Here is the story of myself and James adventure to the scrap yard to recycle the w201 190E he parted out

It all began on an early saturday morning. 8 am to be exact. I arrive at James's house and after a short wait time he comes outside to play.

I mentioned that some parts are still good to resell on ebay or here and we proceed to pull the aux coolant pump and some other things off the chasis as well as tie down the hood with the remaining length of hood pull cable*. He told me a few days before his friend was supposed to come over and bring a trailer hitch for his wifes caprice wagon, the tow vehicle, but he didnt come over. so we were going to do it the old fashioned way.

We all know we cannot steer the car without a key or pop it into neutral and we had an issue. James had the key to the car on his dinner table but his wife cleared it off the night before and could not relocate the key. The barbarian way it was.. A trusty 3lb sledge and some brute force to remove the lock mechanism solved our issue. While hammering away we noticed that it wasn't breaking off but turning on the cylinder and gouging a path around the cylinder until it went all the way around and fell off. It wasn't until 15 minutes later his wife remembered where the key was(she had a bad headache).. she put it in a box with stuff that was his but forgot where the box was.. Oh well.. the key was not needed. Then James fiddled with the shifter to remove the parking interlock so it would go into N.. easy as pie

The drivers seat wasn't really mounted to the car anymore and he had sold the adjusting controls to someone else so it was stuck in a position that made bolting it in hard. But we made due and pried it into place. Also the steering wheel needed to be bolted back on since he removed it to remove the air bag(I think). While he moved his wifes wagon to prep for towing I messed around in the remaing interior and tried to roll the window down. But that would not happen since the buttons were gone and the car was sans battery. James said not a problem and grabbed a 3lbs sledge. after putting down some plastic to catch the glass he stood off to the side and attempted to break the glass. Bam... right in the middle.. nothing.. again and once more nothing.. so he gives it a good whack on the frame and it shatters. We move the plastic out of the way and continue on.

so we get the toe strap onto the car, James put it on what I Think is the bumper support. I remember saying "thats not going to hold" and on it goes. I had never driven a vehicle in tow so he gave me some tips and stuff.. and then we were off.

I don't know if he was messing with me or what but when he took off after we got onto the road it was like he floored it to mess with me.. or its just the wagon ^_^.. we travel at a good 25-30 mph for a majority of the trip. We come up to the first light and I began to brake . he said to keep the line taught and I did.. well I must have put too much pressure because I heard a loud POP and clink of the tow strap hook on the road.. I tried to stop the both of us.. oops.. and it was at the light.. we get out and hurridly put it back onto the car... I said attach it to the sway bar.. thats not going anywhere. That would hold well for the rest of the trip


During the next mile the hood began to lift a little and I Called James.. "Dude, I don't think its going to hold"... after I get off the phone not 30 seconds later does the hood fly open!!! Thank goodness for MBZ hood hinges.. they held well at 25 mph. Gee that hood pull cable held well.. We found some speaker wire in the mess of the remaining interior and tied it down well... I also noticed that the transmission cooler line was pumping fluid out. I wondered what that smell was.


We continue on our journey and we begin to slow down... I let too much slack in the line and the front right wheel caught the cable and wrapped it around the tire a bit.. we pull over and remove and inspect it... it cut halfway through the strap... I owe ya one man.. we are only a mile or two from the scrap yard... it holds strong until we arrive and can get paid for the hulk of metal..




see the metal hanging off the front.. that is where the hook was attached at first



during towing(attached to the sway bar) we ripped the sway bar from the spindles or w/e



time to remove the tires



goodbye 190E




we didn't get to see it get crushed



It was a fun day .. after that adventure we went to the PNP were I scored a complete euro interior and manual sunroof

In Peru that car would most surely have been salvaged, fixed up, and now be running all over Lima, in La Victoria, Miraflores, Barranco, San Isidro, Chorrillos, up and down Avenida Arequipa and back and forth to and from and Jorge Chavez Intl airport, making money.

Car insurance, what's that?

It was an interesting story, though, well told. A real white-knuckler of a journey.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

here is the other side

What are you complaining about? It still has all four doors.

I do like the tires on that Komatsu. I've not seen any like that. They appear to be solid rubber. Just what you need in a junkyard.

yep.. solid rubber.. better than what the 190E was wearing... those tires were total crap

Honestly the night I picked the car up I loved how smooth it drove and accelerated. I was upset to see that when I finally got the RR door open that the frame at the base of the door was pretty well mangled and that the hinges were half torn from the B-pillar. Another forum member needed the plastic pieces off of the passenger seat and due to the impact I couldn't get the seat to move without making some room...Saws-all to the rescue. I cut through the top of the b-pillar and pried it out far enough to remove the trim.

Joe seemed to enjoy the nascar quick change steering wheel. Actually I took it off to remove the turn signal and cruise assembly. Those come out surprisingly easy. I salvaged what I could from the car other than the motor & tranny. It's a shame that nobody needed or wanted them, but I guess that's a testament to the reliability of that motor.

Either way, we had a ball. Lots of laughs, that's for sure. I'm past the break-even point on my little experiment, so I'm sure I'll be doing this again.

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-James

'85 280GE...sold
'96 Impala SS ~ 6-speed 396
'14 Cadillac Vagon. . . . . . . . . . "Life without knowledge is death in disguise." - Hans-Peter Geerdes

we should start a biz...

Next time rig up a video camera! Sounds like quite the comedy of errors.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

it was great... I'm going back after class today to get some pieces of the sunroof I missed.. I hope the car is still there.

you sent a running and driving car to a scrap yard??????????????????

Don, WTF, didnt you learn from my video? Wtf man, wtf???
I'm dissapointed in you, truly

~Nate

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95 Honda Shadow ACE 1100.
1999 Plymouth Neon Expresso. 2.4 swap, 10.5 to 1 comp, big cams. Autocross time attack vehicle!
2012 Escape, 'hunter" (5 sp 4cyl)

The title needss to be changed to "Adventure." I was crushed (pun intended) to see a Mercedes at the scrap yard....

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"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

I didn't want to scrap the car, but the A/C didn't work, and to repair the car to decent condition would have cost about what I can buy a used one for. I had listed the car in the parts for sale section (and I think the cars for sale as well) and there was little to no interest in the car. I can honestly say I pulled off 3 times the number of parts that I've sold here to forum members. Sunday night I should be listing several more parts, and again every Thursday and Sunday until I'm out of parts...

Oh, and the car was no longer running due to all the fuel and ignition system parts that I pulled to sell or have already sold.

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-James

'85 280GE...sold
'96 Impala SS ~ 6-speed 396
'14 Cadillac Vagon. . . . . . . . . . "Life without knowledge is death in disguise." - Hans-Peter Geerdes

james did it.. plus.. it was kinda broken

You guys did it the fun but hard way! When I got rid of the 420SEL I just called the junkers, they winched it up on a flat bed and took it away for me.


I would never tow a car like that, I can just imagin the strap parting and me flying into a new Lexus or something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfYn_jplpvM

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

yea.. but did you get 7$ per 100 lbs?

I have had the junk yard take previous cars of mine and give me 20$ or 50$ for it while they make hundreds off the parts they pull(if its a sought after car)...

I think James made more than he would have gotten if the junk yard came and towed it