Just had an interesting 40 hours that I thought the group might be interested in. If not, just tell me to shut up and I will stop clogging up cyberspace! I work for a major airline located in Atlanta GA, which provides me free travel benefits. This has allowed me to purchase a beautiful 72 280SEL 4.5 in Simi Valley, CA, just outside of LA. I have a post in the Vintage Section describing Suzanne. I was gone 40 hours, Sunday morning until late Monday night. I can't believe all that I got done in 40 hours! Read 1 1/2 books (Linda Greenlaw, The Hungary Ocean and Jimmy Buffet's A pirate Looks at Fifty), rented a car, drove to Simi Valley, met the 280 Owner and drove the car, drove to LA, had a late lunch with fellow member be459, drove down I5 towards San Diego and then took a liesurely mountain drive along Hwy 74, many witch backs!, had supper with member MikeTangas, got 8 hours sleep which I never get at home, worked on car and fixed A/C, gas guage and radio, had breakfast (twice!), had the timing chain replaced, returned to SimiValley, purchased the car, returned to Airport, got a first class seat assignment and drank a glass of scotch while I dreamed of driving my beautiful new car back in a few weeks! This was so much more fun and much more relaxing than the usual 40+ hours I put in at work every week!

I plan on flying back to LA and start driving the car back short legs at a time, returning to Atlanta between each leg. As an example, the first leg will probably be LA - Venice Beach - Las Vegas. While in Las Vegas, a trip to Hoover Dam and possibly the Grand Canyon. I will then leae it in Las Vegas for a week and fly back to Atlanta and give my employer another 40 hours. I am recruiting friends from work to fly out with me and help on the legs and then will ahve my family meet me at certain cities for the weekend city tour (ie Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon). Kind'a like a route 66 with post cards sent all along the way. Suggestions for special roads, diners along the way, beautiful sites etc are encouraged. I will try to keep it light and interesting!

I have to laugh since I am actually happy I bought a car so far away. I guess it is kind of like a mid-life crisis! I am hoping that this does not turn into the proverbial boat owner situation....The second happiest day of my life was when I bought it, the happiest day was when I sold it!

Happy Trails,


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Deezel
87 300TD, 160,000 miles
72 280SEL 4.5, 250,000 miles

Well, if I do everything right, the pictures of "Suzanne" should be viewable below. She will be turning heads for nearly 3,000 miles, what a great way of getting to know one another.



Deezel and "Suzanne"



"Suzanne" one the right, my '73 on the left at the 1st Temecula 280 SEL 4.5 car show.



Showing off the 4.5 Badges at a local eatery.



Me with a couple of cuties.


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Well, I did it right, hope all enjoy the pics. Sorry about the size, but I don't have a suitable photo editor to resize into anything smaller. On the plus side, the larger size allows for a good view of the cars.

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Mike Tangas
73 280 SEL 4.5

[This message has been edited by MikeTangas (edited 07-19-2000).]

What a great post, and the pictures are great too.

What route to you plan to take as you go East? Are you going the high route through Oklahoma, or are you going lower through Texas? Let me know, I've traveled Oklahoma, Arkansas and most of Texas for many years and can reccomend some good stops/side trips depending upon your route.

What a neat thing to do!

Have fun,
Larry

Larry, For such a worldly man, that is an awfully niave question. My wife is extremely supportive of my hobbies and off work activities. A great many of them revolve around her (by mutual agreement), the children, and guy things. Weekend getaways with the guys for fishing, racing or skiing are regularly supported. Purchase of an additional car and where it is located was left up to me. When it comes to cars and boats and toys like that, I am the dreamer and patiently search and plan to realize some of these dreams. My wife is the realist. When it comes to houses, the roles are reversed, she dreams, (bigger and nicer or repainted) and I am the realist. Just last night we were discussing the route home, my idea was something like LA-SanFran via the coast, Tahoe, Salt Lake, Calorado, Las Vegas, Boise, San Diego, Albuqurque in that order. Have not gotten to the mid western states such as OK or TX yet. This seems like a strapping good idea to waste lots of gas and see parts of the country at a very liesurely pace. The more frivolous, illogocal and spontaneous the better. Her response was how am I going to do that with Soccer season starting, and work in general, which is probably true. However, it is like giving the kids a Nintendo machine at Christmas but no software!!! I am hell bent and determined that I will spend some time traveling the wrong direction just to make a point!

Right now it looks like Las Vegas (Hoover dam and Grand Canyon) will be first stop, but SanFran and PCH is still a possibility. Albuquerque is also definitely on the list since my Mother lives there, although she will just reinforce my wife's position and ask her why she puts up with me, I am not her real son, that I was left on the doorstep by a traveling band of gypsies, I get more and more like my father every day, ete, etc, etc!

Most importantly, looking for good eats along the way, regardless of what route I take!

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Deezel
87 300TD, 160,000 miles
72 280SEL 4.5, 250,000 miles

Thank you for the compliment TxBill, I always thought the old gal was nice looking, but Suzanne, WOW, pretty much sums it up.

