So, herein tells the tale of one man who refuses to grow up and a Mercedes Benz...
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.
During one of those random google sessions on a rainy winters evening I stumbled across a photo of this -
I was in love... Unfortunately though, that is a photoshop and I resided to the fact that it was probably a virtual dream that wouldn't be able to be made in the 3D world.
But never the less, I kept finding myself looking at that picture and thinking 'if only'. Then I found this -
The same car, but real alive and driving in, of course, the states... The search began. However, my hopes were quickly dashed as all of the W114 and W115 were prohibitably expensive and rare... Undetered I started looking into its younger brother, a W123.
Several evening were spent on ebay and autotrader on the hunt for one. But yet again, they were all out of my price range. Then, this popped up...
Mint? No. But one ebay message was all it took. I got a reply with a guy called 'Andys' phone number so one afternoon at work I made the call. 15 minutes later I had purchased it for the sum of £340. I did think 'what the hell have I done' but curse word it, lifes too short
The one thing I hadn't considered? Insurance. So a moneysupermarket quote was done. Cheapest results? £137 fully comp for 12 months. Sutably shocked I rang the insurance company who provided the quote, a specialist classic car company. It wasn't a mistake and I insured it for the year for £97.63 fully comprehensive. Chuffed? Just a bit!
I informed 'Andy' that I wouldn't be able to pick the car up for a few weeks and the window between Christmas and new year seemed good. So, all I did was wait...
Tuesday evening on the 27th of December and the route was set.
So, on a cold and bright Wednesday morning myself and my buddy set off for Lincolnshire. After an hour of driving through the English countryside past old RAF bases and what looked suspiciously like marajuana poly tunnels we arrived at a slightly run down house in a small town. We were greeted by two old boys with rather impressive beards. Now, I don't know about you, but there's something defiantely reassuring about a man dressed in wellies and a big wooly jumper sporting facial hair that has taken years to perfect. A look round the back garden revealed the type of person this was. To the left of the garden, a MG Midget. To the right, a Morris Minor Traveller. The garden was littered with old cars, including a Pontiac and oddly, a Mitsubishi Pajero. Kindly enough they had freed off the brakes and cleaned the windows and lights. Documents we signed and a tow rope attached. Half a miles slightly sketchy towing later we stopped in Budgens car park. It's all glamour...
Dispite my friends valiant attempts to rinse off over four years of moss and general foliage it dawned that we'd need to go domestic... A trip into Budgens ended up with this
We started on the bonnet...
What came off can only be described a sludge. I knew it was dirty, but I didn't expect it to be this bad Never the less we plodded on scrubbing. I was suprised with the end result!
We then rang the recovery company and was informed a three hour wait was ahead of us... Long. Tired,cold and hungry we wandered down the high street. A Chinese offered us warm and tasty treats so in we ventured. A txt from the recovery company said that they'd be an hour, not the three previously quoted. Result. So I munched away on my suprisingly tasty shredded chilli beef and headed back to the car to meet the default 001 recovery man. Middle aged, festively plump and a few sandwiches short of a picnic. The Benzo got loaded....
10.30pm and we arrived back in depths of Essex, with one '85 Merecedes Benz 200.
Until next time...
Andy.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.
During one of those random google sessions on a rainy winters evening I stumbled across a photo of this -
I was in love... Unfortunately though, that is a photoshop and I resided to the fact that it was probably a virtual dream that wouldn't be able to be made in the 3D world.
But never the less, I kept finding myself looking at that picture and thinking 'if only'. Then I found this -
The same car, but real alive and driving in, of course, the states... The search began. However, my hopes were quickly dashed as all of the W114 and W115 were prohibitably expensive and rare... Undetered I started looking into its younger brother, a W123.
Several evening were spent on ebay and autotrader on the hunt for one. But yet again, they were all out of my price range. Then, this popped up...
Mint? No. But one ebay message was all it took. I got a reply with a guy called 'Andys' phone number so one afternoon at work I made the call. 15 minutes later I had purchased it for the sum of £340. I did think 'what the hell have I done' but curse word it, lifes too short
The one thing I hadn't considered? Insurance. So a moneysupermarket quote was done. Cheapest results? £137 fully comp for 12 months. Sutably shocked I rang the insurance company who provided the quote, a specialist classic car company. It wasn't a mistake and I insured it for the year for £97.63 fully comprehensive. Chuffed? Just a bit!
I informed 'Andy' that I wouldn't be able to pick the car up for a few weeks and the window between Christmas and new year seemed good. So, all I did was wait...
Tuesday evening on the 27th of December and the route was set.
So, on a cold and bright Wednesday morning myself and my buddy set off for Lincolnshire. After an hour of driving through the English countryside past old RAF bases and what looked suspiciously like marajuana poly tunnels we arrived at a slightly run down house in a small town. We were greeted by two old boys with rather impressive beards. Now, I don't know about you, but there's something defiantely reassuring about a man dressed in wellies and a big wooly jumper sporting facial hair that has taken years to perfect. A look round the back garden revealed the type of person this was. To the left of the garden, a MG Midget. To the right, a Morris Minor Traveller. The garden was littered with old cars, including a Pontiac and oddly, a Mitsubishi Pajero. Kindly enough they had freed off the brakes and cleaned the windows and lights. Documents we signed and a tow rope attached. Half a miles slightly sketchy towing later we stopped in Budgens car park. It's all glamour...
Dispite my friends valiant attempts to rinse off over four years of moss and general foliage it dawned that we'd need to go domestic... A trip into Budgens ended up with this
We started on the bonnet...
What came off can only be described a sludge. I knew it was dirty, but I didn't expect it to be this bad Never the less we plodded on scrubbing. I was suprised with the end result!
We then rang the recovery company and was informed a three hour wait was ahead of us... Long. Tired,cold and hungry we wandered down the high street. A Chinese offered us warm and tasty treats so in we ventured. A txt from the recovery company said that they'd be an hour, not the three previously quoted. Result. So I munched away on my suprisingly tasty shredded chilli beef and headed back to the car to meet the default 001 recovery man. Middle aged, festively plump and a few sandwiches short of a picnic. The Benzo got loaded....
10.30pm and we arrived back in depths of Essex, with one '85 Merecedes Benz 200.
Until next time...
Andy.