PRE STAGE

When I first picked Johnny up from Mike, I was, unfortunately, in a bit of a rush. This is never a good thing when picking up a new to you car sight unseen. My flight to LAX was delayed a bit getting in and it is a rather long haul from LAX to Chino. I was facing a deadline of getting the car to Rafi’s Autotech in Culver City before their 4:00 pm closing. My first impression of “Johnny” was favorable, but then Mike began to show me some things he was not forthcoming about during a many of our post-purchase discussions. Some of those items, like the headliner, I know he knew about, but he blamed it on his detailer opening the sunroof. The number of inoperative or poorly maintained and neglected items rose with my blood pressure as I did my first walk-around. I didn’t say a lot to Mike, but I’m sure my disappointment was obvious, not that he would care one way or the other.

Frankly, I don’t think Mike was fully aware of the extent of the terrible and neglected shape the car was actually in. Or then again maybe he did, but didn’t have the time, know how, funds or inclination to do anything about it. It was obvious from the start the car had been long neglected. Only six months before, the car was in the Mecum Auction (no sale) sporting a nice detail, but despite assurances from Mike that the car had been garaged all this time, the amount of crud accumulated in the engine compartment and various other cavities it was obvious the car was left sitting outside for all of intervening period.

Another indication of the abuse poor “Johnny” suffered was the Econo Lube sticker on the windscreen and the no-name tires. Who subjects a Mercedes to such indignities? Albeit they looked to be relatively new the tires were sufficiently out of round even after extensive balancing and steering alignment as to vibrate at any speed. But really, I can’t blame Mike for all this, other than a slight exaggeration of the car’s condition. After all, it’s buyer beware on eBay and I chose not to have a PPI done based upon my conversations with Mike. It seems I have this personality disorder where I think most people are at least as honest and forthcoming as I am in their dealings. Naive? Extremely! But it’s all good because I now possess the car (or it possess me) and I have the chance to bring it back to life after years of forsaken care and abuse. Sure, I could have purchased a much nicer car for less money and I would not be dumping thousands of dollars into “refurbishing” it, but I didn’t. I bought a “celebrity” car and at the end of the day, if it does not mean something special to anyone else, it will to me. That said, I have no intention of selling this car. I didn’t buy it to flip it. I’m sure someday circumstances will force its transfer of ownership and I hope I’m still lucid enough at the time to see it goes to a proper home or maybe even to one of my grandchildren.

I mentioned earlier I would list the work done so far. You can see below the list of repairs and service accomplished by Rafi’s Autotech in Culver City over a 10-day period from when I dropped the car off after rescuing it and when I came back to pick it up on 13 February to begin the epic 3,500 mile cross country jaunt to “Johnny’s” new home in Virginia.

L&R Tie Rods

Center Steering Link

Alignment

Rebuild Fuel Distributor

Valve Cover Gaskets

Camshaft Oiler Tubes

Rear Brake Pads

Right Passenger Window Regulator/Lift Assy/Motor/Glass

Left Window Regulator

Oil

Oil Filter

Air Filter

Fuel Filter

Washer Pump & Nozzles

Antenna Mast

I have a bit of catching up to do Blog wise, so stayed tuned for some more updates over the next few days. I would be remiss at this point, however, if I didn’t mention my new BFF Malcolm coming to my rescue yet again with an original Becker Grand Prix radio. You’re the best Malcolm.

As a teaser of upcoming attractions, here is a picture of Johnny in the body shop: