Hey all,

I don't mean this as a personal slam to anyone here on the board, so please forgive me if anyone is offended by this post but I just gotta know.............

Why is it that 95% of the cars (Mercs in particular) that I see that reside in California are so hideously modded with chrome rims, fender flares, gold trim, etc..etc...

What is it about shiny things to Californians? Sorry but some of these cars just look awful. I saw a 1984 300D on eBay the other day that was absolutely gorgeous. Low mileage and all. The thing that detracted? The chrome bundt cake wheels and those chrome wheel arch covers. Why can't people just be happy with how the car looks stock? Do people really think that their 20+ year old diesel Mercedes looks that much better with all that gaudy stuff??

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Regards,
Aaron

Theory #1:There is a real sense of entitlement among californians (particularly southern) when it comes to material goods. Every other car is a MB or BMW or ______ (insert luxury brand), so owners of the older models feel they need to compensate.

Theory #2: Too much sun.

Head over to some of the other MB forums. They are full of young kids from southern california with brand new MBs looking for rims, stereos sopilers and what not.

They don't call them newport beach chevies for nothin'.

(I lived in CA for 14 years and don't miss it one bit)

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'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E

All major car brands have there design studios in S. California, there is a good reason for that.

But yea you see some pretty good molested Benze's here, the worst I saw was a brand new S500 with spinning rims...

Never uderstood the gold badging.

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

Hm, not sure. But i do think that the bundt cake wheels and the those bigger w126 wheels do look good in chrome, which is odd because i dont generally like "chromed out" wheels, especially when the chrome finish looks like that spray on crap you can get at Walmart.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Ok, good so at least I'm not the only one here who feels this way.

Although it's not just Mercedes that I see which have been "destroyed". Even such classics like old Jaguars, MGs, Triumphs, etc....have in some way been modified from original. I saw the most awful Triumph TR4 in California that had a Chevy engine and some hideous interior from a 1970s American luxobarge. Such a shame for that to happen to what could be a great car.

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Regards,
Aaron

Aaron,

I completely agree with you on the gaudiness of cars in LA. There is a sense of overcompensation for whatever they might be lacking but it's not limited to Mercs. Lexuses are regularly ruined with spinners and chrome 20's. I think the Escalade and H2 people are the worst from my 16 months working my IT job right on the west end of the Hollywood strip. I had to run across the street 10 times a day and had the enjoyment of trying to see who had the most ridiculous car. I did see one W126 300SD diesel with a WING. That was pretty tacky. I think the worst car or at least the poorest management of money was a old Chevy Astro van with HYDRAULICS.

One of the other things I might add is that people don't own their cars, they lease them cause they just can't afford them. People circumvent living costs by getting low income housing and spending 1200 a month on a S500 and a $8000 wheel package. Can you say POSERS?

The bottom line is that you have to show your wealth and many do have a lot of money so to "keep up with the jones'" you have to buy in, which means a S500 is merely adequate...if you have a Diablo, Continental GT, F575 you had better drive it otherwise you might be perceived as a pauper

I will add that my two benzes have no such ridiculous additions so you have 2 less cars to worry about.

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1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

I still say chrome bundts look gorgeous.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Maybe they have Magpie syndrome---They like shiney things.

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1983 300-D turbo
1985 300-D turbo
1959 Harley Panhead chopper
1929 Ford coupe restored
I hang out with Boneheaddoctor at Schuman Automotive OBK#5
All liberals are mattoids but not all mattoids are liberal.

It's O.K. for individuals to express themselves as individuals. We have enough entusiast out here to carry-on the internal "original" flame. I figure once you buy a car, lease, or given a car, you should have the FREEDOM to customize or not your car as you see fit.
We all are intitled to voice our opinions on likes and dislikes. I think you keep a lot a stress off the brain by looking at it as Art...You don't have to like it but it's fun to try and figure out what they were trying to express..what motivated those choices etc.= ( artist paint or material choices)
I remember ALL the cars I F'd up throughout the years since 1979 from High School on...Chrome was never my drug of choice but I did cut metal, I've slant nose Porsche's, Plexyglass Trans Ams, jacked up Blazers...Tones of add-ons on a '69 Ford XL (poor car never had a chance) trying to make it look like amy cousins' Z28, a Corvette, a Mustang all in the name or Art.

Sure people can do whatever they want with their cars; but that doesn't mean they aren't open to criticism.

Sorry but it burns my ass when I see a 300E with $4,000 in speakers and rims, blowing blue smoke out the tailpipe and leaking a rainbow of fluids all over the parking lot. Same with the S500 parked in front of the house with the phone disconnected because there was no money left for the bill after the payment. There were some stories in the news about this a few years back in MD. They found BMWs and the like in people's driveways, but the house they adorned didn't have running water!

Maybe part of this is MB's (or rather, DamnrearChrysler's) fault. They don't want to sell 'grandpa's car' anymore. I swear they offer AMG rims, bodykits and and all the other unneccessary nonsense for every piece of crap they roll off the line and offer for a few hundred a month. In an effort to shed their stodgy image (one that I used to love), they have attracted a different consumer: the pimp my ride, sittin' on chrome, AMG wanna-be fool.

I guess customizing is art or self expression, but to me its just an effort to show off, with hideous results.

PS- And the chrome rims, you won't ever see them on an MB in Germany because they won't pass TUV inspection- the chroming process weakens the rim. Style>substance.

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'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E

Many people don't understand car culture or "auto couture" in the Golden State. First, automobiles hold a special place out there, and eventually reflect more than just a means of transportation. That results in "style" that can either be cutting edge at one end of the spectrum to eyesore at the other. Just like there are no "fashion police" at WalMart . . . there are no autofashion police on Hwy 101 or I-5.

I don't think you want to regulate how peaple spend their money. That's a big can of worms. So what, if some one has a nice new car and a crappy house. So what, if you're attracted to a particular womans anotomy( and personality )...later you find out she's "pimped her ride", so to speak. I KNOW..A LITTLE OFF TOPIC.. Is it "better" to have a nice house and crappy car? Then you have to have the nicest house. What will your nieghbors think if you have a crappy car parked in front of a nice house. You'll probably be fined by the city or the association because of multiple complaints from your nieghbors. I guess there aren't any set rules to spending for a reason. Somebody's profiting from it all.

Gold badging can look quite tasteful with the right colors. The ones that come to mind are black and the deep dark reds. Of course, this only works so long as you don't go totally overboard and make EVERYTHING gold.

I wonder if there is a corelation between drug usage and the amount of chrome dohickies you slap onto your car?

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Aaron,
the problem is you, you have lived in Cincinnati too long

...Please ?

(/joking)

Seriously, I agree, there are lots of cars (and it does seem like they congregate on the left coast...) with too much done to them.
Oh well, maybe theyll keep the used market cheap for me...

-Another Cincinnatian

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)