Thanks for the article, Dave. It seems Mr Jalopy is of similar mind;
note the use of "were": http://hooptyrides.com/
Alex Chamberlain wrote:
$7500 is given as the typical price of a "tired runner" 6.9. I wonder if I
should have snapped up the one I saw for $1200 on a used-car lot a couple of
years ago? (I'd probably still be paying off the credit card bills to fix
it up, though...)
I filled up the 300D the other night and the clerk asked what year is
the car when I went in to pay. Usually this conversation goes in the
direction of "My cousin had a diesel Volkswagen, or maybe it was an
Isuzu, back in the day. That sure was a tough little engine." Instead,
she told me about how her mom's 6.9 once cost her her license for 90
days, the $1000 repair bills every six months to fix the suspension and
to get it to idle properly, and how it rusted away like nothing she had
ever seen. "That was such an awesome car, but I think you've got to be
crazy to actually own one. Mom was pretty crazy." I replied, "Yep,
sounds like the classic M100 experience." Not the conversation one
expects to have in a gas station at 11:00 pm.
I had my virginal M100 experience yesterday, with the opportunity to
drive a 1971 600. What a cool car! With the air suspension and looong
wheelbase, it just floats down the road without loosing any sensation of
being disconnected from the car or the road. With such length and the
skinny steering wheel, thet sensation in turns is not unlike that of a
UPS package, but without the fear of imminent rollover. It was full of
interesting features not found on lesser Mercedes, like the parking
brake release that requires a pull out and then down and the lever on
the dash to open the cowl vent for fresh air ventilation. It has a
telescoping steering column - unscrew what you'd think was the horn pad,
push or pull the wheel, and then tighten the center pad; there's a
seperate horn ring around the center pad. There's a lever on the trunk
lock. Push it and the trunk opens, pull it and the trunk lid slams down
like a guillotine. Neat.
The wing mirrors are about half the size of those on a modern car, with
a tiny range of adjustment, and are woefully inadequate on a car of this
size. Visibility out the back isn't so great, either, with those
curtains in the way. This is mitigated somewhat by the fact that the
car's presence parts traffic like Moses parting the Red Sea, and I
thought I'd have to buy a decommissioned cop car to effect such courtesy.
I have the sudden urge to become a tin pot dictator of some third world
country, just so I can ride around in a Grosser every day.
Tom
