280" Concourse; Diary of a layman

[rumb]

I feel for your frustration. Surely there must be a custom body shop that you can at least get the chassis repaired and painted. 

Maybe advertise in Hemmings or the MBCA Star - or the euro counterpart for you mechanic? 

[floyd111]

Yes, there are body shops, and the chassis is pretty much done, ready to be sprayed. Sprayers can be found as well. What can;t be found is a workshop or mechanic to assemble the car with new parts, out-of-the box.
I'll need to keep looking, I know. The alternative is a massive W116 NOS bonfire party, live-streamed on Youtube..

[ptashek]

Maybe it's time to take stock and sell your stash to recoup some cash, and call it a day. If it hasn't happened in 3-4 years, what are the chances? Is it really worth the time, effort and stress? We both know financially it made no sense from day 1, just like my project.

Given you've pretty much bought out all the relevant NOS stock, you have a bargaining chip.

Just don't be like those two French brothers

[daantjie]

Maybe it's time to take stock and sell your stash to recoup some cash, and call it a day. If it hasn't happened in 3-4 years, what are the chances? Is it really worth the time, effort and stress? We both know financially it made no sense from day 1, just like my project.

Given you've pretty much bought out all the relevant NOS stock, you have a bargaining chip.

Just don't be like those two French brothers

Agree 100%.  You can leisurely offload parts via ebay and such, unless you are in a hurry get rid of it all.  Indeed, those French assholes with the 1000%+ markups on their parts really leaves a bad taste in one's mouth, but I guess they have no morals, sadly very common these days.

[floyd111]

yeah, I think all of us at the forum feel that way. It just ain't right to be super-charging like that.
Still, it's not time for throwing towels yet. I am gonna give it a few more weeks, go through the Taiwan web with a fine comb, hoping  for the best.
The wife and me have discussed maybe switching to an R107 as a bandage to the wound. Not sure it's smart at all, have not thought it through. There re quite a few of these around, actually driving around in "OK" nick.. Just wondering how many parts they share with the W116 in real life, besides the M110 engine.

[Squiggle Dog]

This is how I feel with my 1967 fintail wagon project. The body is too rusted to restore, but with a donor sedan, the wagon sheet metal parts could be transplanted onto it like the coachbuilder did. I can't even acquire a decent fintail sedan because I don't have the money. But maybe one day, if the desert heat doesn't bake the nearly perfect interior by then.

Just wondering how many parts they share with the W116 in real life, besides the M110 engine.

I look at it this way these days--if the part isn't NLA, then it must also fit the R107.

[floyd111]

Well, just when things looked darkest, something popped up. I have known about an odd dealership at the foot of our little mountain, a friendly guy that sells cars, but always the weird ones, cars that other dealers would stay clear off. Thought I'd pay the guy a visit, coz weird cars need mechanics, and thus he must know of such a mechanic. Turns out he's got a repair shop next to his dealership, and it's jam-packed with even weirder cars, like a maserati 228, a couple of old 12V Jaguars, and some US-made towncars. His mechanic adores challenges, and I have accepted the 228 as absolute proof for that theory, haha! He's smart as chips and is very eager to do my W116. Whilst discussing details he managed to fix my CRV transmission issue within 5 minutes, where 10 shops could not do so in 2 years. The idle pump was the culprit. Never even knew I had one. He did. Tomorrow there's gonna be more talk, but I am pretty optimistic again (what else is new) All may not be lost yet!

[floyd111]

Finally been out to go see my cars. Had not been there in almost a year! The restoration shop has been transformed into a supercar-importing and exporting business, and there's lambo's and Ferrari's all over. Restoration work is now limited to regular parts change and metal work. The end. They are doing very well now, though, but that is not anything I can be cheerful about. This guy hd me dig a big hole, based on promises, and all I have is mountains of parts and 3 cars that won't drive. Talked to the shop guy, and we're preparing to part ways. He sure wants me to go, as I am one of the few reminders left from his last 8 years of broken promises and failure. There's issues to check, though. The bill, for one. Have not seen a calculation in 2-3 years, and he wants to have me leave "as-is". I need to check whether all my chrome is still there, and unscratched.  Can't check that until after the move, when do inventory all the NOS parts at the new workshop.
I am not just gonna take my stuff and walk awau quietly. I told him I need to have my chassis painted in and out, before I can move on. It's been fixed and primed already for over a year, so it's about bloody time. He was gonna reluctantly schedule me months from now, but I said no. Not this time around, after being in queue for 4 years. He agreed, and scheduled me 3 weeks from now. Means 5-6 weeks from now there's gonna be a sprayed body. 516 Middle Red, cellulose.
Do I dare get excited in anticipation? Not yet, coz there's bridges to cross yet.

