New Member - Sandy Kelly

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SandyKelly

New Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2014
Messages
11
Location
Gold Coast, Queensland
Car
1999 E430 & 1997 E320
Hi, and thank you for welcoming me to this wonderful and encyclopaedic site.

I have been using the knowledge within for some years now and feel that I really should participate rather than just be a taker! Forgive me - I have legged it to Australia, where cars (and almost everything else) cost the earth.

All my life, and I've been around for six decades, I have been privileged to have been around Merc's. My Father sold his Talbot 90 to buy a green 220 in 1956 when it was the only car that passed him on the Autobahn when we went to Italy on holiday. That car was replaced by a grey W112 220SE that was his pride and joy. By this time, he and Eugene Heresen of Callanders in Glasgow had become friends, or at least they were friends until a car deal had them arguing, but they soon made up!! His 220SE was changed for a gorgeous metallic green W112 300SE Coupe in 1965. It was a real head turner. He kept that car for many years. He bought a Grosser 600 in 1966. Midnight blue with pale grey interior. What a machine. It would burn off E types at the lights and the service from Mercedes in London was sensational. For some bizarre reason, he traded the 600 and a homologation 911S against a Silver Shadow 2-door Coupe (war became the Corniche in later models). Every time he drove the RR, he would mutter darkly that "it's no Mercedes!!". I was living in Canada in late 79 or 80 when I was asked to come home in a hurry as my Dad was critically ill and not expected to pull through. Whilst I was putting his affairs in order, Eugene Heresen phoned to say that my Dad's W126 500SEL had arrived. It was a stunner. Midnight Blue with white leather, reclining rear seat, ABS - the works! He had ordered the car without letting anyone in the family know. I went into intensive care to see him that afternoon and told him that his new car had arrived. He made little response, but later that evening, the doctors said that he was showing a marked improvement and a week later he was making my life misery by chopping and changing his mind as to the personal plate he wanted on the car. I picked him up from hospital in it, and we were pulled over by the cops. They said that the number was registered to a Land Rover. I explained the situation and they got onto their radio. Ten minutes later they came back and said they hadn't a clue what the car's number should be, but there was a valid tax disk that matched the plates so we were to be on our way - agh, those were the days when traffic cops showed initiative and were not revenue collectors!!(at least here!!)

In between times my Mother had a bronze 230SL, followed by a green 280SL, a blue 350SL, a brown 450SLC and finally a strange shade of green 450SLC that she kept for 20 years and left to my sister in Scotland, who is restoring it.

I never had my Father's knack for making money, and it wasn't until I was working in Dubai did I get my own - a Blue Black metallic W124 300TE. I spent weeks driving around fixated by the star on the bonnet, never mind the burgeoning glamour of Dubai in the 90's. I bought my wife of the time a smoke silver W202 C200. The C never floated my boat; it was nice, but didn't have the edge that the E had.

After the Middle East, my wife and I went our separate ways, she with the C, on which she put 500,000kms before scrapping it - it was beginning to cost her too much, apparently. No sense of loyalty, eh?http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/images/smilies/fail.gif

I was CEO of a fast ferry company in the Far East for a number of years, and Pajero's were my rides at that time. The vessels all had MTU engines, so I was heavily involved with the D-B group. I heard all sorts of dire tales of the W210 compared to the W124, none at all encouraging, but time marches on
and when I set up my business here in Australia, I bought a 1997 smoke silver W210 E320, with black interior. It was solid but needed a damned good clean. The car has been a great workhorse. I bought it because I love in-line sixes, and the turbine like howl from that car is truly delicious. I particularly like when she comes on the cam, and then shortly after the air flow through the cylinders give her the "turbocharged" feel and a kick in the back at speeds that the fun police would have seizures about!

I was delighted with the car, and felt that with the children growing up and maturity setting in (bull! I needed to have a car that didn't have my beloved's reggie on, and that I could be naughty with!!) I bought an Iridium Silver 1999 E430 with grey interior. I think that I have fallen in love with V8's all over again!! The 430 has arrived with low mileage (for Aus - 115,000km) but has an awful lot of leaks. So far, I have changed the rocker cover gaskets, the crankshaft rear seal, the gearbox seals including the inhibitor cable seal. The leakages are dwindling away, but the silky smoothness of that engine and the look on the faces of Falcon and Commodore drivers as this grey haired old fella leaves tham a clean pair of heels. The turbine like smoothness is only matched by the power delivery of my Triumph Rocket III.

I think that I am a lost cause. I love my Mercs, forgive their every foible an long for the day when I can own a CL65 (Sorry, S65 Coupe!!)

For the record, I am an engineer, specialising in diesels and marine power plants, currently involved in sustainables and running diesels on a variety of plant and animal oils.

Regards to all, especially you, kind sir, that read all of this!!
 
Side thought. May come and look you up in 2021 SandyKelly - Pearl Harbour for our Pearl wedding anniversary, check. Where to go for our Golden? Gold Coast sounds good.
 
Great write up, I'm sure you'll be a credit to the forum and fit right in with a sense of humour like "my wife of the time"!

Welcome.
 
Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you know your apples and am sure you will be glad you came here! Enjoy.
 
