The Forum

Garage => Test Drive => Topic started by: ptashek on 04 June 2019, 12:18 PM

Title: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: ptashek on 04 June 2019, 12:18 PM
I've made a stop at the Mercedes-Benz Museum today, and parked Goldie the only appropriate way ;)

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/re0gw0f5jrzxfx5/IMG_20190604_101020~3.jpg?dl=1)
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: revilla on 04 June 2019, 02:05 PM
Awesome ^ 3 (car, parking, place) !!!
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: Type17 on 06 June 2019, 12:56 PM
Goldie should be inside, on display  :)
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: ptashek on 07 June 2019, 02:42 AM
Quote from: Type17 on 06 June 2019, 12:56 PM
Goldie should be inside, on display  :)

She's currently sporting a thick layer of road grime acquired over the 4000km we've covered so far... No chance of being admitted to even the lowest standard museum ;)

That, and a van threw a stone in France and chipped my windshield quite bad.
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: Type17 on 07 June 2019, 02:49 AM
A good wash and she'd be eligible  ;)


Bummer about the windscreen, I presume that it's only a few years old. (Any chance of getting a new one fitted in Germany or Poland? - cheaper than Irl?)
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: ptashek on 07 June 2019, 01:41 PM
Quote from: Type17 on 07 June 2019, 02:49 AM
A good wash and she'd be eligible  ;)


Bummer about the windscreen, I presume that it's only a few years old. (Any chance of getting a new one fitted in Germany or Poland? - cheaper than Irl?)

It's 3 years old at this point. All original too.
The chip is about the size of a 20c coin, which should be repairable with resin injection. I dread having to replace the windscreen...
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: Type17 on 07 June 2019, 02:14 PM
I got this done on a six-month old Audi windscreen a few years ago and was told that the resin injection only works if the damage is clean and dry, and if no linear cracks have begun to spread from the original damage, so maybe get it done ASAP (before you drive in rain or drive over bumpy roads).
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: goldacre on 07 June 2019, 06:48 PM
Wow, how did you get it so close to the front doors!? Umnmmmmm, a cunning plan?

'.... this is the plan, we dress up in Museum staff clothes and tell security it's a new rare exhibit and we are doing a photo shoot before pushing the car inside...'

But got busted? Security person '... serious? My friends still drive these cars and they belong to an awesome forum called W116'

But he felt for you so cut you some slack  ;D

A company in Australia that did resin repairs would give out sheets of stickers for free at car shows that were clear different sized circles and would say when getting a chip on the screen put a sticker on it if the right size. Maybe a wide roll of clear tape would suit for that purpose then see if they can patch?

Great to see a Grand Touring op being done, Mercs love long runs. How did she go on the highways and did you score some good fuel runs? I can squeeze 650klm out of my Merc sitting on 60mph/100kph with AC on which is respectable me thinks  ::)

G
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: nathan on 08 June 2019, 06:13 AM
that's fantastic PT. nicely done. aside from the museum, I like to got to the public carpark to the Left of the museum, a small 2 story one. MB often store cars in there and you can park next to them!
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: ptashek on 08 June 2019, 04:50 PM
Quote from: goldacre on 07 June 2019, 06:48 PM
Wow, how did you get it so close to the front doors!? Umnmmmmm, a cunning plan?

It's encouraged by the museum themselves, actually :) That spot is explicitly reserved for classic benzes of all kinds.

As for fuel, so far we've made around 5000km, averaging 13.4 l/100km (21mpg, imperial), and a total of about 1.5 litres of engine oil. Best run was 12.3 and worst 15.8, with speeds ranging from 60 on local roads, to 200 on the autobahn.

No AC though, as I don't have any :)
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: ptashek on 08 June 2019, 04:56 PM
Quote from: nathan on 08 June 2019, 06:13 AM
that's fantastic PT. nicely done. aside from the museum, I like to got to the public carpark to the Left of the museum, a small 2 story one. MB often store cars in there and you can park next to them!

Good tip! I didn't know they do that.
I've noticed they have started (or maybe I've missed it before) displaying some of the "classic stars" cars offered for sale on the ground floor. Overly optimistic asking prices for most though.
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: ptashek on 08 June 2019, 04:59 PM
Quote from: Type17 on 07 June 2019, 02:14 PM
I got this done on a six-month old Audi windscreen a few years ago and was told that the resin injection only works if the damage is clean and dry, and if no linear cracks have begun to spread from the original damage, so maybe get it done ASAP (before you drive in rain or drive over bumpy roads).

Too late for that - it's been pouring bucket loads for three days now in Normandy.

