Diesel or No Diesel

Oh lord, wont you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
My friends all drive Porsche's, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So lord, wont you buy me a Mercedes Benz?


It actually makes sense. Janis Joplin was probably an early environmentalist, and wanted to get a diesel Mercedes Benz and use recycled vegetable oil to run it!!!

Well, I did it. The price was pretty good, and it is really in incredible shape. Full of options. Of course, for the price, there are a few things that shall require attention, but for the most part, turn the key and go!!! It has a power sunroof, but something isn't quite right with it. The motor spins, and it moves just a bit, but won't open. Except one time. It has air conditioning, but it seems to need a charge. Typical for this age. The main switches for the power windows are coming apart, but only the driver's side one doesn't work at all. I'm thinking of replacing them with a panel from a 60's or 70's GM car, they're pretty heavy duty. Ummm, what else, it needs new tires soon, and I'd like a passenger side mirror. Oh yea, one of the headlights is burned out. The paint is pretty decent, but it is 27 years old. Just a tiny bit of rust on the trunk. Most Mercedes seem to rust along the bottom edges, but not this one. I think that has to do with being down by the ocean. The guy I bought it from said the radio didn't work because the antenna was broken, but today my wife figured out how to turn it on while I was driving, and it works just fine. Even the power antenna works with it. The radio is an old one with a cassette tape deck, but it does have an auxiliary input that I can probably plug my MP3 player into!!! Thing seems kind of underpowered, though, may have dirty injectors.


The story of how I ended up getting it is something altogether again!!! We looked at it on Sunday, then I had to head over to Sammy's to get him some paperwork. Kind of interrupted the test drive, and I told the guy I'd think about it and call him, one way or the other. The seller had bought it for a friend who was new in the country (I think they were both from Poland, their names have a LOT of strangely placed Y's and Z's in it) around 6 months ago, and now was selling it for him. The guy buys older Mercedes and ships them back to Germany, where they command a much better price than they do here. Of course, the Euro is strong compared to the dollar these days, so that helps, too. He has a lot of nice specimens.

When we got into the car for the test drive, he pulled back the floor mat and pulled out the key. Joked that I could steal it now that I know where the key is. After the drive, he slipped the key into his pocket. I called him from Sammy's and asked him if he would take a lesser amount. He agreed, along with agreeing to fill up the tank (I don't know where many diesel stations are, yet) so we drove back. We got there, and he tells us that he can't find the key. He's going crazy looking for it, but can't find it anywhere. He says that he'll keep looking for it, and, if I leave a deposit, he'll drive it up Monday evening with his wife following him for his ride home. When I got home, I called him to see what his story is. He hadn't found the key, and had to have a locksmith come out and make a new one. Getting ready to come up, and the key doesn't crank the car. Turns it on, but it doesn't crank it. He says he'll have his mechanic check it out the next morning. When I get home Tuesday, he calls and says his mechanic determined that it was a bad starter. Replaced the starter, and drove it up that evening. He gets here, and his wife's Mercedes (much newer and nicer) is blowing white smoke like crazy!!! He's a little agitated over that, I asked him if he was sure he wanted to sell this one to me, so he'd have a way to get home. He didn't, just wanted to wrap it up and get going. We did, and off he went, trailing white smoke. Seemed like a head gasket to me. Bad luck for him, I felt bad for him.