From the Urban Dictionary:

Bodge: A quick and dirty job, something done very hastily. Make it look good for the next day or two and if it falls down after that, it's alright.

Today I had my ultimate in recent memory. Went to replace the door check on my 1980 300td. Found it odd how the unit seemed to have failed (instead of being seized it was loose and not holding the door at all).

What I found: It had apparently failed, seized, and someone cut the back off and left the lever moving around freely. So it looked like it was still there, but was useless.

Anyone else have a story to share?

Footnote: Actually, this isn't my worst, just today's special. The worst was when the glow relay melted on an SD I had just brought here from California. The PO had substituted aluminum foil for the 50 amp fuse in the glow relay.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

I didn't buy the car but the worst I have seen was back in 2000 when I was shopping for a car in the San Diego area.

I found a 1967 Barracuda which I had longed to own. I went to check out the car and when I asked to open the trunk the owner said he didn't have the key to it and the ignition key didn't fit (back then we were warned to check trunks of cars before purchase because they were being used to mule around drugs by unwitting drivers.)

So I was feeling around the back end of the car and the "metal" just kept going underneath. I got on my back and found that the entire trunk area from the lid down was made of bondo and fiberglass. They even bondo'd in the tank so it was just smooth. It must have added over 100lbs to the rear of the car and was an absolutely ridiculous hack patch job.

When I asked the owner about it and if it was a salvage, he said it drove fine but never answered my question. Then I politely said thanks and left.

Phil Forrest

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1972 220D "Trudy," named by a friend.

"The 220D sounds good... I suspect it is the only car that you need a calendar for, rather than a stopwatch, when doing acceleration tests."
Tom Abrahamsson

I once bought a car with a leather belt (usually wrapped around your waist) stuffed into a propshaft centre bearing

I once bought a car with a 5 speed knob on the shifter but with only a 4 speed gearbox underneath

A friend once bought a car with a mixture of radial and cross ply tyres on the same axle

I once worked with someone who used to weld up cars as a sideline - he used to "borrow" Nitrogen from work to use as an inert gas for his MIG welder...

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Mostly electrical hacks, like the 14 GA household wire I found wrapped between the posts for the climate blower fuse on my W124. Didn't find that one for almost 2.5 years. Thankfully no fires!

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Blue painter's masking tape to prevent light escaping from a cracked third brake light housing.

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http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...aman/Fleet.jpg

Peach Parts W124.128 User Group.

80 280SL
85 300SD
87 300TD
92 300D 2.5 Turbo
92 300TE 4Matic

Personal favorite is a rust repair using clothing swished around in concrete and stuffed in a cab corner.

Other favorites are duct tape over rust, bondo over duct tape, wood screw to hold trim on, and expensive paint to make it all look nice

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Having owned literally over 340 cars and motorcycles over the years, I've seen some crazy bodges.

A couple of noteworthy ones.

Daughters BF bought a F150 at the auction and brought it over saying it was pulling bad to the left when brakes were applied. Took the wheels off and there was no right front caliper at all, and a vice grip was pinching off the soft line.

Back in the '70s before I joined the Navy I was working at a cheezy car lot. Owner took a pinto in on trade and the motor locked up as I was moving it, brought it into the shop and found a piece of leather used as a big end bearing...but that wasn't why it locked, it was another rod that had a big end bearing slip.

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Eric, CPO, Submarines, retired.
Here's a sig line...
Mine: '68 Corvette LS1/4L65E, 83 240D, 2000 GMC 4x4, 08 FLSTC Anniv
Hers: '72 Corvette 454/4spd, '99 MB SLK, '93 Metro vert, 78 240D, '92 Silverado, '65 Fjord Rustang, '59 Fjord Fairlane, '17 Slingshot.

talking about detailing

.

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w126 500SEC gen II euro, powered by OM617 turbo stolen from 84 300SD 2.88 diff,EGR blinded
next wish/project: w114 coupe OM603 powered

This is the most recent in a few I've found on cars. On my '83 SD I was replacing the hand primer for the new style and found the short hose from the secondary filter to the housing stamped "NOT FOR FUEL". I wonder just how long that was on there before i found it.

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1983 300SD
1988 420SEL

My favorite was pulling the odd sounding diff cover to find it packed SOLID with wheel bearing grease... I took the car back to the lot.

now... bodges I've DONE?... um... I one time used coat hangers to hold my brake pads in place... (for a day) redneck improvisation on rear wagon brakes...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

That might be the low psi gates fuel hose. Lots of it says "not for fuel injection" printed on the side as its under 50psi rating.

I have the same stuff all over my cars since none of them are high pressure delivery systems, i need to go check if I cut one out just like that, would be funny to see.

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

My personal favorite is when the wiring harness gets replaced by a cut up extension cord and wire nuts.

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

there are wood screws holding my drivers rear door card to the door. There is spray paint on that door, there is bondo surrounding the WORKING auto antenna. I'm pretty sure it was in a pretty rough wreck. I'll put the wagon door cards in...maybe even wire in the rear door speakers. I doubt I'll be the first with a 124 6 speaker system right?

oh yeah, on my e320, there was an inch of fuel hose zip tied to the gear shift shaft where a bushing should have been. Actually, it worked pretty darn good for such a botch.

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77' 300D, "Cartman" SOLD @ 150K (didn't know what I had)
83' 300SD, "The Superdon" 325k+ @ 28mpg
95 E320 wagon, "Millennium Falcon" 231k+ @ 24 Mpg
95 E300D, "Sherley" 308k @ 33.69 Mpg, currently anticipating a head
99 Suzuki Intruder "Trudy" @ 45 mpg

My euro 300d had a lovely new stereo installed....I guess they couldn't find a pair of wire snips....I had probably a mile of speaker wire stuffed under the dash.....then whom ever did the install....broke all the heater controls...

My friends w115 had a po that loved sheet metal screws....every time a piece of interior trim came lose....five screws went in.....bought a new hood star for the grill.....found out he also liked jb weld....

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On the 85 in my sig.

I did not know squat about these cars when I bought one. I just tried to find the cleanest one I could for the money. If I ever buy another one, I know exactly where to look and feel.

The PO actually put a bolt through the fan clutch and removed the thermostat guts. There was also pieces of chewing gum holding the rear window switches in (tabs broken off)!

When I got the car home I spent a good couple days "looking at things". I kept hearing weird noises while accelerating for short test drives. Come to find out that all the blades on the plastic engine fan were cracked and about to break off from the fan clutch being "bolted"!

I think I actually posted a picture of that somewhere on here...

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AJ

1985 300D (SOLD)