280" Concourse; Diary of a layman

[floyd111]

It is.
Is everyone sure there's no Euro-US split there? Some bezels have "lights" written at the bottom. Guess that's US-spec?
Then, there's a different bezel when there's headlight adjustment as an option.
No confusion there?

[floyd111]

Boy oh boy do I have news..
The garage that has been handling my cars seems to be no more. Staff stopped showing up last week, probably due to the lack of a salary and it sounds like the place is up for sale now.
The mechanics I found abroad.. well... One is back in the UK on holidays, and the other, the German chap is slated to be fired, I guess.
Not good.
I do not want my cars and my priceless NOS collection to become part of a bankrupty deal!

I have secured a building in the mountains, near the land I bought and I will have to move all 3 cars there on flatbeds ASAP.
Problem: the last piece of mountain road barely allows for a truck that size. Too steep, too high, too narrow.
May end up having to tow them to the top of the mountain with a tractor. aiaiaiai..
It means I will need to rebuild that mountain cabin, removing all internal rooms to create enough space for 2 cars.
That means getting diggers and bulldozers to that same mountain top. aiaiaiai..

Advantage is that the place comes at a monthly fee of 50usd and it's absolutely safe.
My British mechanic will hopefully agree to come back to Taiwan and work for me directly.
Can anyone think of yet another obstacle to complicate restoring a Benz? I was already quite alone on this island. Now this!

[ptashek]

Stan, with the amount of drama you're seeing, I'd honestly give up a long time ago already and cut my losses short. No W116,  Taiwan or elsewhere, is worth that kind of stress or expense.

For what it's worth, I'm still cheering from the sidelines regardless. It felt great to see my own, equally as economically pointless, project cross the finish line and I hope you get there too.

But heck, you may get Hollywood knocking for film rights any time now...

[marku]

Best of luck in dealing with the bankruptcy. Had occasion to try an extract goods from a company that had gone bust. They had deliberately run up inventory before pulling the plug and eventually some directors bought the company, with the help of a friendly liquidator, minus the debts at a knock down price. You have to prove absolute legal title, with no liabilities, and without it your stuff is gone. Best is to get in before the official declaration and get everything out. Cannot understand how such people sleep at night.

[floyd111]

It seems that the shop-owner used up another of his nine lives and found the means to re-open once more.
Everything is up and running again and last week's talk of the end of times apparently never happened
I'll have to see what all that's about in the coming weeks. Without foreign mechanics with E-type know-how, how are they gonna restore their 4 E-types?
Word is they'll keep them on, but the question is more whether they themselves want to stay on..
For me it is simple. I'll go where the mechanics will go..if possible.
It's all very unnerving..

[ptashek]

Probably a daft question, but anyway - how much of a big deal would it be to export those cars temporarily to have them restored abroad, and then re-import when ready? Is there anywhere else around Taiwan where this could be done, or would the restrictive import laws render this pointless?

Honestly, if those guys are pulling off stunts like this (and not the first time, correct?), I'd be running as if my a** was on fire. Nothing good can come of that.

[marku]

If they have 4 E-types then they are worth big money. Used to have a '65 4.2 roadster and have always regretted selling it. You will be lucky to get one under GBP50K in need of complete rebuild. A completely rebuilt one with history can fetch GBP200K. Having said that MB All Stars site has a W111 cabriolet for Euro450K. It seems not that long ago that I looked at one going for 60K.  And on a more relevant subject the dear old W116 continues to slowly increase in price.

[floyd111]

Probably a daft question, but anyway - how much of a big deal would it be to export those cars temporarily to have them restored abroad, and then re-import when ready? Is there anywhere else around Taiwan where this could be done, or would the restrictive import laws render this pointless?

Honestly, if those guys are pulling off stunts like this (and not the first time, correct?), I'd be running as if my a** was on fire. Nothing good can come of that.

It's not a new idea, but the paperwork would be a nightmare. Plus, shipping a car in and out of here starts at 1600usd, one-way.
Next up would be a location in another country where I can only get to by plane. Keeping up with the restoration would thus be another nightmare. Finding such a location another task.
Guess I am stuck here. Need to hope for the best.

