Can't help but put my two cents worth in. As a child of 7, my grandmother (who loved to go for drives) would take me to car dealers as I was fascinated by all cars. She took me to the local Mercedes dealer one day and that changed everything. I still remember that black 108 chassis with cognac interior gleeming on the showroom floor. From there, I would eventually get my father to give up his AMC habit and purchase a used 1969 280S. It eventually became "my" first Mercedes and made me the only guy on my college campus driving a Mercedes. When I got married, we drove away from the church in my 280SL with the best man leading the way in my 4.5. Now, I have #15 and #16 in my garage (and the front end of #13 hanging on the wall in the rec room!) and my first born named Mercedes. Has always been fun, but not always inexpensive. I appreciate everyone in here with their thoughts and advice as we all put forth effort to keep these great old cars on the road. Happy motoring!