Hope that the new shop will have room around the time the 280 is ready to go onto the flatbed. Sure dread doing the NOS stocktake. It'll be a bloody miracle if everything is still there, and undamaged. Already found busted dash paneling and tar-stained foot pillows for the rear seat floor. Trying not to think about it for now. Keep my Zen.

[Tiago Morgado]

Crikey Stan - respect! Just read this thread from start to finish (or today to be more precise) and I have to say it's been one hell of a story. Hoping things turn around for you soon.

[floyd111]

Looks like we have a chance now. Seen pics of welding going on last week, the old workshop doing the last bits in front of the car. I should be in queue for spraying any day now, and the new workshop is awaiting the departure of a Maserati to make room for my car and it's re-assembly. With the car around the corner of my home, regular pics would finally be an option. In the meantime, patience is required..

[floyd111]

To answer the question from the SHOP section:
actually, I haven't posted any updates for a long time. The collection is vastly bigger by now, growing at a rate of 1 or 2 items per week, since last I posted a collectible.
But I don't really collect everything. I am tempted daily, but till now, pretty disciplined.
For one, I don't buy MB jewelry that once was for sale in the showroom, or anything else that was for sale in that department. All goods need to be German-issued, that's another limit. There needs to be original packaging .

1. The MB give-away gifts from 1920-1980 are all really such dealer gifts, and 90% has the original box. I am now hunting empty boxes, and indeed found a few. Amazing to see how many dealer gifts were issued in Germany-only over the years. I have almost 75 of them now, but there may be 25 more. They are now getting increasingly hard to find, since I bought each one available online worldwide, and spend at least 1 hour per day in several languages, hunting them down. Prices are going up fast, and I am now forced to keep track of 3-4 auction houses, as well as ebay and sorts. This is my favourite collection, by far. Love them things!

2. The other collection was W116 car-install options. Those are pretty much complete. I wated a Becker/frenzel fridge, but at 3000 euros, I am out. And that's the only actual offer I have seen in 5 years. So I bought 2 first gen 1980 A-type MB/Engel fridges instead. Think I have 100 car options now, many of them bought twice. That's enough.

3. The W116 NOS collection has also ended, over a year ago already. I am not shopping for more till the car is in assembly-mode, and I know what is missing.

4. What's left is the 1972-1979 german MB showroom copy. Still need the cleaning products from back in the day. Have not been able to find a single bottle. That's a big gap. Besides that, the MB accessory-cabinet is complete. Got every dealer-offered acc. besides the "pannengurt", a towing rope.
But that's just the cupboard-contents. Still need to rebuild the cupboards like they used to be, and have them stickered with the 1971/1972 logotypes.
Now it gets interesting. Tables and chairs and lighting. I have the matchbooks, the ashtrays, the lighters for ON the tables, but at some point I will need the 70's showroom furniture. Think I will write to the Classic center and see if for once, they can be of any use and send me some 70's showroom stock/press photos. See what that furniture needs to look like.

We are now waiting for a building permit to come through, after which we can finally build our house in the mountains. Been waiting 5+ years. In the Lego scale model that I built (140CM x80CM x50cm x 40kg) I have reserved a nice portion of space for a man-cave type space under the house, the 70's showroom, where I can simply park my W116, when the day comes. It won't be that big, maybe the size of 3 cars, 4 at best.
But, if MB Taiwan wants to buy that showroom, or the giftbox collection, at a good price and install it in their own, modern showroom, as a "classic corner" I would go for that. It deserves to be seen by more then just my farmer neighbor. Same goes for my own 0-mile car, once done. I can build a second one if I succeed in building the first.

[floyd111]

In this week's episode: Our man can be seen in amazement in front of his screen, faced with fresh pictures of our old Workshop-gone-Tradesmen repairing old cars, once more. Hark! Are these the Bells of Hope I hear in the distance?
Once more, Ravens were sent and meetings were held. Apparently, there should be a sprayed chassis 3-4 months from now. Let's be optimistic and presume that -for once- there will be no Evil Landlords. Could it be?

[irvine]

just finished reading the whole thing, amazing work collecting everything and keeping a calm head with the problems faced.

neil.

[floyd111]

Thanks! I don't even know anymore why I keep pushing this project at this stage.. Not thinking about it helps a lot.

[floyd111]

This weekend I got this weird phone call. Someone told me my car was completely ready, plastered, welded and sanded, and asked if I could come to the workshop to pick the spray color of my choice.
Where for over 4 years I would have cracked the champagne to celebrate, I found myself quite blase, unimpressed by the long-awaited news. After ..well, it's there for anyone to read. It's been a bit of a ride to get here.
Still not sure what assembly is going to look like, but restored, and sprayed.. It's as underwhelming as it is overwhelming. Got a few pics already, but will pop over to the workshop this week to snap some more pics..