Story time: Parting ways with my 1st car

"Scary__goongala!" (corymagee) 10/17/2014 at 14:29 • Filed to: None

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On paper the 1983 Mercedes Benz 300 Turbodiesel is a car I would no interest in. It comprises the characteristics I least want in a car. My W123 was heavy, an automatic, had 4 doors, and every response from the car is SLOW. However, over the course of a few months with nothing else to do I quickly became enamored with this vehicle.

The following pictures are in no particular order.

This car was bought new by my neighbor's grandparents in Florida. My neighbor gained possession of the car after both of his grandparents had passed away. He drove the car regularly until something dead lined it. For whatever reason he didn't get around to fixing it despite having the tools and knowledge. My guess was having a family comes first. So the car sat at the top of his driveway under a tree with no cover for several years without ever being moved.

I was always glimpsing at the car and making comments to my neighbor that he should do something with it. I wanted an E30 for the longest time and it always seemed to far gone to fix up or so I thought. So the car never held my attention. This changed when I graduated from my job training for the Army in February 2013. I was home after 6 months of training. However, most of my friends were still in college for the year. So I had quite a bit of money saved, nobody to hang with, and since our beloved Malibu kicked the bucket the summer previous no car to drive. This meant I couldn't even look for a job as well.

I wanted to buy my own car but my parents begged me to save my money and that they were going to buy a 3rd car soon(which they did a month later). I saw my neighbors for the first time after 6 months and mentioned my impeding boredom not even thinking of the old German beauty occupying their driveway. My neighbor told me I should work on the Benz. After all, my job training was to be a Wheeled Mechanic, even though I knew most of what they had to tell me.

We walked across the street to get the keys and he even made me accept money for a new battery because that was the first of many things it would need. He works down in SC so he was rarely around to see my eventual progress with the car. Days later I bought a battery, installed it, and the car started right up. I realized later I didn't know how to actually start it properly. I hadn't allowed the glow plugs to even warm up first.

AMAZING I THOUGHT!! So I hoped in the car and put the seat belt on. I was too excited to notice my foot had sent the brake pedal all the way to the floor with no pressure what so ever. After shifting into reverse and letting off the pedal, the car was still in place. OH THE PARKING BRAKE MUST BE ON CORY, SILLY ME. So I preceded to release the parking brake and the 30 yr old German tank of a car preceded to roll down the drive way quite rapidly. A proper mashing of the E-brake cut that disaster short.

The next big purchase for the girl was a new set of shiny black shoes. Her last pair were just too rotted. When my neighbor learned of this and the money I was investing he thought the only appropriate action was to give her to me. HE GAVE ME A 30 YR OLD DIESEL MERCEDES WITH ONLY 105K ON THE ODOMETER. The agreement was that when I was ready to part with the car I would sell it back to him for what I had put into it.

The following days, weeks, and months had me making the car a reliable daily driver. Sadie even survived the trek to and from school over WV mountains without a hitch. There was an unfortunate day at school where I found myself replacing an oil pan gasket on a rather steep road to make it home for Fall Break. The two times it had to be towed though, were because of my own simple dumb mistakes. For the most part complications only arose when the car was not being driven.

Sadly as I mentioned in the beginning Sadie was never the car I truly wanted. Her replacement would eventually come, but I made sure her replacement was more than worthy of the title. The two did get to spend some time together in my dad's garage however. As a college student I can't afford both so now Sadie resides back in my neighbor's driveway ready for whatever( sans probably needing a new trans fluid pan). I still get to see her but I greatly miss driving the car and listening to that mini semi truck like diesel engine idle. I swear people mistook me for the campus buses when I drove around campus. People really looked confused as to why a car sounded this way.

My hope is that down the road I will have the chance to buy her back. Given that chance I will fix all the little things I never got to.

CalzoneGolem > Scary__goongala! 10/17/2014 at 14:38

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Miata? Sorry but you made the wrong choice here.

Scary__goongala! > CalzoneGolem 10/17/2014 at 14:38

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you make me sad

CalzoneGolem > Scary__goongala! 10/17/2014 at 14:43

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I'd say that I'm sorry but I respect you enough to not lie to you.

E92M3 > Scary__goongala! 10/17/2014 at 15:58

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Your neighbor is awesome! I wish i had neighbors like that.