Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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450 miles notched up, and nothing to report.
Starts first time every time, hasn't thrown up any untoward rattles, bangs, clunks or squeaks and is as good on petrol as the Xantia was.
It handles well (once you've got used to the weight of the thing), the brakes are incredible, it's lovely and warm on cold mornings despite having a temperamental fan blower switch (a cheap fix, apparently)....in fact it's just an incredibly agreeable thing to drive after a hard day at work.
It still doesn't feel 'me' though. Perhaps it's just that I've spent so long driving around in decrepit French crates that I've gotten used to not giving a flying one about them. And at the minute I am kinda missing that. The Benz is one incredibly well thought out and put together car. But it does seem to me to be missing that one thing that probably seems daft to many but has always been important to me. A soul.
Time will tell, I'll bash on with getting the new wheels refreshed this weekend and once payday arrives I'll have them rubbered up and balanced and bosh a new back box on.
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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I've retired now, but back in my playing heyday (the early/mid 90's) I used to fit all this: .....and two flight-cased basses, and a pedalboard, and a bag full of leads....into one of these: No wonder I never made that much money at it, most of it went in petrol. ;D
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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I now own an MG Meastro Brian Damaged
@damaged
Club Retro Rides Member 33
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That's a very early 2-litre model, so it's pretty rare too. From 1983-late '84 MG Maestros had a 1600 R-Series engine with twin Webers, but in October of that year the 115bhp 2-litre Efi O-Series (which is what yours is) was introduced.
Enjoy, it's lovely!
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Apr 29, 2012 12:52:52 GMT
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I'll just leave this here. If only I had the money, time, skills....
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Apr 28, 2012 16:36:34 GMT
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What sort of MPG are you getting from it? These do 40ish mpg round town, and nearer 50 on a run. Bump for a quality daily at a bargain basement price. With the niggly bits done, you'd be sorted for an economical RWD daily with a touch of style. If it doesn't sell Dan, can I have first dibs on the side repeaters & bulbs please?? ;D
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Apr 28, 2012 13:37:20 GMT
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I saw Ged's photo on my FB feed this morning, now the penny's dropped. ;D
Look forward to seeing this progress.
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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S124 Mercedes......Brian Damaged
@damaged
Club Retro Rides Member 33
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Apr 28, 2012 10:24:04 GMT
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benz mafia flag needed ;D I can sort that out. Check your FB. ;D
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Given that there's a Severe Weather Warning for gales/torrential rain tomorrow, I doubt any sane person will venture out anyway. Not looking hopeful, but if by some miracle the weather's half-decent I'll see you there. If it's as predicted, I'll have a lie-in!
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Apr 26, 2012 18:18:43 GMT
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New Old Rimmage Alert: Picked these up from Cirencester early this morning. Not AMG or Lorinser rims, just good ol' OEM Merc. AMG's are fine on AMG's. Fitting huge rims to this would be like fitting a Cosworth whaletail on a 1600 Sierra. Not gonna happen. No kerbing, just a bit of paint lift. Two tyres are borked, but the other two are near-new. To say I was happy I'd splurged a whopping £34 on these would be something of an understatement. ;D Hopefully the weather will be kind enough at the weekend for me to strip/repaint them. Have notched up 230 miles now, and the fuel light STILL hasn't come on (it was on when I put £40-worth...or six-and-a-bit gallons...in the tank last Saturday). 35mpg makes me even more of a happy bunny. It's taken some getting used to, to be honest. I just don't get how something that cost about the same as you'd pay for a crusty old Vectra or Mondeo can make you feel so special when you drive it. No need to shout, no need to scream....just stick it in 'D', wind it up to 65-70, engage 'Cruise', sit back and relax. Astonishing.
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Apr 25, 2012 17:27:15 GMT
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Thanks buddy.....I'm sorted now, as if by magic my first drop is in Stroud tomorrow morning. Small detour on the way home to collect them myself. Offer much appreciated though!!
Brian
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Morning all.
