Paul is right. Not sure if any MB dealer will print out a VMI for you -- you may have to have some work done there. I've got a friend who is a MB mechanic, and he was pulling them on all cars I was considering. You can only get nonwarranty repair records at the dealer where the car was serviced.

Will do on the crank position sensor, Arkie. Thanks, man

OK. Got the car back home Friday night. The 1240 mile round trip one day fly-out-to/drive-back-from Alabama (to TX) was no problem thanks to three halves of "stay awayke" ( = three cups of coffee) and a box of Lemonheads. The car got 30 mpg while running 75 mph. Pretty impressive. Only issues I noticed is a steering wheel vibration at idle (motor mounts) and a whining in the rear differential around 40-50 mph or so (carrier setup from a past warranty replacement, I believe). I'll live with the whine and change the mounts Also, the inside trunk release isn't working properly. I'll figure that one out eventually.

I washed the car this weekend, treated the leather with Leatherique (which totally brought the sun faded gray leather back to life -- I'll do this again in a couple weeks), sanded and polished the headlights (This totally works….1000 grit then 1500 grit wet paper followed by 3m plastic polish and my orbital buffer ----- amazing results. It took the yellow haze out of the headlights and made them crystal clear.) I then pulled the glove box assembly out to get to the cabin filters and two huge charcoal cannsisters under the passenger's footwell.

To do items in the next three weeks in no particular order:
• Transfer title
• Car inspection
• Car registration
• Tint windows
• Take to my friend and have him remove and paint the rear bumper assembly, side view mirrors, spot on front bumper and then two strips that run over the doors from the front to rear glass (plastic trim). I can do paint/body, but just don't have the time these days to handle.
• Take to my MB dealer mechanic friend to put on a lift and check it out for me -- see what she needs
• New crankshaft position sensor
• New spark plugs
• New fuel filter / air filter
• New cabin filters and charcoal filters (four total)
• Pull the transmission pan, change the filter, flush 12 liters of transmission fluid (changing the fluid)
• New engine oil/filter
• Drain and replace rear differential fluid

In the next year, I will remove all the birdseye black maple (which is uneven in tone plus has some clearcoat fading) -- 13 pieces in all -- and look around for a woodshop to remove the clearcoat, lightly sand and stain the wood, and spray it with a nitro finish. If you see the trim in the backseat and the gearshift color, it's darker --almost black in color -- which is the way it's supposed to be. The dash, console and door trim up front is a lighter brown. While I'll restain and refinish furniture all day long with zero worry, you only get one shot with this the thin burlwood…so I'll let a pro handle it. Any recommendations and pricing guesstimates would be awesome.