How far have you driven for parts ?
 

Well its happened again ,another to good of a deal that I couldnt pass up on CL sent me driving to the four corners of Texas in search of those awesome MB deals .I drove out of the driveway this morning at 6 am and set the odometers trip program to capture the distance traveled .The torrent of rain I hit on the first 2 hrs of the trip slowed my progress but was cleared out by blue sky and a much happier motoring through the rest of the journey. The score was a set of 99 clk rims for a meer $150.The travel was a new record for me at just under 450 miles ,7 hrs behind the wheel ,Im a crazy guy ? The guy that I purchased the rims from said another caller was coming from Louisiana and was just waiting to see if I was showing up to give him the go ahead.

Yes you are.;)

The farthest I have driven for parts is the trip from Delaware to NYC to pick up a set of light alloy wheels for my 240D which are still sitting in my basement. I need to go get with it and put them on since I finally got the correct hubcap clips.

I once drove from MN to NJ to buy a parts car, 2400 round trip. I didnt think it was crazy, but it does depend on the deal. Ive sure made plenty of 100 mile goose chases, more than I care to remember.

I drove to the UP of MI to get a nice W123 trailing arm.....about 375 miles.

Drove down to Mid-ohio for my 601 engine last Feb, was about 760 miles....all in one day. :D Left at 7:15am....got there around 2, strapped down the engine, headed back, got home around 10pm. :eek: Maybe I should be a trucker. :D

Drive ?
 

300 Mile round-trip to Jacksonville,Fl Many times.

Fly ? 1,500 Mile R.T. Savannah/Houston/Austin for the engine.
(NO, the engine did not fly back.It got to ride with R+L)

I didnt mention the guy was nice enough to meet me some 40 miles from his house which saved me 80 miles .I was filling up the tank when he drove up at the station,10 minutes later I was heading southbound with the hammer down .:)I kept up lets say.
The trip back did include a funny state trooper speed trap story.
The 65 mph to 75 posted speed limit from Dallas to Houston doesnt take place til 70 miles south of Dallas ,some people forget this and hit the peddle a little north of 80 ,Im sitting at 70 and an Suv is hooked at my bumper while waiting to fade over to the fastlane .I spot a statey waiting on the overpass ,as we go under he lights up the christmas tree and zips up to the suv who has slowed down back behind me as if to confuse the officer ,yeah right ,a following to close citiation was part of the ticket package I hope, another bumper licker bites the dust.

801 miles this past Friday.....
 

I've done MORE miles though to deliver parts.....and pickup parts in the same trip. Anyone remember my Hurricane Irene trip to Chad's GTG that was cancelled? Or my trip to Minneapolis to deliver the transmission? Or my trip to pickup the 200D parts car, but that wasn't in one day either.

This was Friday, 01/11 trip to Atlanta --- yes, all in one day. I met greazzer and got some Palomino seats and also another forum member to purchase all the trunk pieces for the same 300D. I've tried to blur out the max speed. Oh, well, I was just in the Italian tune-up mode for a few miles. I was driving the 87 Champagne.

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...4a146ac869.jpg

Max speed shows you moving at the speed of an incoming meteor.

Not really MB or for the direct purpose of fetching parts but when I drove from DFW to North MA, I did come back with a few truck parts for the F250 that were not planned. I also got scoped out by a statie shortly after I entered MA. Scared the shorts off me because I probably would have gone to prison if he had pulled me over.

I delivered the mint Euro interior from my '84 wagon to a buyer in California, driving all the way from Kansas. That was a 3-4k mile trip, buy I got to say goodbye to a few friends and give the car a good shakedown run!

:D

I drove up to detriot one day and back to get a 240d block. I brought it back but for some reason never have used it. that is about five hours one way or more.

I just drove from San Diego to Tucson on my way to Amarillo to get some MB literature and parts. Just needed a slight route adjustment from taking the I-40 most of the way.

I flew to Denver to buy a car and drove it about 1,250 miles home...then later drove it about 900 miles for some new (lightly used) wheels and tires. Although in all honesty I was going on a road trip anyway and the wheels/tires were only about 100 miles out of the way. ;)

A long, long time ago I drove about 100 miles to buy a worn-out engine that I wanted to rebuild.

I drove round the whole bloody country to find transmission parts for my 722.118...

...but the country that I live in is probably smaller than all of the US states - so in American terms I didn't drive very far. Though in American terms the traffic was really really crap - in American terms the traffic here is always really really crap!

Too far. After getting stuck in traffic, I spent around 6 hours on the road for a flywheel & adapter plate...that's now in storage :rolleyes:

I drove 200 miles twice for 300 gals of wvo

The Two-Day Parts Trip
 

A few years ago my wife and I drove from Long Beach, Ca to Albuquerque, New Mexico .... about 800 miles / one night hotel stay / 800 miles back for a $500 random assortment of ponton parts that 1/2 filled my Jeep Grand Cherokee. At the time even I questioned my sanity for taking such a crazy trip but over the past few years many of the parts I needed for restoration that were not available from MBZ or would cost more than $1,000 from the Classic Center I found in that pile I picked up in New Mexico .... so these days I think I'm a genius!

My Steve Martin adventure was from buying a car off Ebay in West Palm Beach, FL. Found a cheap plane ticket from Atlanta. Got up in the morning and drove from TN to Atl and left the car with the daughter who was in school at GT. Walked over to the Marta station (they were still partying in the streets at 5:00 am) and caught the train to the airport. Seller met me at the WPB airport. Test drove the car and confirmed it was as advertised. Signed papers and traded cash. Drove north and was home right at dark time. Planes, trains, and automobiles.

I actually bought my 300D sight unseen off eBay. The price was right and it came with a 3" binder full of paperwork (the PO kept everything from maintenance records to the original shipping manifest). The seller was quick to send me any information or pictures I requested; a week or so later I flew down to Dallas, paid the man, and drove her home to DC.

Will

Atl to Biloxi for Project Nightmare.... Put about $4k into that before I sold it for $1.

You ended up with a very nice one too.

400 miles round-trip from Alexandria to the Virginia-Beach Pick-N-Pull. But I'm visiting my weekend home there in Virginia Beach, just about every month anyway, so I don't know if it counts.

Happy Motoring, Mark