Story with a Golden Lining
You never forget your first love. That’s why we look back with proud first car owners at their first ride. Mark van Vught went for a Mercedes-Benz W116 350 SE. The car served as a wedding car, but also as a follow-up car at the funeral of his father Hans. This is a story with a golden lining.
Not a Swift or Seicento, but an S-class as your first. Sensible or incredibly cool?
“If you think about it rationally, you shouldn’t start at all. But through my side job as a taxi driver in our village, I got a nice Benz under my bum. Well, from that moment on, I immediately knew what my first car had to be. In that period, I also started my Automotive Engineer education in Eindhoven. The parking lot there was full of BMW E30s and Alfa Romeo 75s from my classmates, and then you want something special yourself. Everyone and their mother-in-law already had an E-class, so I started looking for an S-class. It turned out to be this 350 SE with a V8.
A dirt-cheap German car from 1973 sounds like Russian roulette. Did that top-tier limo stay in one piece?
“After three months, it had to go for the MOT. Of the self-supporting bodywork, only the word ‘bodywork’ remained. With the help of a body repair shop, the rust was tackled, and together with my father, I further refurbished the car. We worked on it for two years. From welding and painting to a double cylinder head overhaul and a complete gearbox replacement. We did all of that in a small garage box at home. I dare not add up the invoices, but since then, driving the W116 has been worry-free.”
In 1974, this Benz was Car of the Year. What makes the W116 so special?
“At that time, it was ultramodern and progressive. I find it a brilliant car to drive. The thing weighs 1,800 kilograms and steers like a boat, and it’s wonderfully comfortable. The steering wheel can be better called a suggestion-wheel. The Mercedes roughly goes in the direction you want it to. It’s extremely softly sprung, and the soft seats with Pullman upholstery are wonderfully comfortable. But if you take a corner too fast and you’re not wearing your seatbelts, you’ll figuratively fly out through the side windows. Thanks to the three-speed automatic transmission, you can drive 90 km/h in first gear, and 140 km/h in second. It’s nice to play with, and maintenance is perfectly manageable. A while ago, I needed a new windshield. Try to find that with most other car brands.”
There’s a lot of emotional value attached to this car. It was used as a wedding car, but also as a follow-up car?
“My father and I not only tinkered with it for years, but also enjoyed many beautiful rides in it. Scenic drives, visiting car museums, or eating a nice ice cream somewhere. We were often out and about. It was his great wish to be the driver on our wedding day, but unfortunately, he became seriously ill, which would prevent him from driving. However, due to corona, our wedding was postponed by a year to 2021, and precisely then he was in a good period again. Because of this, he was still able to get behind the wheel to transport us. I am not religious, but the stars were perfectly aligned that day. That also happened on the day of his funeral in 2024. It was very firm about that. It was cloudy and drizzly all day, but precisely at the moment of departure for the funeral shine. The car has become a family member and will not leave. But we used to do everything together.
