My old Mercedes in Uganda

[Koolvin]

Having discussed this at Olly's GTG I thought I'd also post here.

As you may know I sold the W116 last year. The buyer (non Ugandan) arrived from Surrey with a 'mechanic-type-guy'.

After a long chat and going over the vast history of the car we we went out for a test drive. Back at the house, the chaps looked around underneath the vehicle and under the interior carpets and usual car checks.

They shook my hand and paid me a cash deposit. the funds were wired to me and after around 7 days a mutual collection date was agreed.....

The collectors? A Freight Forwarding company - destination? Uganda !

 

[Adam230K]

I remember sitting in that with you and Peter and I said: 'This feels like an S-Class'...

 

[Whitey]

I am going to spell Mercidez like that from now on

 

[EDZ649]

I am going to spell Mercidez like that from now on

Please don't

 

[219]

We all know who the real buyer was now

 

[Whitey]

I even like saying it like that - Mer-si-dez - try it !

 

[wobbly]

Loved the story when you told me yesterday.

It must be the only Mercedes from UK to Africa that has actually been paid for.

 

[jaymanek]

Actually there is a massive market in Africa for Mercedes... Old, New...

I get a lot of enquiries but only sell to local buyers, a lot ask me to handle the shipping etc which I wont get involved with as ive heard of cars going missing along the way.

 

[Spinal]

Loved the story when you told me yesterday.

It must be the only Mercedes from UK to Africa that has actually been paid for.

Mine's gone to Africa too My trusty old W202 is in Timbuktu

M.

 

[GMW]

Loved the story when you told me yesterday.

It must be the only Mercedes from UK to Africa that has actually been paid for.

Actually, Mercedes-Benz has official distributors in almost all African countries, including Uganda, just check on the main website www.mercedes-benz.com and look for dealers in Africa. Not to mention South Africa which is probably their largest African market for new cars.

 

[Pappilo]

Loved the story when you told me yesterday.

It must be the only Mercedes from UK to Africa that has actually been paid for.

The bigotry on this forum is mind boggling. It seems the more racist your post is the more thanks you get. Well there is a saying that birds of the same feather flock together. There is no point fighting the bigots and BNP supporters on this forum. I think its best to quit and let them turn this forum into an extention of the BNP/ EDL websites. The sad thing is there are many open and fair minded people on here who are willing to help and also give out useful information. Unfortunatley they are being tainted buy these racist fools. These days it seems every other thread contains some racist post which is loudly cheered by onlooking BNP supporters.

Goodbye to MBNP Club Forum!

Food for thought for Moderators

I also visit the other MB forum and I have not for once come across these kind of threads or posts. Maybe they do not have bigots on there or maybe the moderators do their jobs properly

 

[trapperjohn]

The bigotry on this forum is mind boggling. It seems the more racist your post is the more thanks you get. Well there is a saying that birds of the same feather flock together. There is no point fighting the bigots and BNP supporters on this forum. I think its best to quit and let them turn this forum into an extention of the BNP/ EDL websites. The sad thing is there are many open and fair minded people on here who are willing to help and also give out useful information. Unfortunatley they are being tainted buy these racist fools. These days it seems every other thread contains some racist post which is loudly cheered by onlooking BNP supporters.

Goodbye to MBNP Club Forum!

Food for thought for Moderators

I also visit the other MB forum and I have not for once come across these kind of threads or posts. Maybe they do not have bigots on there or maybe the moderators do their jobs properly

Far too touchy by half. If you cannot see the difference between jocular and jugular then goodday to you sir.

 

[LTD]

I'm baffled.

Loads of MBs from the UK are stolen and exported to Africa. That's a known issue.

Make a jocular comment about it and you are branded a racist.

Pappilo, you are bang out of order IMO.

 

[trapperjohn]

Glad you are only joking and hey leave pigs out of this. Clean animals you know.

 

[davidmi]

Well the tone of this thread changed while I was typing my 'quick' reply to the first few posts! Yes there are Interpol specialists in car theft based in several African ports just as there international drug specialists from Interpol. But, I can vouch from personal experience they are very even handed in the races they randomly check for drugs and imported cars.

