Automotive Museum and Member Classics...What We Do For Fun.

[Hugo Habicht]

In the northeast USA, we get snow, and roads are treated with a lot of salt.

Shortens life-expectancy a lot. Both of our vehicles are approaching 8 years.

Yes, salt is a killer. It is being used in Ireland now as well unfortunately. 25 years ago this did not exist, there was black ice on the road and people simply crashed their cars

The key to a vehicle to survive those conditions is: corrosion protection wax or grease (apart from good design practices). Mercedes Service instructions include cleaning the underside and applying a wax coating on everything every 3-4 years. Pretty much nobody got that done at the time. But I bought a W124 once, 17 years old, driven 17 years in Stuttgart (plenty salt in winter), but always waxed as per instructions. The whole suspension underneath looked like new.

And I knew a 200 fintail that was driven for over 40 years as a daily driver in Stuttgart as well. The fintails were very poorly designed rust wise but the first owner got it corrosion protected inside when new and inspected the underside every year and repaired rust damage and waxed it. The car looked like new when I saw it 40 years old.

Based on that experience a friend of mine partially disassembled his brand new G-Wagon with 40 (in words: forty !) miles on the clock and applied wax in all areas that were not protected properly. His wife thought he'd gone nuts taking a new car apart

 

[BBFarmer]

My daily driver. 1983 Mercedes-Benz 230TE.

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Still used as the manufacturer intended ...

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Also used on longer trips to Germany to haul material for the house and car parts of course ... Typically not much space left, the ferry ticket is expensive enough

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I absolutely love station wagons.....all of em.

 

[BBFarmer]

Wow - - you guys that can keep 30-40 year old vehicles as daily drivers makes me envious.

My 99 I daily with 280k on the clock

Definitely don't have the conditions y'all have up there. As long as they don't get flooded, stuff can stay kind of stay preserved around here.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

I absolutely love station wagons.....all of em.

I think if you had one once it always has to be a station wagon. My first car was a 1980 Volkswagen Passat station wagon and when a friend of mine sold the Mercedes I bought it without hesitation. Actually bought it without having seen it

 

[Hugo Habicht]

My 99 I daily with 280k on the clock
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Definitely don't have the conditions y'all have up there. As long as they don't get flooded, stuff can stay kind of preserved around here.

Actually flooding is not the end of a car either. A guy from a car club in Germany had his beloved fintail Mercedes flooded two years ago and was so distraught that he just could not act, despite better advice.

Three days later a guy from a garage got it, all interior out, instruments and radio out, power hosed the muck away (also inside the body), drained engine, gearbox, axle, tank, refilled with oil and gas, repeated that after running the engine briefly and the car is running fine since and looks pristine.

He had done the same thing years earlier with a car of his that got flooded and he drove it for years afterwards without any problems.

 

[Lil Foot]

I absolutely love station wagons.....all of em.

Here is what my FIL called a station wagon.

 

[BBFarmer]

Actually flooding is not the end of a car either. A guy from a car club in Germany had his beloved fintail Mercedes flooded two years ago and was so distraught that he just could not act, despite better advice.

Three days later a guy from a garage got it, all interior out, instruments and radio out, power hosed the muck away (also inside the body), drained engine, gearbox, axle, tank, refilled with oil and gas, repeated that after running the engine briefly and the car is running fine since and looks pristine.

He had done the same thing years earlier with a car of his that got flooded and he drove it for years afterwards without any problems.

I have heard of folks doing this a time or two. I have luckily never had to deal with it with any of mine.

 

[BBFarmer]

Here is what my FIL called a station wagon.
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LOL, that's no good..... Maybe not all of them then.

Been looking for one I can load the family up in and take to church on sundays.

Something like this ole girl here that came in for an alignment a while back:

 

[lugbolt]

speaking of station wagons....I'm looking for a Ford Farimont station wagon if anyone knows where one is at. Need it for a driver, so I don't need it to just rust away. Closer to cent. Arkansas the better.