Recently I've been given the chance to buy one of two Mercedes........a "fintail" or 280SE. I spoke to an "expert" who states the "fintail" model is a "sub-standard" automobile. That the 280 is a far superior vehicle. Can anyone verify this? It seems a rather "wild" and bias statement.
Comments would be most welcome.
Thankyou all.
Sherlock.

 

I had a 280 sel with the 4.5L and was a pleasure to drive... and it's one of the best looking cars in my opinion. I think it's a superior car than the fintail, the SE was a top of the line Mercedes, mine came with everything, power wndows, sunrooof, A/C, diferent tempreature comands for driver and passenger, electronic fuel injection, etc. (and this was in a 1972 car!!!). I don't know enough about the fintail to comment on it, and to be honest you can't make a fair comparisson between the two because they where designed for different markets. Old cars need some sort of wokr, repairs, etc, no matter how good MB are, an old car is an old car. If you have no preference between models and you aren't the type who wants to spend allot of $$ to restore the car to a mint condition, but rather keep the car looking and running good I'd pick the one in better shape.

Nach.

 

I take it you are looking at a W110 chassis fintail (they made W110 - mostly 4 cylinder, W111 - was a 280SE in there, and W112 - very expensive 300SE's all of which are fintails or heckflosse's) versus probably a W114 chassis job. The 114 was a much nicer chassis, with much better appointments, but get what you want and what is in better shape. I had a 65 300SE when I was young and stupid, air ride and REALLY nice interior - nicer car than my 71 280SE(114). Some of the old fintails were top of the line Benz's (300SEL was replaced by the W188 and W100 chassis stretch jobs). Buy what you like - but take it to a good mechanic before you do - you can still get parts for either, but a restoration is not cheap for either. I vote with nach23