I'll second that. When I was stationed in Italy in the late '90s, I bought a '79 528i with 5 spd manual - that car positively screamed. Unfortunately it also broke down regularly and I didn't speak enough Italian to find the local equivalent of Rusty. I did have a great local mechanic though, Vincenzo, who was very fast and very very cheap. When I brought him the car for the second minor repair, he told me that this car was not a good car and to expect more trouble. 3rd repair (more major), Vincenzo says "This is a bad car, you should look for a new car". 4th repair (something broke inside the tranny), he asks me how much I paid for the car ($2000) to which he replied "sell the car and if you get half that consider yourself lucky". The transmission repair involved removing the tranny and opening it up to figure out what was wrong, going to junkyard and getting required part, install/put back together/install in car/refill the oil. My total bill was $175; I threw in a pack of smokes and a bottle of jack. After repairs #5 and #6 (hey that car was REALLY fast and my Italian red-headed girlfriend loved it) I did sell the car (for $2000 to some Greek officer who was thrilled to get it) and bought a Alfa sedan for $500, and it never broke down on me.
Very respectfully, /s/ LCDR Max Dillon '87 300TD 313k miles Charleston SC -----Original Message----- From: mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com [mailto:mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com] On Behalf Of Peter Frederick Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2009 11:56 PM To: Mercedes Discussion List Subject: Re: [MBZ] mbz Damn update And they are a BLAST to drive, all of them. Peter _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com