what do you think of this car for my kid? - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

benhogan · #31 06-12-2013, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by P.C.

For $4k, your son could be cocooned in some real American iron! 1965 Chrysler Imperial Crown 4 Door Hardtop for sale | Hemmings Motor News

i mean, it does say 'negotiable'....hmmmm....

rs899 · #32 06-12-2013, 11:48 AM

elchivito · #33 06-12-2013, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by P.C.

For $4k, your son could be cocooned in some real American iron! 1965 Chrysler Imperial Crown 4 Door Hardtop for sale | Hemmings Motor News

Teach him to park that thing and he'll be able to park anything. Plus, at 10mpg he'll learn to save money.

P.C. · #34 06-12-2013, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elchivito

Teach him to park that thing and he'll be able to park anything. Plus, at 10mpg he'll learn to save money.

10mpg?!? My father had one of these back in the Sixties. Try 8mpg!

rs899 · #35 06-12-2013, 12:05 PM

^^ and that was before ethanol was ....invented. And gallons were bigger back then.....

G-Benz · #36 06-12-2013, 12:19 PM

I read the ad.

Looks like the important stuff got replaced...especially the window regulators...a common nuisance failure on these cars.

Add idler pulley and power steering pump to the list of potential failures to look for...although at that mileage, they have probably been attended to.

Parts prices aren't too far off from comparable MB parts of that vintage. However, the tight engine compartment almost always requires removal of other components, so if you are farming out the work, labor will be twice the cost of the part getting replaced!

The inline 6 is spiffy, but not a road dominator. A VTEC Honda can get into much more trouble than a 323.

Air&Road · #37 06-12-2013, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benhogan

good points Larry. understood and appreciated. sometimes as parents we want the best for our kids NOW and we forget the long term big picture.

If I pay for this and he has no skin in the game, well, you know the rest.

I think he needs to bag groceries at the Food Lion at minimum wage first .

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for opening my eyes.

What the heck was I thinking? When I was 17, I drove a Corolla and RESENTED the rich kids who drove BMW's in high school. Now, I can afford such BMW's and I forget what it was like. If I do this, I will be putting him in that group of kids I resented. dang...

Nice car the 323i but no thanks!

Thanks to this forum for helping me sort this out in my mind. When I was looking at cars on CL, of course, I gravitate to the cars I know but this is the wrong car for my kid.

He needs to fix mowers in a hot garage like me. Thanks guys.

I'm very glad to see your response. I hesitated because I was poking my nose in your business, so I'm glad it was helpful.

Best of luck with it all.

G-Benz · #38 06-12-2013, 12:44 PM

I agreed with your post as well. Wish I took that advice with mine.

She's eyeing GLKs for college graduation!

I told her unless she scores a CNN anchor job right out of school, that's not gonna happen!

spdrun · #39 06-12-2013, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G-Benz

I agreed with your post as well. Wish I took that advice with mine.

She's eyeing GLKs for college graduation!

I told her unless she scores a CNN anchor job right out of school, that's not gonna happen!

Tell her a rallye-prepped 300D will kick a GLK's azz up and down the curb.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/attachments/vintage-mercedes/84214d1282763004-outlaws-gruppe-b-w114-race-car.jpg

Air&Road · #40 06-12-2013, 12:55 PM

I've probably told about my first car on this forum, maybe numerous times, but it seems worth repeating here.

In 1963 in Texas, if you took Drivers Education you could get your drivers license at 14 and that's what I did. I would NEVER let a kid drive on their own at 14 now, but that's how it went down for me.

I mowed yards when I wasn't working for nothing at my Dad's shop. There was a guy that my Dad knew that had a wrecking yard. I bought a '48 Chevy Fleetline from that wrecking yard for $12.50. Well, it wasn't exactly a car, it was the right to take enough parts to build a car. Here is the basic car..... Take the doors off that one, the hood off that one and the trunk lid off that one over there, kind of thing.

I bought it when I was about 13 1/2 and registered and inspected it when I was about 14 1/2 about $75 later.

Like Ben, I saw many people at high school with brand new or near new cars.

My Dad always insisted that he didn't pay anything extra at the wrecking yard, but I think he probably set up the deal. He knew that it would keep me off the road a little longer. He gave me advice and when I had two person jobs to do, he would help. He intentionally gave me technical advice in a very vague fashion, probably to slow me down and keep me off the road a little longer.

He also handled the paint gun when it came time to spray on the scrap red enamel that I got for free from a neighbor who was an automotive refinish wholesaler. It was the brightest red ever conceived by mankind. You could hear it before you could see it, it was such a loud color.

My uncle was a pumper in the oil fields of the Permian Basin and we went to see him often. A few times we took two 55 gallon drums in my Dad's pickup when we visited and my Uncle filled them with drip gas. This was a crude gasoline that somehow came from a process in the oilfields somehow and was EXTREMELY illegal. I wouldn't burn the stuff today, but I was a kid, didn't really understand the illegality of it and needed gasoline. There were root beer stands and girls waiting, I needed gasoline.

That old Chevy was probably the ugliest, lowest class car a kid could have been driving, but to me it was WHEELS, and that's all that counted.

spdrun · #41 06-12-2013, 12:59 PM

I'm surprised a 1940s-era engine could run on drip gas (being basically the neat product without octane additives). When did leaded gas become a requirement for new American cars? 50s or 60s?

SwampYankee · #42 06-12-2013, 01:02 PM

We call them Bavarian Maple Wreckers around here for their propensity for young guns to wrap them around trees while testing the limits of The Ultimate Driving Machines, more often than not with a load of friends.

Obviously you know your kid better than any of us, but my oldest will drive something considerably more boring when he gets his license next year. I trust him to drive (he's been driving a truck on dirt roads at our camp for a couple years now), he'll have to earn the privilege of something fun to drive. Even if it's not until he can afford to buy it on his own.

Air&Road · #43 06-12-2013, 01:04 PM

A 48 Chevy had something less than 7:1 Compression Ratio and it ran great on the stuff. There was leaded gas back as far as I can remember, back into the fifties.

Phillips 66 got it's name very early. My Dad said that he remembered their ads indicating that they guaranteed 66 octane. I think that was probably in the early thirties.

Compression ratios were on the rise all through the fifties and sixties, probably peaking out in the late sixties, early seventies. Of course in 72 they all went to hell with the unleaded fuel trend starting to be pressed. By the sixties, regular was higher octane than today's Premium.

Txjake · #44 06-12-2013, 01:10 PM

Natural-gas condensate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

spdrun · #45 06-12-2013, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SwampYankee

We call them Bavarian Maple Wreckers around here for their propensity for young guns to wrap them around trees while testing the limits of The Ultimate Driving Machines, more often than not with a load of friends.

Obviously you know your kid better than any of us, but my oldest will drive something considerably more boring when he gets his license next year. I trust him to drive (he's been driving a truck on dirt roads at our camp for a couple years now), he'll have to earn the privilege of something fun to drive. Even if it's not until he can afford to buy it on his own.

The 323's in the late 90s had 170hp, not significantly more than a Taurus of the same era. Considering 300 hp is normal in mid-sized sedans these days, it's not a 240d, but it's pretty tame by today's standards.