When I was in the process of buying my first mercedes (84 300D), I met a real German (from Germany) mechanic and paid him to evaluate the car for me. The car was mostly fine, but he should have caught a few things that anyone whose spent time on these cars should have been able to point out. Like the broken thermostat. I ended up buying the car. He called me afterwards offering his services. He warned me that I could royally screw the pooch on the transmission if even one speck of dirt got in there during a filter change. I declined since I've basically always done routine maintenance and more on my own vehicles and his rates were really high. Coincidentally, sometime that night my car got egged. No evidence, no witnesses. I noticed it right away so it didn't hurt the paint luckily.

Some Germans just can't take nein for an answer.

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mjk

'84 300SD 119KMi (Liesl der Diesel)
'84 300D 326KMi when the oil left (former parts car)
'82 300SD 253KMi (new parts car)