T-boned in my own driveway !!

[RenoHuskerDu]

By my own wife. She "forgot" that the Benz was parked in the middle of the yard.

So guys, anybody in Germany or nearby know where's the best place to order a LF fender?

"Women, can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em."

[Jim Anderson]

My wife was backing up in a parking lot.

I said "Stop."

She said "Why."

"Bang."

I said "Thats why."

[Habanero]

Off topic, but seems appropriate for this thread. One of my earliest childhood memories involves riding with my mom to church one Sunday. Our driveway was a little long with a curve in it and just after going around the curve, she realized she had forgotten to tell Dad something. So, she throws the 73 Mercury Montego in reverse and back we go. A few seconds and BANG. Seems Dad had backed out his old 56 International pickup to push snow. I asked Mom what we hit and she said Dad; it scared me to death until she said his pickup instead of him. He said he saw her coming, but the truck was cold and coughed when he hit the gas to get out of the way. Funniest thing was, the only thing Mom had to say about the whole deal was to chide him for not going to church with us. "If you were going to church, this wouldn't have happened..." My dad is a patient man...

[koop]

Why was your wife driving in the middle of the yard?

[Jorn]

"If you were going to church, this wouldn't have happened..."

Good story; don't mess around with the wife and God

[JimSmith]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. My kids have done a few things that are funny now, but were not funny at the time. A good place to get your fender from is www.dbdepot.com which is located in Germany. Call them and talk over your situation. They have or can get nearly anything for Mercedes. Jim

[Jorn]

I think you made a wrong link, Mercedes and database?

[JimSmith]

I am sorry, you are correct. The URL is www.dbdepot.de I believe. I just checked it. Sorry, Jim

[RenoHuskerDu]

Originally posted by JimSmith
... The URL is www.dbdepot.de I believe. I just checked it. ...

Hey that's great info, thank you. I would rather deal with Germans than French. The French joke that Germans take better care of their car than their wife. That's fine by me. I often buy used cars, tires, etc in Germany because those fine lads are very serious about cars. The French are only serious about going on strike and cheating on their wife.

Now that I have cooled down a bit (no I did not yell at her - I need the points because I want to buy a matching 300TD soon), I realize two things:

1) The damaged LF fender could be fixed. It's stretched, but not in spots where it would cause a problem for a decent bodywork guy. It got hit in its weakest spot though (just aft of the flare), so a new fender should be stronger than fixing this one.
2) A new fender at the dealer is only about $250 and 2 days wait. The dealer will do the whole job for about $500.

Question: If I buy a new fender from Benz, will it be as thick as the original fender?
Or is it likely to be 1 or 2 mm thinner, like they make all the new cars.

[Tirebiter]

Earlier Mercedes, Porsches, VW Beedles, and BMWs are made from good steel that can be worked into shape. Might be less expensive to have it repaired.

[RenoHuskerDu]

My body worker friend said my fender's too stretched to fix. A new one from Benz comes without even primer on it, so I tried to find a used one that would at least have factory primer, but no luck.

A couple of the junk yards offered to sell me a new fender from a non-Benz source. The price difference is huge. Benz wants $215, but the third-party fender is only $65. So, I'm picking up the cheaper one today. I'll post more when I find out if the quality is indeed lower, metal thinner, etc.

The 300TD is my daily driver, so I don't really care if it's not perfect. Dunno if you guys know about driving in Yurrup, but given the weather, salt, small roads, and tiny parking spaces (plus I have 4 kids), it's just about impossible to keep your car pristine. I used to live in CA and my cars gleamed.