Thanks for the info guys. A funny thing happened along the way.
My 560 threw an a/c belt and I took it to my shop to get a new
one. The compressor is gone, which means replace the dryer and
expansion valve as well. They told me $1600 in parts and it could
go much, much higher. Worse case scenario (if metal got into the
system when the compressor went out) a $3600 job. I paid $3900
for the car.

I was about to invest a thousand to fifteen hundred for a sound
system and $400 in replica wheels, and another grand to fix a few
non-emergency items on the car. This was the last straw. I'm not
a mechanic and Ben's the shop I use in Austin is 45 miles away.

It's been around 100 every day for weeks here in Central TX. I've
been driving my wife's car while she's out of town but I baked in
the Benz. Long story short, I drove over to BMW of Austin and bought
a 2000 Z3, a car I've been looking at for a while.

I turned down their trade offer but the BMW salesman drives an early
80's MD diesel sedan and used to sell Mercedes. He turned me on to
an excellent mechanic that does German cars and Lexus. He charges
$25 an hour. He's doing the same repair for $900. And the guy's an
ace mechanic, he's in his 40's and his Dad, who was an MB mechanic
in Venezuela had him tinkering with cars when he was a little kid.

So I've got a great mechanic in the Austin area if anyone needs one.

I'm going to put my Mercedes up for sale when I get it back. I'm tempted
to keep it now that I've found a good mechanic but will probably let it
go. And the Alpine is going in the Z3.

Bill