I've 'won' four Mercedes OEM alloys with tyres on Evilbay, was hoping to drop by and collect this week whilst on the road, but one of our other drivers suffered a sudden family bereavement over the weekend, sand I'm having to cover his work as well as my own. As a consequence I'm struggling to find time as I'm doing 12-13hr days just to try and keep up this week.
If anyone in the locale could help me out by picking them up and keeping hold of them for me until I'm able to drop by and collect them from you it'd be much appreciated. They're paid for, just need collecting from an address literally 30 seconds' drive from the A417/A419 junction (where the Somerfield services is, if you know the area).
Thanks in fervent anticipation. ;D
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Apr 23, 2012 20:18:27 GMT
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I had exactly the same question as above going through my mind! Nice purchase though, and I bet if you break out the autoglym and some very fine polishing rags, that paint will come up a treat! (not that I can imagine you putting too much effort into detailing a car - bit like me really!) Piccy of the oem wheels? It's been a long time since I owned anything this nice. To be honest I quite like the notion of keeping it looking at least as nice as it did when I first laid eyes on it. New rims are like these, only in slightly better nick. The ones I've bought have two almost-new Avons on, which was the main reason for buying them....but I reckon once they're refurbed/polished they'll look great.
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Apr 23, 2012 19:34:07 GMT
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Fantastic! I haven't seen one on the road in years now. Daddy Damaged got given one by a work colleague about 20 years ago that had been sat in his front garden, even though it was only about ten years old at the time it was quite spectacularly rotten so unfortunately it got fragged.
Wouldn't be surprised if it spent the early part of its life as a Peugeot managment/fleet/press car with that 'KAC' Coventry registration.
Didn't they share the engine with the Volvo264/Renault 30/Alpine-Renault/Delorean??
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Apr 23, 2012 19:10:51 GMT
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Ive already said my piece on fb but if its a 2 litre why does it have an E320 badge? Technics1974 put it on when he owned it. It's coming off. ;D
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Apr 23, 2012 19:09:48 GMT
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Major fail on my part this morning. I arrive at work at 5.45am, switch everything off, get out, lock it up and walk away from the car. One last backwards glance before I go through the door and I notice that the left-hand sidelight's still on. 'Funny' I think 'I could have sworn I'd turned everything off'. So back I go, open the door thinking 'I must have left the left-hand indicator on and activated the parking light'. Nope. So I switch on the ignition and try the lights, everything works, switch 'em off again, get out, walk round the front, and still the left-hand sidelight's glaring at me. Bumhats. By this time it's almost 6am and I've got a busy day. So 'bo**ocks' thinks I, pull the bonnet, and set about locating the fusebox thinking I'd just pull the fuse for the lights and sort it out later. At which point one of my Polish co-workers comes out, and his eyes light up. "My dad's got one of these back home. Diesel it is, f***ing brilliant car, runs on anything" "Does the light switch work?" I ask him. So he looks in the car, and collapses laughing, pointing out that I'd actually switched the light switch fully anti-clockwise, not realising that the leftward two positions are for either right or left parking lights. Clicking the swich back to vertical switched everything off. Bloody Germans. ;D Moral of this tale.....READ THE F***ING MANUAL. ;D And if the fuel gauge is accurate, I've done 122 miles on half the fuel I put in on Saturday, which equates to 34-35mpg. Ker-ching. ;D
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,555
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Apr 23, 2012 18:31:13 GMT
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P.S - Swear i've seen that corsa in your pic parked up on the estate in Bgrove that used to be barnsley hall!?! Yeah, it belongs to Kieran (aka 'Ditch') of this very forum. As his forum handle implies, he's from Redditch. One of the few cars at the last Beach Party that's been to every single one of them. I'd have loved to run RetroBreakfast at The Pit Stop, but unfortunately they don't open on Sundays. Running it on a Saturday morning was considered, but dismissed as it would have excluded those people who work on that day. I will try and get along to one of the 'Classic' meets in the Benz if work commitments/weather allows. ;D
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