The problem with owning rare and expensive cars

"JGrabowMSt" (jgrabowmst)
11/26/2014 at 11:23 • Filed to: SL600LIFE

Is that it's strongly advisable to also have a good AAA membership that covers the entire area of where you go to car shows. My $350+ tow was covered by my $51/year AAA Plus membership. The best automotive purchase I've ever made.

So as part of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! I had taken the SL out for a big jaunt with a bunch of other Oppos to Northern NJ, and then again to meet with a couple more Oppos up in Yorktown for !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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So, driving around in an SL600 is a pretty big experience. Add to the fact that it's a Sport model makes a bigger difference. Add to the fact that it's not only a Sport, but the first year of the Sports, and an almost fully optioned car changes that even more. Then you get into the fact that it's one of less than about 400 cars, so I've been able to figure out so far, and the thing feels like a million bucks. We'll ignore the fact that I bought it for pennies in comparison.

Well, things break on every car. My Magnum !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which resulted in some rather impressive carnage.

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So as Silvestro, and a number of other attendees of the car show can account for, starting the SL when I went to leave the show was a rather loud experience. Not only was it loud, but it was rather destructive. As it turns out, the funny metallic noise that I heard was actually the tensioner pulley breaking clean off the mount, flying up, and then back down to rest on the belly pan. #winning

So not realizing exactly what had happened at first and with no fluids were falling, we hit the road, me chasing a supercharged 550+ horsepower LWB Range Rover, in a car that should have just gotten a tow. But it ended up working out better for me having tried.

I made it about 25 miles with no tensioner, and things didn't really go amiss until I tried to make one last pass in traffic. At least the car made it across the Tappan Zee Bridge before the belt came off and found it's way to the top of the motor, instead of staying put in the front.

Well, a wonderful NY State Trooper was only minutes behind me, and with all the glory of the radio had me picked up by a nearby tow driver, CJ, in less than 15 minutes. Off to Dover, NJ where my great new friends and their shop is located. 59 miles off of what I had to drive wasn't so bad, because the odometer is sitting at 99,8xx miles, and I need all of them before 100k to make sure the car is going to behave for Caffeine & Carburetors where I plan to hit the magical 100k mile mark in one of the most beautiful and greatest cars I've ever had the chance to experience, much less call my own.

So the car is getting a whole lot of maintenance done on it, and it has an extra 60 miles more than I anticipated. The cooling system is being bled, or may just get fully drained and started over, the oil leak is being identified, and to wrap everything up, the full oil change, and belly pan cleaning, as well all the other oil coated parts underneath.

I'm sad to say it has finally travelled on the back of a tow truck for the first time, but it did so with a great tow driver who I'll hopefully see again. How many people do you know have an S10 with a Honda S2k motor with a massive custom fab turbo setup under the hood?

DISCUSSION (10)

Brian Silvestro > JGrabowMSt
11/26/2014 at 11:34

That was a scary, awful sound.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > JGrabowMSt
11/26/2014 at 11:35

Yay! I finally get to see pictures..

Party-vi > JGrabowMSt
11/26/2014 at 11:37

$6,900 and I can get my hands on a 1995 with 79,000 miles close to me. The ad also says it's FWD and a manual, so I'm pretty sure it's a scam.

Agrajag > JGrabowMSt
11/26/2014 at 11:39

Nooooooo!!!!!

Did you know that you can call MB and they will tow the car for free to the nearest dealer? You would probably never want to take it to a dealer, but it's a cool thing none the less.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > JGrabowMSt
11/26/2014 at 11:40

Kinja'd!!!

All worth it for this picture.

Vicente Esteve > JGrabowMSt
11/26/2014 at 12:41

I think this SL doesn't get enough love. Its an amazing machine, hope it gets in tip top condition for its milestone.

Rico > JGrabowMSt
11/26/2014 at 13:44

FACK, glad I got a chance to see it inside and out before this. Can't wait to see it again in all it's V12 glory.

JGrabowMSt > Party-vi
11/26/2014 at 14:16

I think the last manual ones are 1993/4, so big scam. It was also only the 300SL, which later became the SL320. All SLs are RWD only.

Party-vi > JGrabowMSt
11/26/2014 at 14:22

I mean, yeah. Hence the o_O look.

JGrabowMSt > Rico
11/26/2014 at 16:11

She'll be back, and better than ever once the shop is done with it.