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The "Goldilocks" restoration thread

Started by ptashek, 28 March 2014, 07:56 AM

ptashek

Quote from: daantjie on 08 February 2016, 08:37 PM
NICE!
I see you have anti squat. Was this standard on all 450's?

According to EPC it was standard for all 450s in all markets, except Japan.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

adamb

Quote from: ptashek on 05 February 2016, 06:46 PM
This is my favourite before/after shot thus far :)



OMG! How can you even contemplate taking the car on anything but a perfectly clean road after that?

ptashek

Quote from: adamb on 09 February 2016, 05:20 PM
OMG! How can you even contemplate taking the car on anything but a perfectly clean road after that?

That's something I'm still asking myself too!
But I'm not a fan of trailer queens, so I guess I'll just get over it with time :)
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

Squiggle Dog

My style is to get things as perfect as possible and then to treat them as carefully as possible while still using them regularly. If chips and scratches happen, oh well. Though to be honest, I never really get anything near perfect. But if I had the money... I hope some day my 300SD will look as nice as your 450SE.
Stop paying for animal cruelty and slaughter. Go vegan! [url="https://challenge22.com/"]https://challenge22.com/[/url]

1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Heated Seats, 350,000+

ptashek

Quote from: Squiggle Dog on 10 February 2016, 12:11 AM
I hope some day my 300SD will look as nice as your 450SE.

I hope it will look better than mine :)
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

ptashek

Another deadline has come (Third? Fourth? I've stopped counting!), and passed, and the finish line just keeps on moving. I'm blocked on the upholstery job big time, because there simply isn't anyone around either willing to do it, able to do it, or not asking extortionate rates just to scare me away. It's been 2.5 years since I've last driven the car, almost 2 years since the restoration began, and I'm slowly starting to loose interest in any of it.

Bring out the cheerleaders, I need some motivation folks :D

1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

floyd111

That's the invisible wall I am facing too. I am running out of steam some days.
Really never thought this would be  2-3 year daily occupation..
I can only image you're tired with more time than me on the clock.
Still, can't stop now, eh?

Peter

Keep at it fella, whenever I need motivation to work on my 280 I read what you have been doing here on the Goldilocks thread  - especially the photos and that's the benchmark for the concourse work I'm doing. Nothing compared to your workload however and I fully understand your frustration with the supply chain.

karmann_20v


floyd111

When you're talking upholstery.. are you talking custom-made velours?

ptashek

Quote from: floyd111 on 07 March 2016, 10:44 PM
When you're talking upholstery.. are you talking custom-made velours?

No, no, that option has been abandoned a long time ago. It simply isn't economically viable.

The job I'm looking at is fitting the entire custom made RHD carpet set from KHM, including knee panels, centre console and parcel/hat shelf - a total of 27 or 28 individual pieces.
Then on top of that it's re-doing the door cards from the same carpet material, plus swapping all the seat/headrest/armrest covers. It's all made, just needs skilled hands to finish and fit it.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

floyd111

I am surprised that is a bottleneck in your part of the world..

ptashek

Thanks for the encouragement folks.
Also, I think we've established with full certainty how many bodies fit into a w116 trunk ;)
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

ptashek

Good news. Upholstery job is in progress as of today!

The restorer tells me there's ~250 man-hours remaining until the car will be ready for pickup. If this prediction materialises, it would mean we'll fit the entire project in just under 2000 man-hours total, excluding any auxiliary services contracted out to other vendors (e.g. chroming, plating).

As the job comes to an end I'll start a series of posts about the pitfalls, ups and downs of such an undertaking, in the hope it'll help others considering such restoration. Of course, based purely on my subjective opinion from a single project. Your mileage may vary, as they say.

Let me begin with the obvious.

Should I, or should I not restore my W116 to the extent of this (or similar) projects?
After (almost, for now) having done it, I still think the answer is an ambiguous "it depends".
And it depends on the answer to a very simple question - are you planning on keeping the car indefinitely, or are you planning to sell it on in the future?
For whatever definition of "indefinitely" and "future" you wish to apply.

If the answer is "sell it on", I can honestly say that - from a purely economical standpoint - fully restoring a W116 is pointless. Unless you do all of it yourself, and with global price trends (as of 2016) in mind, it is unlikely you will get any return on your investment in a time frame, where such restoration would still be fresh enough to warrant a high asking price. Perfectly restored and mothballed cars age too, unfortunately, and from my own observations it seems serious collectors will pick an unrestored car, over a restored one, any if they have a choice. Sure, there might exist some special markets where none of this applies (according to floyd111, Taiwan is such a market), but generally - loose all hope of making a buck out of it.

If the answer is "keep it", sky's the limit. Or more seriously, your financial circumstances and own love of the car. This is where the first pitfall comes up: letting passion override sanity. No car is worth getting into trouble over money, so tread carefully, plan as much as you can and have contingency plans for the unexpected. More on that in the next post :)
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

ptashek

This will feel like a Project Management lecture... but please bear with me ;)

Planning and budgeting
Now comes the part where you'll have to find a workshop to do the work for you, start drawing up a budget and a project plan. Ultimately, this is the reality check phase. You can still back out mostly without having incurred any expense.

Before you start looking for a shop, or drawing up a budget, figure out what it is you want to have done to the car. Be as precise as you can.
What's the expected end result? Write it down in detail - this is your battle plan, your sanity anchor and your base budget determinator.

With that in hand, start looking for a shop that is not only willing but also capable of delivering on your plan.
First and foremost, if you find a shop that does give you a detailed cost and duration estimate: run away as if your life depended on it.
What you can expect from a reputable shop that knows what they're doing, is a ball-park man-hour estimate based on past restoration projects similar to what you have in mind (ideally, Mercedes projects too).
Once you have a few candidate places, do your due diligence. Browse the web, talk to past customers if possible, check financial statements (in some countries those are public!)

Now that you have a base plan, and a workshop willing and capable of carrying it out, the next thing is figuring out your budget. From my own chats with people who have done such projects in the past, the rough estimate is a 50/50 split between parts and labour. In my case, it's pretty close to that ratio, so I'd say it's a good base estimate.

Next start browsing the EPC (it's a must!), and build a base list of parts that would be required to achieve the desired end result. This positions you to get a pretty close cost estimate on parts. Send that list to several MB dealers and stockists, and get a valuation. Disregard any discounts applied, add 50% to the highest figure to account for price hikes and you have your parts budget ready. Next, take the rough man-hour estimate you got from the shop (or use 2500 man-hours, which is reasonably generous), multiply by the hourly rate, account for all taxes and mandatory charges, add 50% for labour cost hikes. That's your labour budget. Why 50% markup? I'm a pessimist by design ;) Still, err on the side of worst case estimates.  And don't forget to ask the chosen workshop what their preferred method of payment is - stage by stage, downpayment deposit, lump sum payment after completion, monthly arrears; or a mix of any of those. It will impact how you need to budget for labour, and how much of that budget you must have in your pocket on day 1.

You may have noticed I keep saying "base budget", "base plan", "base parts list". Let me explain: those will change as you progress, and don't trust anyone who tells you different. You will most certainly need to adjust for outsourced services. You may need to adjust your budget and plan downward to account for unexpected events (global recession "2008 edition", anyone?). Or, you could win the lottery tomorrow and never bother counting your pennies ever again. I can't tell you what a good contingency budget markup is - it depends on your own personal circumstances. But do make sure to have some contingency funds planned into your budget.

Add your estimate parts and labour budget figures, contrast that with your financial circumstances and make the call to proceed, or abort. If in doubt - abort.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE