Another Diesel! My $325 Mercedes Benz buy!
 

Everybody Meet Charlotte! The woman I bought this from bought it for her son who named her Charlotte after his first girlfriend, so I decided to keep it! Unfortunately on his way to school, the early morning sun blinded him as the lady in front driving a Toyota 4 Runner stop for a green light thinking the glass truck coming the other way wasn't going to stop and he hit her.

However, this is right above the frame and she still purrs like a kitten and drives straight. Thinking of the Mercedes Benz commercial where the Mercedes Benz sees it's life flash before it's eyes as it's being crushed while Sarah was telling me he only had liability and that Charlotte was going to the crusher and, well, I couldn't stand it. That dingy commercial was the only one that ever came close to making me cry for an inanimate object!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rv2-DYgzcY

So Charlotte cam home with me and I went to Ecology Auto Salvage here in Phoenix and bought her a hood, fender, headlight assembly and headlight door, turn signal assemby and all other related parts to put her back to gether!

For those of you in Phoenix, Ecology has a 1964 Diesel 190D fintail in pretty good shape for it's age and they will sell whole cars and this one is mostly complete! If any want to get it, I have the grill!:D I have no doubt it would start and while there is a little rust here and there that will need repair, it's better than most. Powertrain is all there and it has new tires. It appears to have been parked for years without being driven. I mentioned this because I hope someone out there will want a restoration project. And if you want the grill, it will be available! The upholstery is in good condition and even the drivers seat is in nice shape. I have too many projects as it is, so I couldn't take this one home!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rv2-DYgzcY



Poor kid, I bet he loved charlotte.

Yeah. His mom let him park Charlotte in the back yard for a year because he was saving up for enough money to have Charlotte fixed and put back on the road. Unfortunately college costs got in the way and something had to give. Charlotte was last licensed in March of 2007, So she's been back there for the last 14 months.

He told me when his mom helped him buy a car, he really wanted something different. He saved up $2600 and his mom kicked in the difference to get him Charlotte for $4500. After he'd been driving her for awhile, he agreed that mom was right and this was the best car he could have found, even better than the Nissan 300ZX he would have chosen for himself.

i totaled my first car. An 84 300d. I pulled out in front of someone that didnt have their headlights on and got tboned at 40mph by a truck. Knowone was hurt but I was heartbroken. In the end it happened to be one of the best things that ever happened to me. I got the 300sd out of it (bought for 150 bucks off a forum member) and the 300D for $1500. I also met new friends and learned alot about cars. Sometimes I think it was meant to happen. But yes, as a teenager you get one and you realize its unique. You no longer give a crap about speed and whatever else most kids think of (lowered hondas and spoilers??)..

These cars have the ability to personifie themselves and make the owner think they actually do have a soul

These cars have the ability to personifie themselves and make the owner think they actually do have a soul.

I think that's because when you spend so much time putting everything you have and everything you know into it and developing it, you can't help but feel a kind of attachment that doesn't come out of styling.

It's only when you have to dismantle one of these cars that you get a really good idea of how well it was mantled together in the first place!

I still tear up every time I see the commercial where the w115 is getting crushed, especially since my first car was a w115 300d.

That's why I put that commercial in my post! I saw Charlotte the same way and just couldn't let her go to a auto crusher.

I admit it, my eyes wetted up a bit, okay, alot. What a commercial! I sometimes sit in cars in the junkyard and wonder what stories they would be able to tell me. The feet on the dashboard reminds me of my girl. She loves to put her bare feet up when we do a road trip. She's the only one I'll let do it. Thanks for saving her man!! Great post. Paul

in that commercial, I just love the look on the junk man's face as he loads up the 115 to crush...

Good luck with Christine, I mean Charlotte. Looking at the picture you posted somehow reminded me of that scene in the garage where she pops out her dents. If only that were true.

Also kudos for saving the old girl! I know I will be heartbroken when Bruno meets his final fate, but I am looking at him as an organ donor whose heart has stopped...

