Your detailing the U-Haul experience brings back painful memories. Once upon a time, a 26 foot U-haul truck with a trailer in tow decided to DIE on me in the middle of a 2000 mile move. It was the dead of winter so the timing wasn't exactly great......

Took the truck to a local heavy truck repair facility and waited, prayed and hoped. Had they not been able to repair it, I would have been forced to unload the truck onto yet another U-haul 26 footer. No telling how long it would have taken U-haul to bring me another truck.....

Speaking of all this moving, growing up my father was lucky enough to work for a company that paid for our moves. Dad got transferred a lot so they hired Mayflower to pack us and move us. I can say this, moving with a full service mover like Mayflower is night and day different than going the U-Crap way.

They pack your stuff for you, ship it on a truck with AIR BAG suspension so that nothing gets broke. Plus, they know HOW to PROPERLY pack. You simply hop in the benz and meet your properly packed and stored stuff which is waiting at an authorized Mayflower storage facility at the other end. Yes, a full service move is priced up higher but you'll save that in:

1. Lower Blood Pressure
2. Much much lower STRESS
3. Not having to fight traffic while driving a 26 foot truck pulling a trailer full of belongings down the interstate hoping some maniac doesn't cut you off causing an accident.

Once you experience a full service move with a company like Mayflower, you will never go back to the U-Move it, U-get-ulcers-and-stress way of moving.......

OTH, if you are simply moving across town to another house, nothing wrong with using U-haul. But for long distance moves, count me out......

Yes-it will be in back of the home. I'm planning on about 24x40 or so and it will have a small bathroom and guest room + my mancave(overused term-we need a new one-how about "Lounge"). Floor drains are not allowed by code in a residential garage-I went through that with planning in NV-something about fuel leaking into the sanitary sewer and blowing up the street. I might be able to hide one in the floor and break it out later. I am going to spend a lot of time developing my layout. I want a separate room for the compressor and dust collection system + a separate storage area apart from the shop. In Oregon a homeowner may perform all work except for gas system.

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Tony H
W111 280SE 3.5 Coupe
Manual transmission

Past cars:
Porsche 914 2.0
'64 Jaguar XKE Roadster
'57 Oval Window VW
'71 Toyota Hilux Pickup Truck-Dad bought new
'73 Toyota Celica GT

Yea Uhaul is expensive, the trucks are not fuel efficient ($200 gas for 550mi) and very slow in the mountains when heavily loaded. And the trip is mountainous except for the last 75mi. But it was still the best option for me and I have control over the move. Nice to have all our stuff here at last. Now if we can just sell our NV property.

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Tony H
W111 280SE 3.5 Coupe
Manual transmission

Past cars:
Porsche 914 2.0
'64 Jaguar XKE Roadster
'57 Oval Window VW
'71 Toyota Hilux Pickup Truck-Dad bought new
'73 Toyota Celica GT

So we put the lot on the market since I have to pay taxes/HOA to keep it and no desire to speculate. Got an offer today and made a counter-holding our breath. It will be nice to end our Nevada experiment.

__________________
Tony H
W111 280SE 3.5 Coupe
Manual transmission

Past cars:
Porsche 914 2.0
'64 Jaguar XKE Roadster
'57 Oval Window VW
'71 Toyota Hilux Pickup Truck-Dad bought new
'73 Toyota Celica GT

Sorry it didn't work out for you .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

We like it better here-this is where we wanted to be in the first place. All part of the process of relocating. We will lose a little $ and had to rent for a year. In hindsight we made an impulse decision but it motivated us to sell our home and move. We lived in our home for 26 years so no easy feat. Took over a year to get it ready for the market and sold.
One thing I miss-no Pick n Pulls within a 5hr drive.
Nate-I see you had a 350SLC-I'm thinking a 350SL stick shift would be a neat car. What was your impression?

__________________
Tony H
W111 280SE 3.5 Coupe
Manual transmission

Past cars:
Porsche 914 2.0
'64 Jaguar XKE Roadster
'57 Oval Window VW
'71 Toyota Hilux Pickup Truck-Dad bought new
'73 Toyota Celica GT

You know .

I had a 1975 350SLC V8 four speed, it was a really fun car -but- it made me want to drive like a butthead all the time ~ power sliding through intersections in downtown Los Angeles is a no-no, especially in rish hour, knowhutimean ?

It was just a matter or time before I got arrested or wrecked it so off it went .

I'm quite sure a 107 SLC Diesel conversion would be a terrific touring / rally car .

I hope to be able to grow old(er) and die here in Southern California, I've lived various places in America and out of country, I like it here just fine thankyouverymuch .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I'm kind of stuck on a V8-a 6cyl or diesel just doesn't excite me in a Mercedes. Mostly just cruising and enjoying the coast highway. 101 is just a few blocks from here.
Spent many an hr in Bay Area commute traffic-nothing like a 5 hr drive home on Friday evening from San Jose.

__________________
Tony H
W111 280SE 3.5 Coupe
Manual transmission

Past cars:
Porsche 914 2.0
'64 Jaguar XKE Roadster
'57 Oval Window VW
'71 Toyota Hilux Pickup Truck-Dad bought new
'73 Toyota Celica GT