My 280SE 4.5 - Part I
Having owned a Benz now for almost 2 years and having been a forum member for almost as long, a posting in this section is well overdue. The car began life in 1970 as a W108 280S. However, the previous owner decided in the late 80's or early 90's, that a mere 2.8 litres was not near enough displacement for him, and so imported a 4.5L D-Jet engine from the US along with the associated drivetrain, and had it installed - no doubt at ridiculous expense. It had been his father's before he died, but then the son died, and I purchased it from the proverbial "little old lady", (his mum), who had in fact never had a licence.
You could of course buy a W108 4.5 in the US, but not here.
A few other changes were made, such as "Americana" headlights, upgraded brakes, column shift to floor shift, respray, headrests (wrong colour and wrong model, but I fixed that). It came with a horrible 80's radio, which I tore out ASAP and replaced with a Becker.
Purchased 24.11.09 in Sydney. Papyrus White with a perfect MBTex Palomino interior - protected by the usual seat covers, which I promptly removed. Inspected at the time by one Ben de Boer, who has a hoist at his house. I know there are some people on the forum for whom the NSW club is on the nose, but Ben was incredibly helpful to me, spending at least an hour under the car looking for rust and checking everything. He couldn't find any, so his advice was "buy this one." The reason for buying this particular car was the near perfect condition of the body and the interior. The larger engine was a bonus.
Drove back to Canberra with my daughter in the back. John Green was appalled by the state of the tyres - plenty of tread, but terribly cracked. The spare was the original - "Made in West Germany." The conversion was apparently done well, but they couldn't find room for the battery, which was thus in the boot, completely unsecured. This was soon fixed, but the rego people didn't notice this fault.
What I have done to it:
0. New tryes (forum sponsor).
1. Becker (eBay).
2. Headrests (eBay).
3. Stone Guards (Chris Stewart).
4. 4.5 badge (eBay) - holes drilled by John Green himself.
5. Electronic Ignition (Anthony Costello's).
6. AC fixed (forum sponsor).
7. "New" 3.5 radiator (forum sponsor) (it had come with a 2.8 radiator - as pointed out to me by Rob McGinley).
8. Replaced plastic gear shifter with chrome one (forum sponsor).
9. Proper 4.5 speedo. (eBay)
10. 3rd brake light (Billet Specialties, installed by forum sponsor).
11. Battery Box + Bracket.
12. Remote locking (Jaycar kit).
13. Powder coated air cleaner.
+ a lot of other stuff.
Here it is at Wee Jasper earlier this year:
W10811.jpg
W10822.jpg
W10833.jpg
This is what the engine bay looks like today:
W108B.jpg
Basically, full of ..... engine, although slightly less so than a 6.3.
Then on Sunday 24 July, 2011, about 1km from home, on a pitch black Coulter Driver in Canberra, a very very large kangaroo hopped out in front of the W108, and this was the result:
W108A.jpg
Kangaroo hopped away - car towed away.
Called the police, and then called JG.
A lot of non-structural, but expensive damage. Written off by Shannons - but I got to keep the "wreck". Repaired by Canberra Bodyworks, and the forum sponsor. Took 100 days, mainly because of Shannons deciding what to do, and then the panel beaters - who are infinitely busy. The W108 needed a hood + star + grille + left guard + radiator + AC (all supplied used by the forum sponsor), and a radiator support panel ( i.e. basically the front of the car, MB spares actually had one of these new, in stock) + new left light.
I got a replacement stone guard from Chris Stewart. One of the badges on the stone guard was mangled - but there are millions of these on eBay.
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warp city here we come, so I'm looking for a replacement set. :think: :pray: 
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