I've already pulled out the front quite a bit! The wheel well was the hardest and now I'm looking at shaping the metal now. She looked worse when I got her. It's a matter of getting things to fit. There are a few rust issues from sitting so long, but nothing too bad!:D

The structure of the front end (not sure its name, the headlight area and radiator support area) looks like there is no way in hell you can straighten it. I would cut the entire assembly out from a junk car and weld it in and grind it. The other stuff like fenders and hood are just bolt on items

The core support is what your looking at. It will take time with a dolly and hammer set, but I've done some before that I thought would never come back and after all, it WAS flat on the drivers side and what you see now was just from chaining up the front wheel well to my Dodge Ram trailer hitch and giving it a couple of yanks with David standing on the brakes!:eek:

I'll try some more and post back.:D I'm going to gey my hammer dolly now and I'm going to be working on it today!

BS. We need better pics but nothing a sledge hammer and a few comealongs and strong trees cant fix!

The frame is straight too! It drives just fine even like this! I( can't believe that Sarah thought she should just total it, but I'm glad I got to it first!

Nothing happened to the radiator, power sterring pump or engine acessories or the oil cooler! The bumper it hit was so high that it just peeled it back!:D

Nice dark blue interior too. A few cracks in the dash, but nothing that can't be covered with a dashmat!

Damm CG487! You just had to mention that fintail. I've been to ecology a few times trying to keep my 240D running. I'm always toying with the idea of a fintail restoration and now I have a three car garage and a pad down the side, I could almost justify heading down there to pick it up. But I'm afraid cooler heads must prevail :(

- Peter.

The white 1964 fintail is a 190 Diesel with a good interior, upholstery and carpeting is fairly neat and clean. It hasn't been wrecked and it looks like it has been sitting for about 15 years or longer, but it has all the original parts, trim, lenses, lights and even the original wheels with the hubcaps intact!:D

It has some rust issues, but I've seen much worse than this get repaired. A rodent made a nest in the battery tray, but he's gone and the egine compartment looks complete with no hose or wiring damage! I took the grill, but will gladly return it to the next owner who will get it and restore it.:)

Frankly, it looked like it belonged to someone old who just stopped riving it and left it somewhere until they passed away. It's a column stick shift tranny and the dash is really the worst part of the car in looks and appearance. I thought about bringing it home myself, but I don't have the room for it. Somebody rescue this car!:eek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rv2-DYgzcY:beerchug::musicband:rockon: I would be willing to help get it home locally by towing it on a car trailer with my Dodge Ram for someone with their own trailer or willing to rent one, About $65 with tax to get a car hauler from Uhaul!

It even has 4 new tires on it!:eek:

New thread about 1964 fintail!
 

I moved the 1964 fintail 190 D Diesel on to it's own thread so more people here would see it. I so hope this car gets rescued before the crusher gets it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rv2-DYgzcY

Banged a little more on Charlotte today! She's gettin' better and the hood is lining up. I'll post some better pictures tomorrow!:D

Use come alongs to pull it straight.

I never thought of that! I put a chain on the rumpled parts of the car and yanked on it with my truck!

Those bargains
 

I missed whether it was a 240 or a 300 and an automatic or not.

For the price it doesn't matter though. I love that color on them, it is one of my favorites.

Last summer I missed a chance like that. Friend emailed me a Craigslist ad about a light yellow '79 240D manual with a broken rear quarter window and a punched ignition and one missing hubcap for $400.00 that was only 35 miles away from here. Lifetime California local car with original blue plates too.

It was a theft recovery!! The guy had settled with his insurance company but weeks later spotted the car in town and brought it back home, but he had already a whole yard full of old Mercedes diesels and just wanted this one gone.

He put an ad on Craigslist but I never look there.

Missed it by one hour :mad:

Dammit all anyway.

I got my '82 for $400 off of craigslist. It has a dent in the rear passenger side door, but is like new otherwise and was garaged most of it's life.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=1801

Oh No!
 

I tried to jack Charlotte up with the jack at the drivers side front. It had been sitting for a year and I guess it was full of watrer because the kack points and the floor and trunk are rusted through!:eek: It fell off the jack, I'm ok, but it tore through the metal and ripped the jack hole post off the frame.:( It doesn't look like Charlotte is going back on the road after all!:( Anybody need parts?