It isn't so much that you learn to live with it as you learn to wait to see it on ebay. Yes I know how much people hate ebay, but face it ebay gets the people who need the parts together with the people who have the parts. Finally got my choke for the MFI on my 220se coupe.
what your missing here is that with the early MFI cars it isn't what the problem is as much as waiting for the part to turn up; they have fewer parts, no computers, everything is mechanical and the symptom is is a direct correlation to the solution. With computerized systems, the failure could be related to this system or that system or heck it could be the failure of the test instrument....oh please someone argue this point with me....palease!
Face it, future classics are the diesels ie, 300cd. Come see me in 20 years when a 2000 600sl is restorable and collectiable (note that is 'and' and not 'or'), If I am wrong I'll give you the keys to my 1965 220se coupe, but I know I am right. As for the environmentalist; thats not a problem as the number of oleder cars is low, plus the mileage they acquire is year is even lower. My w111 has been driven 40,000 the last 12 years.
Let the environmentalist look into the older cars and then figure out how much pollution we contribute. Then we look at the 'moving museum' value we add to the roads, plus the economy of the replacement part industry. If it means that I have to pay a $1000 a year to finance Polluting Gas & Electric's need to upgrade their system, fine with me.
Leonard