Beautiful Blast from the Past
 
Article by Gary Anderson with Barry Corno
Photography Steve Smith, ImaginePhotographics
 
The period-looking placard on the dashboard, with the icon of an old oil bottle, proclaimed “Only 169 Oil Changes.” Assuming 3,000 to 4,000 miles between changes, that’s – what – nearly 600,000 miles. And yet, there we were – on the concours field at Legends of the Autobahn last year – looking at a glistening red Mercedes-Benz coupe that could pass for new if the styling weren’t of a certain age. No way had that car covered so many miles.

The classic-looking placard answers the question: How many times do you change the oil in 580,000 miles?

The concours placard next to the vehicle revealed this intriguing vehicle to be a 1983 380SEC AMG belonging to Barry Corno of Portland, Oregon. Amazingly, the car had been driven nearly 580,000 miles and owned by the same family since brand-new.

The odometer showed 578,818 miles when these pictures were taken in September 2012.

Locating the owner, we heard the rest of the story.

Barry explained that his cousin, owner of a produce distribution company in Portland that employed Barry and several family members, bought the car new and immediately took it to a local tuner shop to install the sporty AMG performance suspension and streamlined front, rear, and side panels.

Barry’s cousin used the red 380 as his daily driver around town for three years, putting around 40,000 miles on it. Then he purchased a new 560SEC and gave the 380SEC to his daughter. She drove the coupe for eight years as her daily driver before deciding to replace it. After all, it was over a decade old! Barry bought the 380 with 138,000 miles on the odometer. Having a comfortable, reliable Mercedes to use for business travel would be more enjoyable. A mechanical inspection revealed the only work needed was a transmission rebuild. Done.

At a locomotive reconditioning facility near Portland, Barry’s 1983 300SEC presents a stunning contrast to the industrial background.

Barry averaged about 30,000 miles a year before the engine started to smoke a bit after five years. For some people, age, mileage, and obvious engine wear would be reasons enough to sell a car. Not for Barry. His attitude is that if you buy good quality, schedule routine maintenance, and replace components when necessary, things should last a long time.

After exploring several options for mechanically refreshing the 380, Barry purchased a remanufactured engine from Metric Motors in Los Angeles, and had the replacement engine installed at an independent shop in Portland. Looking back, Barry said he could probably just have had the heads rebuilt, but was very happy with the replacement’s performance.

The engine is a replacement installed at about 200,000 miles, with the heads rebuilt at 560,000 miles.

With oil changes and upkeep every 3,000 miles or so and a new set of AMG springs installed in 1983, the miles continued to roll under the wheels. At 400,000 miles, with all those steep Oregon and Washington roads, the transmission began sounding iffy again; back to the shop for a second rebuild. At the same time, Barry switched to synthetic oil, extending the interval between changes to 5,000 miles. Adhering to his program of fixing things when needed, he installed a new alternator at 450,000 miles, had the driveline rebuilt, new half-shafts installed, and changed out the rear end, swapping the stock 2.48 ratio for a 3.07. True, the new ratios reduced his mileage a bit to just over 20 mpg, but Barry said the swap was more than justified by better performance.

New shocks were fitted at 525,000 miles. Soon afterward, the engine started to smoke again. This time – at 546,000 miles – he just had the heads rebuilt. Barry heeded his mechanic’s advice for some mild upgrades while the head was off; a slightly hotter cam from a new 5-liter engine popular in Europe and a non-cat exhaust were installed. Brakes were never a strong suit on the heavy 380SECs; to tame his car’s new horsepower, 4-piston brakes and new 13-inch rotors were installed. To house the new brakes, 17-inch wheels and 235/40ZR17 tires replaced the old 16-inchers (the 380 originally came with 14-inch wheels and 205/70HR14 tires).

Continuing his philosophy of constant maintenance, a local shop replaced the four seats’ well-worn leather in 2004 using GAHH kits; in 2006, an exterior re-spray was done in the original factory red.

580,000 miles represents a lot of time in the car so Barry wants it to be as comfortable as possible, reupholstering the interior eight years ago in the original butterscotch, which looks so good with the red paint.

In 2008, Barry drove the car to San Francisco for StarFest® where he enthusiastically participated in the track events before driving home. By 2009, the 380SEC was 26 years old and had traveled more than 550,000 miles. Barry found a great buy on a 2002 CLK55 AMG with an astounding 2,000 miles on the odometer, which he started using on longer treks. But the 380SEC still looked great, attracting admiration at section meets in the Northwest and on long-distance rallies popular on the West Coast. In 2010 he again drove it to San Francisco for an MBCA Western Regional track event. Barry remembers the two track events as high points of his ownership.

Barry was proud of the car in spite of a few small flaws it had acquired, but at the Forest Grove Concours in July 2012, he acquiesced to Legends of the Autobahn chairman Laura Simonds’s insistence that he enter it for concours judging. Once again he drove it south to San Francisco. The car didn’t win any awards, but Barry says he can use the checklist to start making corrections.

Does he plan to sell the car any time soon? Why would he want to do that? The car is totally rattle-free, comfortable and solid. And though Barry has never earned a speeding ticket in his red car, he briefly managed to take the speedometer needle past 140 on a tempting stretch of Interstate 5 for the first – and he promises, the last time – with absolutely no issues. Not bad for a car with 169 oil changes.

The 380SEC was a luxurious vehicle in its day. An extremely capacious trunk has been a godsend for Barry’s travels.

SPECIFICATIONS