveway I’d love to autocross the damn thing, The Hillman is being tuned for this using later parts that began life in Sunbeam Rapiers the model of my car I have a template nearby in a museum.
I don’t mind a low powered auto-x car but the 220D is perhaps a bit too low powered. Once going it was ok but there was a longer straight away where it just wouldn’t accelerate. I’d end up going 50km/h at the end of it and everyone else would be doing 90 or so.
Yeah my diesel Corona suffered like that no turbo the Citroen will spin the tyres and go if you provoke it
You took it to the track–that’s awesome! Back when I had my old 5-speed Saturn SL2 in college, I always though that it’d be a fun car to take to a track day and let it loose. While not super fast, it was quite peppy with the twin cam 1.9 and stick, and it was much lighter than my wife’s Civic with its plastic body panels. For what it was, I remember it being a lot of fun on the curvy back roads too. Of course it rarely left the streets of Gainesville much less making it to the track. Besides, I always figured the competition would embarrass my little Saturn. But who the hell cares? These days I couldn’t care less about anything other than having fun and melting tires. Thanks for getting the gears turning in my head again–maybe I need to start scoping the sub-$1000 Craigslist specials for a replacement to play with and tear up at the track.
With regards to the Benz, I always thought it’d be cool to have an old 280 or 300D as a permanent second car. At least here in Florida it seems that if you’re willing to forgo a working air conditioner and aren’t concerned with some cosmetic blemishes, you can pick one up for about the price of an old Saturn. Hmmmm….now to convince the wife that I need another toy.
Go for it. My 44 year old 220D is my daily driver. The windows are quite effective in the summer unlike moderns windows but we don’t quite get the heat of Florida.
Never seen a 220D or LTD at an autocross, love it! Those Subarus are monsters at autoX I remember the first time I saw a WRX out there it ate everything for lunch except the best driven 914s.
Love it – I salute you, sir!
Big?
You call that big?
Thats probably the smallest car posted on CC today, except for the Skyhawk.
Congrats on the autoXing!
It was big compared to everything else. But it is almost exactly the same size as a modern Jetta.
Awesome; Next time, shoot some video!
I, too love to be unconventional. I’m a former SCCA Solo2 regional champion. I make it a point to auto-X every car I own. Just so I know how it will react(OK I’m the one reacting) in every situation. Sometimes I’ll cheat a little and strap some sticky rubber if I have a set laying around. Some of the cars I’ve done some cone slaying with are my 86 GN, 82 and 83 Regals, 94 Impala SS,95 Roadmaster wagon, 89 Reatta,90 Riviera,84 Riviera,78 and 79 ElCamino, 85 and 87 IROC,71 Camaro,76 TransAm,71 240Z(you can see I’m into BOF coil springs GMs,cant you?) 75 Cosworth Vega and just about everything else that anybody was gullible enough to loan me. Don’t let lack of power get you down. One of my better cars was a 83 Regal that I built for HS(H-Stock) when the SCCA was goofy enough to drop it down from GS. Those poor rice-boyz in their Civics didn’t stand a chance against me and that car.
Your car and the LX are by far the coolest of the piles you were running with. I think it would be fun to see something like a pre-Panther Mercury Colony Park Station Wagon run the course.
How about a Mark III?
That is awesome. Thanks for posting that.
Love it! back in 2001 my employers made us all do advanced driver training at a local race track with our company cars. It included slaloms, high speed manouvres, cornering techniques etc. The reps with their Nissan Primera wagons had a ball. Sadly I was the junior, so my company car was a MY 2000 Mazda E2000 van (painted purple, with giant fruit stickers on it…!). But the training was compulsory, so that E2000 was made to do many things it was never designed to do. It handled them all ok too, all things considered – although the instructor said it was on three wheels most of the time through the slalom, and he stopped me from doing a couple of the higher speed emergency manouvres for fear of roll-over. It was a great feeling slaloming etc around the racetrack in something so unconventional!
Your instructor needs to look about more those vans are remarkably stable remember the intersection ad where the Hiace gets rammed in the side and slides along the road on its wheels Maybe you had the same guy I had in a NZV8 racecar he showed us how to brake and turn his way and was aghast when I scandi flicked his race car through his braking event ignoring it, by the 3rd corner of my driving he was ok but the first couple of times I did it my way must have scared him.
Sounds like you had a fun day. Thanks for taking us along!
The Houston section of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America has an auto cross day twice a year at a local junior college. For several years lately a woman, who has adult children (so you can get a rough idea of her age), has taken the 1978 240D her husband bought new and entered it in these events. While she doesn’t come close to besting the SL’s and AMG’s she holds her own against any of the gasoline powered sedans.
Hers is usually the only diesel that competes. As stated in another post above smooth and steady spells success. She is the picture of smooth as she runs the course. By the way, I saw the car at my mechanic’s shop early last year. It was in outstanding condition for a 5-year-old car never mind one that is 35 years old and showing almost 450,000 miles! Gotta love a diesel Mercedes-Benz.
Love the “tombstone”-headlight W115s. Makes me miss my W123 a little. It’s more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow… 😛
So is there some sort of Mercedes “W-chart for Dummies” posted somewhere? What are all the W-numbers and what year/bodystyle does each number belong?
+1 most things you can tell what it is by looking at it but these are ridiculous I saw 2 nice ones yesterday one was a diesel it had 2 stickers in the windscreen like all diesels here and a big black badgeless thing overtook me in town long as, then theres the silver one thats so low it drags on white lines with the numberplate at an angle once these things go incognito I’m lost
Something like this ?
http://www.robisonservice.com/servicedep/mercedes_chassis.asp
“So is there some sort of Mercedes “W-chart for Dummies” posted somewhere? What are all the W-numbers and what year/bodystyle does each number belong?”
I’m in the same boat. I cant tell crap even when I’m looking at the tag in the doorjamb but………………according to the charts that Mr.Dutch posted a link to shouldn’t the letter “W” only be used for Wagons? Or am I wrong?
W is standard, the 3-digit chassis number title for each table is the chassis-type reference number that you are seeing. M-B use T on a model name to indicate a wagon body style Wagon, eg 300TE.
The Wikipedia M-B vehicle is also useful, if slightly confusing in parts, eg listing the SLC-type coupe C107 code alongside the sedans, which of course had a coupe variant, rather than next to the roadster R107.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Mercedes-Benz_vehicles
This is pretty good:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mercedes-Benz_vehicles
Nice work David, I can well relate to the having fun over being competitive (with others at least) aspect.
Our club ran some track days years ago that included a motorkhana on a skidpan – both wet and dry. Compared to your autocross events this is much tighter with 180+ degree turns around cones.
There were some pretty eclectic vehicles in amongst them, including a Humber Super Snipe! A 1954/55 Mark IV, so a tall, heavy vehicle with side-valve 6cyl ‘truck’ engine. I rode in the car, lots of body roll, bench seat, column change manual gearbox (before autos became popular), and the driver was concentrating on smooth and tidy with minimal understeer – and consequently was quicker than some ‘faster’ cars.
Another car I remember riding in was a Jensen Interceptor, even with the 383ci it was only on the longer bits that it got into its stride, but it did feel pretty well-balanced. There was a worked Group A Commodore (road car – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Commodore_SS_Group_A#VL_SS_Group_A_SV) that spent most of its time smoking the tyres. Most of the cars were Sunbeams, Hillmans, Ford Escorts & Cortinas, Nissans, Hondas etc.
I got second-fastest time in my Imp one year, and just missed out on a photographer catching the front wheel about 12″ in the air when I experienced the swing-axle jacking effect.
That’s awesome that you took a diesel Benz out there. You should have gotten a big cojones prize or something. I’d love to get a Mk I Gti or scirocco and get it up on 3 wheels.