I am going back to an oil burner!

Cap wrote:Don't ever buy an old car that spent has spent time living in the NY, New England or the Mid West. It's not called the rust-belt for nothing.

I think there's a lot of value in older cars, say 6 to 10 years old. But buy one in Maine and you will be fighting rust almost from day one. I would love to have a trustworthy car-knowledgeable person in, say, Orlando, who would check out cars and act as an agent for me. For a reasonable fee, of course. Nominations, anyone?

Hello Gentlemen,
Well, I did it, I talked myself into it and bought that 27 year old 300D.
Jim Freeh offered my his '83 and I took him up on his offer. For those of
you may not know, this car was owned by PDQ up until 2002. Pete and I
worked on this car together as we did his '82 & '83 wagons. For me, it's
kind of cool do my part to keep this car in our MB family. Jim kept the car
in near mint condition, as did Pete when he owned it. I only hope I can do
the same. James, my son & I performed the first oil change and transmission
service. Now, we need to get it tagged and broken in a little more. Thanks
Jim F., for allowing me to use your tags to drive the 400+ miles home on
Sat. I mailed the tags out today . Officially, this will be my fifth 80's
model MB turbodiesel. I really think I have diesel in my blood. I only
wish I never let the first one go!

Cap wrote: ............Don't ever buy an old car that spent has spent time living in the NY, New England or the Mid West. It's not called the rust-belt for nothing.

Why not, Cap? This ain't that bad .........

Sharp looking MB, by the way.

SMITTY wrote:

Cap wrote: ............Don't ever buy an old car that spent has spent time living in the NY, New England or the Mid West. It's not called the rust-belt for nothing.

Why not, Cap? This ain't that bad .........

Hey, I see nice yellow Monroe hidden in there! It's not rusty (yet)!

Just yesterday I was turning out of the driveway and heard this huge POP-Sproingggg noise. I thought it sounded like an upper strut bearing sticking. Got home last night and pulled the wheel and found a half-circle chunk laying on the bottom strut spring cup which came from the top of the spring. So now the spring is riding right on the sheet metal rather than the top spring cup/strut bearing.

What pi$$e$ me off is I just had the whole thing apart not 8 months ago to replace the struts and looked at that spring - the coating was missing and it was rusting pretty good there. I thought "I bet that's going to bust right there pretty soon". Well, I didn't have time nor the new springs to change them, so back together it went. At least the car waited until spring to "spring".....

Funny thing is that my first car, a 1980 Rabbit, also broke a front spring, found when I took it in for new struts. My second car ('93 Saturn) never had a problem in 156,000 miles with springs. Now my third car ('02 Jetta TDI wagon) busts a spring. Must be a VW thing....?!?!?

I find it amazing that I've only had 3 cars in 23 years of driving.

europachris wrote:
I find it amazing that I've only had 3 cars in 23 years of driving.

You must not get bored very easily

Cap wrote:You must not get bored very easily

To the contrary! I get bored EXTREMELY quickly, but I also take great pride in maintaining my cars in top condition and knowing what, when and if something is going to fail so I can replace it before it does. Vehicles are nothing more than a (necessary) waste of money to me. I love cars, but hate them at the same time, so I am going to do everything I can to buy a good one and keep it as long as possible.

I've also been married (to the same woman) for 15 years.....they are a lot like cars.....

But at least a car you can FIX!

SMITTY wrote:But at least a car you can FIX!

Yeah, I keep tellin' her that I've got a tool that will fix anything and she just laughs........