Lots of Mercedes in the bits of West Africa I have lived in, but they mostly hail from Switzerland or the Netherlands according to the international signifier which most leave on. They also tend to have older drivers since the younger businessmen prefer a Toyota 4x4 or BMW. The real rich will have an armoured Mercedes or a Hummer. There was one 500SEC in Cotonou that was in good condition but repainted in a non-standard blaring blue metallic. Most of the secondhand imports for West Africa moved to Cotonou after the Nigerian government banned the import of secondhand vehicles through its ports (several African countries ban import of cars over seven years old for environmental reasons but this was mainly down to thievery) so I would often see weird and wonderful vehicles (i.e. big-winged American hearses from the 50s) heading for the more obscure border crossings with their new Nigerian owners.

Most of the business is handled by Lebanese traders but I hadn't believed a Nigerian friend who told me that when cars were coming direct into Lagos by sea it was customary to weld the bonnets shut at the destination port. Another Nigerian guy working for me went to see this very smart BMW coupe at a trader site in Cotonou and did a deal after a run in the compound only but everything seemed great. He had to pay the compound watchman for his services weekly for a month while the clearance papers were sorted out with the local authorities. When he went back for the car it had no headlights and the engine expired terminally a few hundred metres up the road. A quick examination showed it had received a transplant after he viewed it! He was turned away at the compound gate with the Fon words for caveat emptor ringing in his ears. It took 2-3 months and nearly 1000 USD to find a used engine in Lagos.

 

[Meldrew2]

The bigotry on this forum is mind boggling. It seems the more racist your post is the more thanks you get. Well there is a saying that birds of the same feather flock together. There is no point fighting the bigots and BNP supporters on this forum. I think its best to quit and let them turn this forum into an extention of the BNP/ EDL websites. The sad thing is there are many open and fair minded people on here who are willing to help and also give out useful information. Unfortunatley they are being tainted buy these racist fools. These days it seems every other thread contains some racist post which is loudly cheered by onlooking BNP supporters.

Goodbye to MBNP Club Forum!

Food for thought for Moderators

I also visit the other MB forum and I have not for once come across these kind of threads or posts. Maybe they do not have bigots on there or maybe the moderators do their jobs properly

Far too touchy by half. If you cannot see the difference between jocular and jugular then goodday to you sir.

+1. Get a sense of proportion, pappilo!

 

[Deleted member 37751]

The bigotry on this forum is mind boggling. It seems the more racist your post is the more thanks you get. Well there is a saying that birds of the same feather flock together. There is no point fighting the bigots and BNP supporters on this forum. I think its best to quit and let them turn this forum into an extention of the BNP/ EDL websites. The sad thing is there are many open and fair minded people on here who are willing to help and also give out useful information. Unfortunatley they are being tainted buy these racist fools. These days it seems every other thread contains some racist post which is loudly cheered by onlooking BNP supporters.

Goodbye to MBNP Club Forum!

Food for thought for Moderators

I also visit the other MB forum and I have not for once come across these kind of threads or posts. Maybe they do not have bigots on there or maybe the moderators do their jobs properly

How do you know trapperjohn is white?
How do you know that the people that came and bought the car were black?
Presuming that because a car is being shipped to Uganda, that means the buyer was black?
I think that makes YOU racist.
Inverted racism, I think it's called.

 

[wemorgan]

Oh dear. I just feel sorry for Koolvin. He posts his first proper thread in ages and it's now going to turn in to another near endless pub debate.

 

[buccal]

He told me all about the experience at the GTG.

Thought it was very interesting personally!

 

[trapperjohn]

Oh dear. I just feel sorry for Koolvin. He posts his first proper thread in ages and it's now going to turn in to another near endless pub debate.

Yup. Sorry Koolvin.

As it happens I have just sold my lads car (190D Manual) to a Ugandan guy who lives in Manchester. He gave me the cash asked if I could hang on to the car for a couple of days whilst he got his brother to drive it down to London. A couple of days later I picked his brother up from my local railway station and off the car went Uganda bound. The deal went sweet as could be.

I rather think my buyer would be a little surprised by the comments posted by Pappilo.