[floyd111]

Heard no more new disaster stories about the garage, so that's good.
What hasn't been good so far is the shipping of my parts-pallets in Germany and the US.
For 3 months I have been trying to ship them, but only recently has there been any news about a planned pickup.
Several drama stories of lackluster shippers causing delay after delay. The good people of VDH MB Germany have been walking circles around my 4 pallets for 6 months!
Part of this, naturally, is my own doing. Import is what we do by profession, but it's always 1 seller and always new goods.
This lot comprises of 5 pallets at 2 pickup locations that need to be shipped together to Taiwan. One surely saves money that way, but it opens up all kinds of new logistical problems. Had to crack that one first.
If that were not enough, all pallets contain new MB items, NOS MB items and used parts mixed together. That is a Clearance complication, apparently.
Took a while to sort that.
Wanna hear how it can get even more difficult to ship parts?
The goods on those pallets were sold by several sellers.  nr.1 company  is actually a society/club, but they do have VAT. The nr.2 seller is a proper company, but they do NOT use VAT for NOS parts. Cargo companies do not like that.
All pallets on both locations also contain eBay-bought parts from different sellers.
Some invoices were on my name, others on my company's name. Not good!
And, naturally, none of the sellers had means of weighing my pallets, so no data there for the cargo guys.
Oh, apparently, anyone offering a pickup address for cargo, seller or not, needs to have an export license, or some export form.
None of my sellers normally ship abroad, and sure weren't happy to have to fill out forms, after all the delays and inconvenience.
I am quite sure both Wenner and VDH will not sell me parts anymore after this debacle. Terrible shame, but I can't blame them.
I really did not think this through, back in the beginning of 2016, when I asked them to gather parts and stack pallets for me.
Just presumed that these pallets would ship as easily as a pallet of Ohlins. Man, was I wrong!

Still waiting for confirmation from Germany as we speak, telling me my stuff has finally been picked up!
At the same time there has been no word from the US-pallet lot. Stuffed in a shared container (with a 6.9), The 6.9-owner has not yet been very eager to actually ship his car.
Had I been able to use that car for my projects, I would have pickup up all the bills myself, but it seems I will have to wait for my friend to make up his mind and proceed  to have this container picked up.
Sure, when all goods are finally here, I will have saved a few thousand dollars in shipping fees. However, considering all the delays and excessive paperwork, I would not recommend these methods to anyone.

Next up -in a few months- Customs Clearance.
I already dread the day. Those Customs idiots have no respect for NOS chrome.
Last time around, when the Australia pallets arrived, I lost 50% of my costly chrome due to rough handling.
I am pressing my shipper to arrange me being present at Customs, when they start unpacking, checking and repacking.
Hopefully that will be allowed!

[floyd111]

It is surprising to see how -finally- I have little left to find and purchase. The seemingly endless years of Parts and Options searches did pay off, and the list of to-find items has shrunk from a toilet roll to a Post-It memo.
Basically, I still need an MB-Frenzel, but if I can't get one in the next 2 years, I have 2x 1980 MB-Engel trunk fridges in stock that are in very good shape, era-correct, with MB manual. Not perfect, but close enough.
Also still on the lookout for car-curtains, but I believe these can -eventually- be found at a reasonable price. I see them pop-up in the wrong color and at the wrong price, so it should be a matter of time only.
The 4-suitcase set I have apparently needs no 5th suitcase, like I thought for a long time. Mine was sold as a 4-case set by MB, so it's complete and original. That's another issue stricken from the list.

Here's a few pics of what I did pick up over the last few months.
The rear seat pad is yet to arrive, with thanks to HiHo-Greg, who contacted me to notify me about his find.

[floyd111]

bTW, the speaker covers in cream are NLA at MB. so if you can pick up a nice set somewhere, it may not be a bad idea to do so.
It's quality plastic. If they're not cracked, they clean up very nicely with sponge, brush and soap, as good as NOS.

[Peter]

Hi Stan, good to hear an update from you and I hope all the import dramas work out. I went searching for those palomino colored speaker covers a few months ago but found out that they are for 123/126 only and was told on good authority that all 116's had the black covers. Personally I prefer the palomino color as its matches nicely with the carpet on the parcel shelf.

[floyd111]

Tried to research and confirm that one, but every source I tried came up short. Nearly no data.
Maybe the guys here on the forum can solve this?

[floyd111]

Little addition to the library..

[Peter]

http://www.ebay.de/itm/mercedes-w116-amperemeter-70-70-amp-/282330405871?hash=item41bc341bef:g:i5cAAOSwNnRYf6ap

I think you were hunting for this a few months back Stan