Originally Posted by Jim B.

^^^^^^It probably was meant to be removed, but by a fortunate oversight at the European delivery center in Stuttgart, it wasn't.

Either that, or the savvy buyer insisted it was his personal property when the car was new, and brought it home with him on the plane as carry on baggage and installed it after it was properly licensed in the USA and escaped the law that way.

The DOT, in its infinite wisdom, did not see fit to approve them, though they were standard equipment in the Mercedes bound for the restg of the world, ( and required in Germany )

All US spec Mercedes Benz automobiles, accordingly, did not get them....


The prohibition against them was NOT a top priority in DOT/EPA certification, however, and therefore many of the Euro spec Mercedes Benz cars got through with them in place.


It was worse with the Euro headlights and bumpers. Most of them were removed and replaced with American spec bumpers when brought in by the gray market route.

The euro headlights are better in every way - looks, and perfromance.

However the horrible sealed beam headlight lobby in the USA forced the DOT to trash them in favor of their own inferior product.

Only the fortunate or savvy, end buyers of gray market cars got to keep their euro headlights, and some had the gray market certifiers SAVE and not destroy their euro headlights, and reinstalled them after the car got certified.

Others were just lucky, to have their gray market cars
certified with the Euro headlights in them, and such cars did actually exist.

By historical irony the sealed beam headlights are utterly irrelevant today and not used in new cars at all any more.

Originally Posted by turbobenz

sirnik, my dad was throwing away some road flares (hes a firefighter, so he had them from the ambulance) so I grabbed one and threw it in with my spare tire. I hope I nver havbe to use it, especially in the 300d

Originally Posted by derburger

If someone sees a ACC I servo that has an aluminum body please snag it for me. It looks like a trash can with 20 vacuum lines sticking out.

Originally Posted by derburger

Yeah, that's it, the ACC2 servo, rebuilt and more reliable. I'll write this guy an email. Thanks for the lead!

Originally Posted by Jim B.

I went down to the Pick n Pull in East Oakland, California (near the Coliseum)
at the invitation of forum member MURDOC, who with his gorgeous girlfriend, met me there, in his terriffic orient red '85 300SD.

It looks beautiful in that car, and he's had it less than a year, the palomino interior is mint,

and the car still has the original 1985 1Nxx xxx California blue plates on it,


His car has only 180k and just two prior owners, the original one being a physician, and the second, a succcessful Chinese restaurant owner in San Francisco from who he bought it (I lived in SF, in the North Inner Richmond district, back then, in the early '80s, and noticed that ALL successful Chinese restaurant owners then, went out and bought themselves new 300SD cars - and this was waaaay BEFORE the SVO/WVO craze!!)

Neither had been to the East Oakland Pick n Pull, and the Mercedes Benz offerings were not great. (But it was Volvo paradise, the dead Berkeley cars go there, and Cadillac too, those GM cars from 5-20 years ago looked like junk, with their fwd and sideways engines LOL)

There was an '82 300SD in there, a '90 300 CE, a '76 signal red 280, and a couple of forlorn W123s, but not much else.

This didn't stop MURDOC from getting what he could, a good Becker radio, a mint W126 spare wheel with Original spare, 3 red hubcaps off the '76, and a few other wisely picked parts he could use.

I didn't want to come out empty handed, so I got the driver's side floor mat off the CE, to use in the Subaru Outback (fits perfectly; WHY do the New car dealers, like this one , ALWAYS, steal the floor mats out of their used cars before they sell their used cars? That always happens.) It will be perfect for the snow, around here.

I also found a bunch of box Volvos and levered out 3 of those little plastic clips they have on the windshield. If any of you ever owned Volvos, they are fantastic little touches. you can slip a letter or piece of paper on there just below your line of sight. I wonder how you can fit them into a Subaru and a Mercedes.


We went to the 4 Caminos Mexican restaurant, afterwards, and had a great meal and conversation there.

I had not been to East Oakland for years, and now it's almost totally Mexican, around there, not even that many blacks, any more, around E. 14th from High Street at 41st Avenue to 66th and the Oakland Raiders coliseum and the airport.

Times change. Back in December 1963, E 14th at 41st/high street was the Chevrolet dealer FH DAILEY motors, that rolled a brand new 1964 Chevelle onto the street, which became the first car I ever owned.

The whole neighborhood has changed, even the Volvo dealer, Continental Motors, is long gone, and it looks like "Little Michoacan" (Mexico) there now.

A great trip, 304 miles round trip for some fun, and good exercise for the car on the highway.

I was able to get a loaf of that fantastic coconut bread at the Shien Kee bakery on the Asian Pacific East mall In El Cerrito near Berkeley, to bring here and share with the people who love it, rounding off the trip.

Who won that Superbowl anyway??