Stuffed another door...

[alabbasi]

Nope, I forgot I parked next to a pillar, and was only minding that my front end didn't hit an adjacent car. Just pure being stupid.

Modern cars have parking sensors

[s class]

My daily drivers have been :

1996 - 2005 : 1980 280SE W116 (approx 200 000km covered)
2005 - 2007 : 1992 500SEL W140 (approx 50 000km covered)
2007 - 2012 : 1980 280SE W116 (approx 100 000km covered)
2012 - present : 1974 350SE W116 (approx 20 000km covered)

Additionally, I have maintained for my wife :
2006 - 2012 : 1994 C180 W202 (approx 60 000km covered)
2012 - present : 2000 C240 W202 (approx 10 000km covered)

So, if I add in the mileages of my occasionally used 107 and 6.9's, I've driven over 400 000km in old, old benzes during the last 17 years.  So I guess I should have some opinion on this topic, but I don't really think about it much.  I just prefer to drive a W116 daily, because I enjoy it.  Cost is a secondary concern.  What I have learned early on though, is one old Benz is not a solution.  One needs at least two, to avoid having to do over-night repairs to keep mobile.  I have generally found the cars to be very reliable, and in those 17 years I've only once had to be towed. 

True cost of driving the cars include :

a) fuel (high cost on a W116)
b) depreciation cost (low on a W116)
c) insurance cost (in the South African scenario, insurance is VERY cheap on a W116 - I pay about $100 per year per car)
d) repair and maintenance cost (depends - I do all the work myself)

I derive a lot of happiness from the driving experience, and simply seeing the car every time I come out of the office and see it standing there.  On the other hand, I derive a lot of pain from each inevitable nick and ding the cars accumulate in daily use.

[Casey]

Modern cars have parking sensors

Not on the sides! Even if they did, it wouldn't stop me from shifting into reverse and turning the wheel and hitting the gas into a pole. Parking was not the issue.  And I don't want technology to replace what I'm perfectly capable of doing without it. Also MANY newer cars require sensors or reverse cameras because you cannot see where the front edge is and the view out the back is much worse.

[Casey]

Picked up a rust-free dark green driver door at the junkyard today. There's a passenger one I need to go back for but another car was too close to get the door open far enough to use a socket, and I didn't have a 17mm spanner with me. Also got another aluminum hood, leather bamboo passenger seat in good shape, EGR-free 617 intake and exhaust manifolds, glove box zebrano with no cracks, a later-model replacement Hirshmann antenna, a 617 block heater wire (need to go back with a big socket for the actual heater, and nice chrome fender trim for a 123 besides. Sadly the very nice set of aluminum steel-look rims I saw last Sunday were gone.

I reckon I spent less in total than a car payment on a cheap new car.

[Tony66_au]

Picked up a rust-free dark green driver door at the junkyard today. There's a passenger one I need to go back for but another car was too close to get the door open far enough to use a socket, and I didn't have a 17mm spanner with me. Also got another aluminum hood, leather bamboo passenger seat in good shape, EGR-free 617 intake and exhaust manifolds, glove box zebrano with no cracks, a later-model replacement Hirshmann antenna, a 617 block heater wire (need to go back with a big socket for the actual heater, and nice chrome fender trim for a 123 besides. Sadly the very nice set of aluminum steel-look rims I saw last Sunday were gone.

I reckon I spent less in total than a car payment on a cheap new car.

Oh Bravo!

Here's your Sign...........

:-P