Westerners owning restoration shops in Asia

[rumb]

Time-wise I dont think you are too far out of normal, especially considering where you are located.  At just over  2 years I have just recently got my car so I can drive it.  due to recent accident I think I will move forward with next year or two of work to do body work. It's a long haul experience to rebuild a W116.

The last car I did MG Midget I did a complete bare metal restoration in 7 months.  but that car is very small and simple and new parts are easy to get.  It also took months of long days to do in such a short time.

W116 on other hand it can take weeks that turn into months just to solve one problem.

[floyd111]

Stan, I'm trying to be helpful.  But something that bothers me, is that you state again and again that getting work done in Taiwan is so much cheaper than in the US / EU, yet then you state that you cannot find the right skills locally

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but cars need panel beaters, spray cabin guys, engine mechanics and assembly guys. They're all available here and perform perfectly, except for the assembly guys. These don't perform well at all, but at least they are cheap like their colleagues .
Brief, if you can bring your own assembly guy, the rest of the local workshop can outperform any foreign company.

As far as that supply and support infrastructure you speak of, we have all of that available, fast and affordable as well.

It's the (dis)-assembly issue.  I can't really say much more about it without having to go into dodgy generalizations. Can't find anyone willing and capable locally, and my hyper-connected 9-lives workshop boss has been trying to find a guy for almost 7 years.

[adamb]

I can only comment about my restoration experiences. So here goes. I was looking for a place not far from me that I could visit periodically to watch the progress. Although I have a multicultural background  I didn't have anybody close enough that I trusted to do work in another country where labour is cheaper. And anyway see the first point...

Restoration for individuals is undertaken due to passion. For me it was the passion for the 116 that I fell in love with and still love. There was a budget. Definitely a budget and I chose a shop that was going to do work to my budget requirements. During my research I visited small crappy shops where I'd get a botch job for very little. Also I visited what I'd call top end shops. In frank conversations I understood that these places could not restore to my budget because they do not undertake projects where they believe 500 hours is required but the customer wishes to pay for 100 only.

I was very satisfied with the result. Costs were a little higher than planned but that's because of discoveries along the way. Good will prevailed and I've now used the same shop for other jobs.

So, enjoy your hobby. Don't make it a business unless you can dispassionately talk about these cars as investments. And if that's the case you'd probably start looking at other more promising models.

[marku]

I can only comment about my restoration experiences. So here goes. I was looking for a place not far from me that I could visit periodically to watch the progress. Although I have a multicultural background  I didn't have anybody close enough that I trusted to do work in another country where labour is cheaper. And anyway see the first point...

Restoration for individuals is undertaken due to passion. For me it was the passion for the 116 that I fell in love with and still love. There was a budget. Definitely a budget and I chose a shop that was going to do work to my budget requirements. During my research I visited small crappy shops where I'd get a botch job for very little. Also I visited what I'd call top end shops. In frank conversations I understood that these places could not restore to my budget because they do not undertake projects where they believe 500 hours is required but the customer wishes to pay for 100 only.

I was very satisfied with the result. Costs were a little higher than planned but that's because of discoveries along the way. Good will prevailed and I've now used the same shop for other jobs.

So, enjoy your hobby. Don't make it a business unless you can dispassionately talk about these cars as investments. And if that's the case you'd probably start looking at other more promising models.

Couldn't agree more

[Diesel 617]

This is a fascinating thread. What S class said about " allied support services' is on point. As well as what adamb. And the rest of the post are informative as well, with good insights.

What I would ask you to ask yourself is "What is your intention?"

When I originally started in the w116 arena I started out my Internet search with the word "Top 10 most reliable diesel cars ever".  [See Continuation to skip back story]
Backstory: Owned two oldsmobiles a 1990 98 and a 1988 88. After those cars will never buy a GM product ever again, horrendously unsafe and poorly engineering. The 98 had an eletric fault that would randomly kill the engine upon initial acceleration (made intersections a real life or death game) and  the 88 rusted out; as well as the abysmal handling. I would have every GM vehicle crushed if it were up to me.
At one point I came across this photo: http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/comment-image/327682.jpg and decided to change my preferences to cars that can survive in Africa. From an article i was reading about reliable cars "Land Cruiser: Go to a 3rd world country. The only cars that survive are Land Cruisers and old Diesel Mercedes. Toyota built its reputation on the Land Cruiser. First introducing it to the United States in 1958, the Land Cruiser kept the company alive until the Corona showed up in 1966. To this day the Land Cruiser is known worldwide for its toughness and reliability. Like the Civic above, we simply couldn't have a top 10 list without including the Land Cruiser."  Since the Landrover Defender 110 and the International Scout were out of my price range that left only the Mercedes to be desired. I stumbled across a china blue 1980 300SD for 2500 cash and It was magical. I still remember the image on the craiglist post.
Fast forward four years later i'm on my 3rd and 4th w116. First one had a 300D trans that blew up, second had the head-gasket fail (previous owner negligence), and badly banged up body, 3rd is rusting out and 4th is the car with a solid body, ready to become a 300SD(300SDL technically speaking). Anyhow the point to all of this is I accepted that fact that I had limited funds to work with and that if I was going to have to work on a car I might as well enjoy it (and I do so long as it is on scheduled maintenance days). [Continuation] For me the w116 has never been about making money on it, I sought a car I could drive on three wheels if need arose. A classic Mercedes-Benz fit that paradigm. As of late there has been a shift though, into the idea I could break even while rebuilding my own Mercedes-Benz, I believe that is defiantly possible. And if that is possible then profiting from the w116 should be within sight, it just requires the right framework.

As it is, the w116 is a very niche market and most people (potential buyers) have at least three major hurdles to overcome. To start, most people have no comprehension for the beauty of engineering that went into these automobiles (note the difference, as a car is what gets you from point a to b). Second, they are too afraid it will leave them stranded or lacks modern safety improvements (this is the one true hurdle). Third, advertising has trained people to think they want/need all the fancy bells and whistles of todays cars. Right away that place all classic cars in a niche market with fewer buys. From what I've read, and it seems to be true  based on other's stories. When it comes to niche markets, quality and service are everything. Niche markets can reach a point where price is less of a factor because of the types of buyers you are dealing with. For the person who can afford to have a classic car properly restored were typically taking about folks in the upper income brackets. However, let us not forget about the shade tree mechanic (myself include here), the one's who do all the work themselves but have trouble sourcing reasonably priced (shipping is a major factor) and respectable condition, used and new parts.

Where there is a will, there is a way.