6.9 Benz Bahnstormer!
March 28th 2008 07:59
"Ah, I don't know, it just seems nicer than saying to the wife I'm at 'C2' or whatever!"
So, there we were in "Modern Classics" (1965-85)....and what did I immediately spy amongst the 'American, Australian, British, German and Italian modern beauties... a 6.9!
This car has 57k kms on the odometer but presents like new, well, I guess 57,000km's is not that far from new after all.
These 6.9 litre "Autobahn burners" were fitted with a slightly modified engine from the '600 grand limousine' which had already been in production for 16 odd years and was due to cease production within 2 years.
They needed to reduce its overall bulk and so gave it a dry sump and discarded the huge mechanical injection pump for electronic thus eliminating the huge intake manifolds and in the process just getting it to fit under the sleek bonnet of the w116 model sedan.
There had already been a model of the previous body shape (w109) which had seen the 'Grand Limousine' engine "shoehorned in" in no less than the 300sel 6.3. That was a car which was probably more of a hot-rod than the far more sedate 6.9 later car.
Well, this example in silver with black leather (which looks something other than a cowhide) is just stunning and I encouraged my friend to run this one for the day. We checked the records and it had a major service just 10 months and 45kms previously, that is one circuit of his private roadway! He insists it is not a bad thing as this is long enough to get heat through things and dispel moisture form parts which suffer from short runs for eg; exhaust systems.
And so we do the checks of levels, pressures and get under way.
After moving off with me in the drivers seat i get the feeling this engine will just lope along at under 2,000 rpm all the way to its 240 kmh top speed, which of course is less than half the actual revolutions it will be doing if we take it there!
We didn't get much further than 160 kmh but you get the feeling it would be just as unfazed with another 100 on top.
After covering over 200 kilometeres for the days driving (would have been more only for our picnic stops (nice to kick back and look at the machine whilst enjoying good coffee!) we park her back in the controlled temperature environment of the garage, which is when I spy another machine which requires some attention and a days outing!
Stay tuned!
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