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Mike Tangas
73 280 SEL 4.5

Mike,

They are great pictures. When Deezel pulled out of a parking space here in Los Angeles last Sunday heading for your town, I was watching "Suzanne" from the front. It was so shinny and beatiful. I am sure your bady looks the same way too.

David

Deezel,

My response regarding the leg of your trip through Texas or Oklahoma, was because you were asking where to get good food.

Even though most people from other parts of the world think of Texas as a barren wasteland, which is true for much of it, there are things worth seeing, but that isn't why I was responding.

If you are interested in good food on the leg through this area, let me know your route.

Have a fun journey(s),
Larry

P.S. As far as your choices regarding the Pacific Coast, if you go North, don't miss Monterrey/Carmel. LB

[This message has been edited by LarryBible (edited 07-24-2000).]

Right now I am looking at Los Angeles to Las Vegas by where I will meet my family for Hoover Dam and then some of the Nevada Utah parks such as Grand Canyon and or Bryce, followed by Dinasaur Monument National Park and then parking the car in Salt Lake. Looks like about 6 days between Las Vegas and Salt Lake. I have been to Salt Lake several times and think I know it well a enough to get around. There is an elegant looking Japanese restaraunt downtown which I want to try. I have also been to Rodigio's (South American, Argentinian I think) and Diamond Lil's ssteak house is a favorite of a ski buddy of mine, so I feel obligated to try it since it was closed the day we tried to go there.
The car is now registered insured and has Georgia antique plates ready to install. My throttle foot is getting itchy and I just polished my cowboy boots. It would be really cool to find an old state highway map of Nevada and Utah (pre-interstate)and see if I could find my way with it! Now that would be a guaranteed disaster!

Caio baby!

My wife and I like all kinds of food. An occasional elegant restaurant would be nice, such as in Las Vegas area. In general, my wife would prefer a more restaurant with fancy prep work and sauces over a Ruth Chris Steak. Something along the lines of the Crabcooker. Hopefully we will have a baby sitter in LasVegas, as our children are still a little young for fine dining. Good BBQ, Tex or Mex with a good beer list will be nice for a more daily fare when the kids are with us and we need to wash down the dust from the trail.

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Deezel
87 300TD, 160,000 miles
72 280SEL 4.5, 250,000 miles

Loks like my last post got kind of scrambled somehow! I have put a post in the vintage section describing the how great it feels to be driving the ols girl. I think I will continue the string on the Vintage board in steqad of going back and foreth between these two sections. I will look forward to must see, must taste posts there. Did not bring my lap top, so it might be hard for me to retrieve info while I am on the road. Guess I'll have to wing it! With the hectic flights, traffic, and tight schedule, I did not get to see David (BE459) or the Tangas's in Temecula, who I think are on a fishing trip. I get out to LA about twice a year, so I will see you on the next trip!

Best Regards,

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Deezel
87 300TD, 160,000 miles
72 280SEL 4.5, 250,000 miles

Deezel,

Hey, I'm sure you are well aware of this, but don't forget to pack some tools along! Definitely a 10-19mm wrench set, same goes for sockets, perhaps a 1/4"-3/4" wrench set as well. Some odd nuts and bolts on those older models are actually US sizes! A shop manual, a couple gallons of water and a few quarts of oil. Hopefully you won't need to make use of any of these items, but better safe than sorry when travelling in ANY classic car. I remember driving a '73 Triumph TR6 from Philadelphia to Cleveland and laughing about how full the trunk was with tools and most importantly, OIL! Nevertheless, it was a fun (albeit noisy) trip, and I was glad to get home! I'd definitely feel differently if I were making the same trip in a 280 4.5!

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Rgds,
Aaron Greenberg
MB technician
Precision Motorcars, Cincinnati, Ohio
'67 250SE Cabriolet
'77 450SL
'80 300SD
'85 380SE
'86 420SEL
'89 420SEL
'93 300E 2.8
'74 Jensen Interceptor Mk.III
'81 DeLorean DMC12
'84 BMW 745i Turbo

Aaron,

Soory for the late reply. Work has been crazier than usual since I returned, so this is the first free time I have had to visit the site.

Good points about tools, manuals and fluids. The original owner gave me the manual with the car, and I loaded up with all fluids and a limited tool kit.

I also made sure the jack worked, tire pressures were proper including the spare, and used the lug wrench to loosen and retorque all lug nuts before departing on the trip. I would recommend this for all people in all types of cars, since many of these tire shops just drive the nuts home and you may not be able to get them off if you have a flat. You know the old saying, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

I did have to change a clogged brake line that was causing the call to give a short quick pull when the brakes were first applied. It took twenty minutes start to finish in the Sears parking lot, where I had to buy a 9mm to loosen the bleeder nipple.

See the vintage board for details on the trip!

Best Regards,

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Deezel
87 300TD, 160,000 miles
72 280SEL 4.5, 250,000 miles