The chip isn't spreading so far, so I'm still hopeful for a fix rather than a replacement.
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: gavin116 on 09 June 2019, 12:21 PM
Hi Lucas

Sounds like you've had an epic trip. Great shot of the Goldie outside the museum. Consumptions sounds good, mine has air-con, and the mileage is only marginally more, I don't think it makes such a difference with our big engines: no air-con or air-con off or on.

Ho, hum, our very upright windscreens... I have a stone chip about 5mm in diameter, which must have been filled by the previous owner. You may be surprised to learn that the very same windscreen has been out of the car twice (once to remove the sunroof - new seal didn't sit right and I lost the aluminium trims, and once for the resto) and surprisingly it did crack any further. Here's hoping yours will be similar.

Keep 116ing
;)
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: Mick74 on 14 June 2019, 02:26 PM
I'm on the way to Stuttgart, via some interesting detours, and I've picked up a stone chip on my windscreen too.
Is it a conspiracy? I'd love to score that parking space outside the museum, so I'll be there early! I don't think that my fuel consumption will get out of the teens, but the results aren't in yet. I've done 525 miles, or 840kms, since leaving Galway and I'm currently in the Somme valley, on the way to Ypres.
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: goldacre on 14 June 2019, 06:14 PM
Hi Mick74, awesome trip to do although quite sobering in places. I did in a hire car, a Jeep with a motor and gearbox that were always having disagreements with each other, was thinking the engine was built by Republicans and the gearbox by Democrats  :-\

Ypres is amazing, huge museum and that huge cathedral is impressive and it's been rebuilt twice after the wars! Looks ancient still. Do try and stay for the Menin gate last post. Polygon Woods cemetery allows for peaceful secluded contemplation and do sign the book but take your own pen.

Do post a picture of your Merc at the Museum in Stuttgart. Apparently there is another Merc Museum in the town the Mercedes founder was born in but limited open hours but all the local Germans in Heidelberg said was excellent.

Great to hear Mercs doing GT runs, lucky they have 96 litre fuel tanks  :-*

G
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: ptashek on 15 June 2019, 09:44 AM
There's also a fantastic technology museum near Stuttgart, in Sinsheim and Speyr.
Sinsheim has two original Mercs driven by the heads of the Nazi regime - Hitler's and Himmlers armoured parade cars, and a vast collections of other Benzes, Maybachs, military gear and - the only museum on the globe to have both - the Concorde and TU-144, which you can see from the inside.
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: rumb on 15 June 2019, 03:30 PM
The Sinsheim museum is not to be missed.  An excellent museum.
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: Mick74 on 17 June 2019, 04:00 PM
I'd love to visit the museum in Sinsheim, but I don't know if we can make it on this trip. Always an excuse for another road trip next year!
The car is averaging 16.5mpg (4.55 litres per gallon) with 4 on board and a full boot. We'll see if that improves a tad, but I wouldn't bet on it.
I had a great chat for over an hour with a Belgian enthusiast today in a car park. He was driving a bus of school children on a tour and saw me pull in, so he came over for a chat. We swapped stories and photos of our various experiences. He has an '86 500SEC and a '92 300SL-24.

I'll certainly post some photos from Stuttgart, especially if I get a great parking spot like Ptashek did!

It is a sobering trip though. We started in the Somme valley and travelled up to the Ypres Salient. We were in Tyne Cot cemetery, near Ypres, today. It holds the graves of nearly 12,000 men, 8300 of them unknown and a further 35,000 names who have no known grave. It is a beautiful, dignified place, but sad and humbling at the same time. The personal epitaphs from loved ones are particularly poignant. Part of our reason for this trip is to remember the Irish men who fought in WW1, nearly a quarter of whom never came home. Because of the prevailing political situation and feeling in Southern Ireland at the time, these men and the survivors were deliberately forgotton and never spoken about for decades. The attached photo is from Ginchy, France, which the Irish 16th Division captured on September 9th, 1916
Title: Re: Best parking spot in Stuttgart
Post by: revilla on 13 August 2019, 04:19 AM
Thanks Lucas for the tip on the parking spot. The museum lady who we asked didn't hesitate a second to approve.

We're back after 2000kms with nothing serious to report. The car behave wonderfully including a short speed ride on the Autobahn.

The museum was great but the visit to the Sindelfingen assembly plant (same where my car was "born") was outstanding. Our guide was well documented, good English and funny. We were a few meters from where the cars were being assembled/tested. Other than the std rule of no cameras, there was full transparency on the manufacturing process.

Highly recommended!