An old time Mercedes mechanic told me the exact same thing: do not ever ever use Ether to start because you could be looking at a snapped timing chain.

Here's a little something I'm looking at for cold winter starts....notice it has 1700 cold cranking amps!!! That's a lot of juice!

http://www.amazon.com/Jump-N-Carry-JNC660-1700-Peak-Starter/dp/B000JFJLP6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1292335759&sr=8-5