It is with a sad heart that I announce to the forums that Phil Reinhardt recently passed away (last night / this morning) from a heart attack. We found out from Phil’s fiancé (due to be married next month) and his son this morning, and our thoughts and prayers are with them at this time. Phil was 61- his birthday was yesterday. Phil was a great team member and will be greatly missed here at Pelican. He was very excited about moving back to California and joining us here on our home turf.

I don't have any details quite yet on flowers, or donations to foundations / charities, but I will post as soon as I have any info.

Thanks everyone for your understanding and support,

Wayne

Addition: Phil's kids asked me to add this info to the first post:

Details to be posted soon...

All members wishing to donate that have problems using online payments, please contact vstech via email to send physical funds. Jennifer will be traveling a lot and wishes me to handle the payments that cannot be made online.
Donation Page

Direct Donation Link

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Wayne R. Dempsey, Founder, Pelican Parts Inc., and Author of:
101 Projects for Your BMW 3-Series • 101 Projects for Your Porsche 911 • How to Rebuild & Modify Porsche 911 Engines • 101 Projects for Your Porsche Boxster & Cayman
• 101 Projects for Your MINI Cooper • 101 Projects for Your Porsche 996 / 997

How very sad. Phil was a gem. He always made me feel that my parts were important to him.
He will be missed.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

That is very sad news. My condolences to his family.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

My condolences. He was always helpful - especially when things went awry.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

This is sad news, indeed. I too, felt that he always took my problems seriously and got my parts to me over night as if it were his emergency. He will be missed.

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1983 300D, the "Avocado"
1976 240D, 4-spd the "Pumpkin", SOLD to Pierre
1984 190D, 2.2L, 5-spd, my intro to MBZ diesels, crashed into in 2002

Always so much patience with my "dumb" questions about parts and when talking to him he always gave me the feeling I was the only client, never in a rush and always knew who I was. Imagined him sitting in an old shack filled with old binders full of Mercedes parts...with a light bulb hanging of the ceiling and an old rotary phone...RIP.

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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).

R.I.P. Phil. What a great guy to order parts from. As has been stated, he genuinely cared about you when talking with him about ordering parts. He will be greatly missed. Prayers for his family.

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Dale

Same age a me, too young.

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85 Merc 300D - Unwinding 31 years of wear
86 VW TD
Mahindra Diesel
Iseki Diesel

In 2007 I didn't own a diesel.

WOW. Just WOW. What a shame! Condolences to all...

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1968 230S Automatic, Elfenbein
1975 O309D Executive Westfalia Camper Bus, Blau/ Weiss
1972 280SEL 4,5 Dunkelrot
1966 VW Type 34 "Grosser" Karmann-Ghia
1963 VW 1500 Variant Pearlweiss
1969 VW Variant Automatic, Perugruen
1971 VW Squareback Automatic, Clementine Orange
2001 E320 4Matic Wagon- Our belated welcome to the 21st century! Polar White
1973 280SEL 4,5 Sliding Roof "The Bomb", Dunkelblau.

RIP to Phil, with prayers and thoughts for his friends and family. It sounds as though he was happy and enjoying his life, which is a blessing.

I had not yet had the opportunity to deal with Phil. But I have read so many messages of appreciation and thanks from people who he helped on this list, that I looked forward to it.

I am very sorry for the loss of such a great team member and a man who was obviously committed to his work.

My sympathy to his family and fiancée.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Did he post under Fastlane Phil???

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Did you just pass my 740 at 200 kmh in a 300SD?????

1978 300SD 'Phil' - 1,315,853 Miles And Counting - 1, 317,885 as of 12/27/2012 - 1,333,000 as of 05/10/2013, 1,337,850 as of July 15, 2013, 1,339,000 as of August 13, 2013



100,000 miles since June 2005 Overhaul - Sold January 25th, 2014 After 1,344,246 Miles & 20 Years of Ownership

Wow. Phil was always so helpful. He will be missed in a lot of places.

Wow what a shock, I talked to him many times when ordering parts. I always have a problem using my credit card because the billing address is a P.O. box, and the parts were delivered to my home address. Phill would then have to re-enter the parts I ordered, and some times a lot of numbers. The problem was in the security. He never acted like he was rushed or under pressure, always had the time for me.

Phill was like a good friend, one heck of a nice guy I always wanted to meet him.

Phill did Retire as I remember, then came back to what he loved.

Our prayer go out to his family and Fiance'.

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

Hello everyone,
I am full of grief and pain as I type this. Last night I kept calling his work line to listen to his voice on his answering machine and when I called this afternoon I saw that it had been transfered. I decided to check here and was moved by the kind words from all of you. I cannot for a second express what an amazing man my dad was. The man who cared so much about your parts was the man I watched my whole life live and love people in that very way. Every ridiculous worry I had or dumb thing I came to him with he greeted with concern, love and like you all have noticed, made my problems his problems. I have to say he cared so much about all of you. I used to laugh at him as he went on and on about all the wonderful people he got to talk to on a daily basis and got so much joy out of helping others. My grandfather used to say my dad "never met a stranger". That was a statement I never understood as a kid but now know is true. He was so geniune, so loving and so wonderful. What you saw is what you got, nothing fake. He was exactly the same way at home as he was on that phone with his customers. I can't even breathe to picture a world without him in it. He was my confidant, my rock, who I turned to when I hurt. I am hurting now and he is gone. Everyone would always say "Phil would give you the shirt off his back" and one day he actually did, I kid you not. I watched him take his shirt off and give it to someone who didn't have one and it was cold. Thank you, all of you truly for your kind words. I needed to see that others loved him as much as he loved you all.