urbanmaser
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I know this does not belong here but thought I would share it with you nonetheless.
20 years back I had a mania for buying myself a real classic car. I had always been drawn to the last of the handmade Mercedes coupes before robots took over, the Mercedes 280 SE Coupe which was also made with a 3.5 V8 engine and as a convertable. Many of you will remember this car for the stacked headlights which funilly enough were only made for the USA market. Whilst more beautiful than the lights on my car, my lights were correct and original for a European car and to change them to the stacked lights would have diminished the value of the car.
After 3 years of looking for one I had got to the point of giving up. Every car I went to see was a bigger disappointment than the one before with most of them being complete rust buckets not justifying the huge cost of restoration.
One day a friend of mine who collects classic Mercedes pointed me to a small garage in Surrey telling me that I might get a pleasant surprise. When I went to the garage to view the car it was up on the ramp covered in a white sheet. I fully expected to see another rust bucket but when the sheet was pulled back my heart skipped beats. Sitting there was what can only be described as the best Mercedes 280 SE Coupe in the world. On the boot was a Mercedes box containing the 280 SE badge. When I asked why the badge was not on the car I was told it was because he was waiting for rubber gromets to put on the badge pins to stop any future potential rust problems. I knew then that this was a car that had been loving restored and sparing no expense.
The history of the car was that it was owned by and old man and his wife. The guy I was buying from was an Italian who worked for Maranello and then set up as a specialist restoring and looking after classic Mercedes. He looked after the car for years servicing it.
One day the owner passed away and the wife asked for help in selling the car. My guy decided to buy it and make it a restoration project.
The car was subject to a total restoration using only genuine Mercedes parts. The body work was nitromorsed sanded and nitromorsed and sanded again to make a complete mirror finish before painting. All the rubbers were renewed, all the chrome was sent away and the engine rebuilt. The net result of years of hard work was the car I was looking at. He was priveledged to getting parts at trade prices and not having to pay any labour charges for the work. Even then he spent on the car far more than it was worth but decidedd to do it as a labour of love - THE FINISH OF THE CAR ESPECIALLY THE PAINTWORK WAS OF A HIGHER STANDARD THAN EVEN THAT OF MERCEDES
This car could have won competitions. It was beyond beautiful drawing looks of admiration wherever I went and was a dream to drive and very cheap to run needing no more than an annual service costing two or three hundred pounds a year. My fear was driving it in London as any damage to that beautiful bodywork would have resulted in extremely expensive repairs. The chrome bumbers were £2,000 for the front and £2,000 for the rear and would have creased with the slightest parking accident.
When I went for MOTs it was worth a million dollars just to see the face of the MOT tester who would declare what was the point of the MOT as everything was brand spanking new.
Anyways after seven years of ownership and only using the car periodically my wife made me sell it as our everyday car had to remain ungaraged.
I sold it back to the guy I bought it from for several thousand pounds more than I had originally paid him for it........the only car I have ever actually made a profit on. SEE BELOW and tell me that isn't beautiful
20 years back I had a mania for buying myself a real classic car. I had always been drawn to the last of the handmade Mercedes coupes before robots took over, the Mercedes 280 SE Coupe which was also made with a 3.5 V8 engine and as a convertable. Many of you will remember this car for the stacked headlights which funilly enough were only made for the USA market. Whilst more beautiful than the lights on my car, my lights were correct and original for a European car and to change them to the stacked lights would have diminished the value of the car.
After 3 years of looking for one I had got to the point of giving up. Every car I went to see was a bigger disappointment than the one before with most of them being complete rust buckets not justifying the huge cost of restoration.
One day a friend of mine who collects classic Mercedes pointed me to a small garage in Surrey telling me that I might get a pleasant surprise. When I went to the garage to view the car it was up on the ramp covered in a white sheet. I fully expected to see another rust bucket but when the sheet was pulled back my heart skipped beats. Sitting there was what can only be described as the best Mercedes 280 SE Coupe in the world. On the boot was a Mercedes box containing the 280 SE badge. When I asked why the badge was not on the car I was told it was because he was waiting for rubber gromets to put on the badge pins to stop any future potential rust problems. I knew then that this was a car that had been loving restored and sparing no expense.
The history of the car was that it was owned by and old man and his wife. The guy I was buying from was an Italian who worked for Maranello and then set up as a specialist restoring and looking after classic Mercedes. He looked after the car for years servicing it.
One day the owner passed away and the wife asked for help in selling the car. My guy decided to buy it and make it a restoration project.
The car was subject to a total restoration using only genuine Mercedes parts. The body work was nitromorsed sanded and nitromorsed and sanded again to make a complete mirror finish before painting. All the rubbers were renewed, all the chrome was sent away and the engine rebuilt. The net result of years of hard work was the car I was looking at. He was priveledged to getting parts at trade prices and not having to pay any labour charges for the work. Even then he spent on the car far more than it was worth but decidedd to do it as a labour of love - THE FINISH OF THE CAR ESPECIALLY THE PAINTWORK WAS OF A HIGHER STANDARD THAN EVEN THAT OF MERCEDES
This car could have won competitions. It was beyond beautiful drawing looks of admiration wherever I went and was a dream to drive and very cheap to run needing no more than an annual service costing two or three hundred pounds a year. My fear was driving it in London as any damage to that beautiful bodywork would have resulted in extremely expensive repairs. The chrome bumbers were £2,000 for the front and £2,000 for the rear and would have creased with the slightest parking accident.
When I went for MOTs it was worth a million dollars just to see the face of the MOT tester who would declare what was the point of the MOT as everything was brand spanking new.
Anyways after seven years of ownership and only using the car periodically my wife made me sell it as our everyday car had to remain ungaraged.
I sold it back to the guy I bought it from for several thousand pounds more than I had originally paid him for it........the only car I have ever actually made a profit on. SEE BELOW and tell me that isn't beautiful