Thank you for the comment - love your fleet. The gixxer is probably the favourite! Remember, we bikers are the only folk that know why dogs stick their heads out of car windows!!
 
This is the only one that I have. I left home many many years ago, after I left school, as I refused to be a "kept man", with the result that access to many things like the family photos was impossible. They can't hold back memories!!
 

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yesterday, I fitted a horn to the wife's E320. I had been told by various experts that the only way in was from the right hand wheel well. Baloney! I removed the body panel below the headlights and there was the little 13mm bolt grinning at me - nay, laughing its head off as it saw the front wheel lying against the garage wall!!! Five minutes is all it took!!
 
Today, I fitted a Eurovox radio to the 430. It was the appropriate set for the car as delivered. These old sets are becoming hard to find as our old girls are working their way down to the younger generation who cannot bounce their heads and rap without a boom box and a gizmo that requires the output of a medium sized nuclear power station to run. I found a 1998 E240 that is about to meet its end, and parted with 125 of our post-colonial dollars for the set.

In order to mate with a Parrot MKi9200, I bought a set of ISO plugs. When I pulled the Pioneer out, I was amazed to find that those wonderful people at Stuttgart had made the car's plugs ISO (why did I ever doubt it?) and the installation was a breeze - another few minutes, mostly spent hacking the chess grater carrier out of the radio hole. The Eurovox slipped right in and the tone was splendid. The centre console now is restored to its former glory and I swear the old doll is pleased with herself.

She who must be obeyed felt that her Eurovox in the 320 was substandard, but setting it to the same Bass/Treble/Fade etc as mine elicited a great deal of gratitude!! She bought me a bottle of single malt!
 
Hi Sandy, your intro was great.
I think you are the only member who's family had a Grosser...
 
Hi, Dieselman

I had been driving for many years before I turned 17. Being enthusiastic, I booked my driving test for Monday 8th April 1968, as I turned 17 on April 7th! I had had the pleasure of playing with such exotica as a homologation 911S and a 230SL, however I was under STRICT orders that the 600 was definitely, non-negotiably out of bounds until I had a licence.

I came back from Islay with my parents on the Sunday and prepared my Dad's Land Rover for the test. On Monday, he called the insurance company on the off chance that I may not have been covered for the 10am test and was shocked to discover that the only car in his not inconsiderable fleet that I could drive for the test was my Mother's SL, which had been insured in her name, and because of an unblemished driving record was devoid of any conditions! Panic ensued and the SL was fitted with the vital L plates (somewhat tatty from my bike "L" days!).

It was tipping it down when we arrived at the test centre. When challenged at the end of test de-brief for not opening my windows and giving the required hand signals, I invited the examiner, in a humble and apologetic manner, to open the window. Pagoda SL's had tremendous tumble home on the windows, and he was instantly drenched. The poor soul saw the practicality issues and handed me my pass chit. We drove home.

Being the West of Scotland, weather moves through swiftly, and by the time we reached home, the sun was out and a gorgeous spring day ensued. I reminded my Father of his promise regarding the 600, and being a man of huge integrity and not inconsiderable nerve, given his grudging permission. I started the car and took it out on my own. What a car! It whispered, it growled and it cosseted all at the same time.

I subsequently drove it for him over many many miles and to this day, I feel that if we ignore the electronic whizzbangs, there is not a car i the world to compare even today. It really knocked the socks off Rolls Royce and Bentley. American cars were not even in the same league, or sport even!

I burned off E types at the traffic light grand prix on many occasions. Cornering was not its strongest point on the soft setting, but it was a dangerous predecessor to a Silver Shadow, as the 600 could go through corners at ludicrous speeds without too much roll, whereas the Shadow had the handling characteristics of an inflatable dinghy!!

An interesting sideline was that when MB decided to stop production, the line was taken up with another fantastic car, the 450SLC. I have so many stories of these wonderful cars….

You cannot fail to love Mercs (well, most of them!!). My wife has wonderful taste (she married me!) and when we lived in the Philippines, she ran a Pajero NJ. When we came to the prison colony, we bought her a RAV4 V6. It was a great car, but guzzled fuel. I needed a diesel car for my latest venture - running a diesel on veg oil - so bought an old Pajero NL, and gave her the E320. Well, she thought this all too ostentatious, big, and unlikely to be practical. A week later, I asked her if she wanted to sell Herman (the E320) and she nearly freaked. Five years later, I am renewing bits with parts imported fro USA because they are too damned expensive here! Still, Herman has a certain future as the next generation are asking for Herman for their first car and Ivy has lustful eyes on Carl, the E430. I'm not entirely distraught, as my quest is now one of the 19 AMG W210 E55 4-matics, but I suspect that that will coincide with my Vincent Black Shadow!!

Bye for now!!
 
Dieselman

I see you are a peugeot lover. I worked for Moteurs Baudouin in Marseille for a good few years, and two cars I lusted after were the 405 Cabriolet and the rare 604 Cabriolet. Peugeot built some seriously good looking cars back then - even the 505 was a looker.

I remember driving in from Lagos airport to the city and saw a 403 on her side and a local welding up the exhaust - who needs hoists, anyway!! They were almost indestructible and that old 2 litre diesel was a joy!!

S
 

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