Thursday, June 13, 2019

SHOW & TELL and SHIFTING GEARS

Alas, Johnny did not reap any trophies yet again at the Williamsburg British Car Club's Annual British & European Car Show in April. It was probably not a Stirling presentation on my part, nor did I stick around the car to talk to the judges, as I was gadding about talking to all the other owners and shop reps. Oh, well maybe next year. I'll be retired by then and have plenty of time to prepare the proper "sales pitch."

I skipped the Fredericksburg car show this year, as I did last year and all years previous. With the short amount of time I have off between trips it just seems to be too much of a haul up and back. That said, several of my fellow MBCA Section members brought home some spoils.

Johnny's transmission has been what can only call a bit clunky since purchasing him over two years ago. I was able to live with it and I'm sure it would have carried on for quite some time before letting go, but with an unknown service history, and the desire to have the car drive and act like a proper Mercedes-Benz, I decided last week to have it rebuilt. Simon at Auto Haus pulled the transmission and they shipped it off to a Swiss gentleman in Missouri City, Texas who specializes in just this type of rebuild.

Unbelievably, as I was typing this, I talked to Preston, my service rep at Auto Haus, and he said the transmission is already back and Simon installed it last night. Damn, that was quick. Remove the transmission, ship to Texas, rebuild, ship back and reinstall all in less than two weeks. Pretty impressive. I'll have Simon change the brake fluid while the car is there as well since its been just over two years since it was replaced.

The weather has been absolute crap here this Spring with a lot of rain, more than I can remember in the 27 years we've lived here, so it is a great opportunity to tic off some of the items on the to-do list. Still to go is finding a NOS dash, have the wood trim refinished, maybe reupholster the seats with new bolsters, and possibly new carpet. All are relatively simple, except the dash, which is NLA from Mercedes-Benz, and a PITA to remove and install. While I'm in there I'll replace all the vacuum diaphragms as well.

Also, I need to find a replacement digital clock, also NLA from MBZ, and an aerial for the cell phone. The phone no longer works, of course, but seeing as Johnny Carson probably had some very interesting conversations on that very phone, it is very much a part of the history of the car. It needs a new cord as well, but I'll have to figure out how to break open the case on the handset without damaging it in order to do so. I did have someone tell me recently there are now kits out there to retrofit these old cell phones with modern electronics so they look original, but will actually work. Not a high priority, but maybe something to look at in the future.

That's about it for now. I'll let you know how the transmission turns out.

Hals- und Beinbruch!
Brad




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