I'm back and an old friend is back too.

[Chadahar]

Sweet Abigail, the Resurrection: Or "That'll Buff Right Out".
I told you I'd be back when I got another MB. Well Sweet Abigail is returning to me as soon as I can get her home.
2000 or so more miles and nor the worse for wear sans a tree falling on her.

OH Abby what have you gotten yourself into now.

This may turn into another Blue Bird Post. If I took the time to replace the water pump and the radiator, I could drive her out, but I think discretion is the better part of valor here, so I'll flat bed it home. PO is looking for the license plates, but if they were in his home they are toast as his home burned down a few months ago.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image.

She still has her Spanish Hwy Sticker on the top right of the windshield and her first high mileage badge. And look! the Star and grille is still good. If I have to have a tree fall on my Benz, t5his is how I want it to happen....every time!
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image.

I should get her home this week, as soon as the guy cuts the tree up so we can remove it. Evidently this happened in the last wind storm back in March or April.

[Chadahar]

The front tires are not doing a lean in or out from the top so I think that the frame is OK Tires still up and in great shape. I had them replaced just before I sold it shortly after that picture of her and Mariah was taken. PO had her approximately 1 1/2 years and put 2000 miles on her as he had other transportation most of the time. I remember going over her when he was having overheating problems and the pressure in the top Rad hose was tremendous. He had had the thermostat replaced days earlier and I believe it was in wrong and told him so. His "Mechanic" said it was the radiator, but
when they pulled out the old radiator it was OK, but they were going to replace it anyway. The "Mechanic" was not successful in removing the water pump so it is loose(didn't pull the Crankshaft dampner or didn't find the notch?
The tree was a long dead Cottonwood. When we get the tree off her I'll inspect under the hood and under neath too.
It has just been two years that the PO has owned her and I know she has been sitting there sans tree since Dec. and with mr. tree gracing her hood since March.
If any of you have ever heard of a big cat preserve in Acton named Shambala, owned by the actress Tipi Hedrin (Birds). The PO is her stepson. The car is located on that property.
Abigail has not told me if she ever transported Tipi or not.......

[Chadahar]

Went to assess the job of getting the tree off Abby. Not too hard, but while I was there I took the packet from the glove box. That packet has all my repair records and all the car's MB dealer hang cards and literature that came with the car new. Even the window sticker. I also found that the timing chain was done at 184,582 miles. PO drove the car until the plates expired...on my title evidently.my signed off title and his paperwork to transfer the title is in the package. He owed $75.00 to transfer title, but never did. Car was not driven out of Acton after 4-02-09 because of expired tags. The second ones were issued when she was re-imported into US in 1995. Found the rear plate in the back seat. So Abby has her second original plates on her still.

[Chadahar]

Great news! We, Lori and I went on Tues. afternoon to set wood chocks under the tree so I could jack up the tree and roll Abby out from under. We got there and unloaded the chocks and the caretaker showed up with a chain saw. He proceeded to cut where I told him to cut to leave as little weight on the car as possible and to not add more weight by a bad cut. Job was accomplished in short order and he and I lifted the last piece(across the fenders and hood) off the car and she was free of tree. There are two dimples in the hood from the under side that were under the tree and I did not see. I'm thinking the top connections for the WUR, Cruise controller, or the thermostat housing?? Anyway Abby is free of the tree and I'm taking Ben, the caretaker, a case of Tecate for cutting that tree up. We saved the star on the grille too. I had Ben cut a small slice of the tree to keep as a reminder.

It was a great feeling to see the suspension raise up with each piece of wood cut. It came all the way back up, so I am relieved that the suspension is still good. Tires stayed full of air the whole time it sit under the tree. They were new about 3 months before I sold the car.

Lori is my gal pal that co-owns the horses with me and is a great gal. I told her about the car and she said "Go get it you know you want another Mercedes". It was her idea to go do "Guy things" and work on the car. She took the pictures today.











About a foot or so from my right hand is a Black Alligator Lizard that was living between the rotten bark and the tree trunk on the hood, Lori caught him in his turn about towards the windshield. He came full tilt towards me and all I saw was his head and I thought SNAKE! and heaved the log off Abby!

Assessing the damage from the outside. I haven't gotten the hood open yet.

[Rahulio1989300E]

That is awesome.

Looks like the car took the tree on like a champ so far!

[Cal Learner]

I'm going with, "that'll buff right out."

[NDP 2.6 190E]

Looking forward to more updates!

Cheers!

[Chadahar]

Abby update 07-10-2010

Went out to get Abby ready to tow out of the property and get her away from the other part of the tree that is still standing but loose in the ground.

The caretaker, the PO and myself rolled her back, then pushed her to a more accessible spot for a trailer or tow dolly to get her out of there.

Since I had some time as the PO was trying to pack some stuff before they clean up his house fire mess. I decided to try to open the hood and survey the damage under there.

I pulled the hood release and the hood RAISED on the left corner. I then pulled the left side of grille hood release and that side was free. I tried to release the right side lever and it would not release. I went back and tried the inside hood release and then took a MB lug wrench and a BFRH(Big Flippen Rubber Hammer) and used the round end of the lug wrench against the release lever and tapped on the other end with the BFRH and it released.

When the tree fell it forced both hood catches down about 1/4 inch on left side and 1/2 inch on the right so the Radiator support needs to be jacked back into position or cut out and replaced. Hood latches and releases well if you latch the right side only. with the hood tweaked it is a bugger bear to release with both sides latched.

A good look under the hood and a quick oil level check showed no damage under the hood at all other than the rad support. Oil was dirty(big wonder there) but no water in the oil! YEAH for Me and Abby.

Upon further investigation, the heating up(rise and fall, not rise and stay) was more than likely due to the top radiator hose(they are so brittle)connection being broken.as was the overflow nipple. Radiator will be replaced. Water pump didn't need to be pulled, but must be done now to replace gasket. so the Harmonic balancer must be pulled to get the pump out. WP is loose. Oil cooler is OK as it had been removed (still hooked up)and laid sideways in the left front forward wheel well(near headlight).

All in all very little damage to essentials. Also found out that the tree had just fallen on the car about a week before I got her back. No rat damage in the car or under the hood either! It WAS a GOOD DAY!

Hood finally open


From the damaged side. Look, the turn signal bulb is still intact.


First look under the hood.


Closer look.


The hood actually latches on both sides(Gen I sedan are like SEC's), but as it's tweaked it's hard to open with both sides latched, so here she sets awaiting the tow dolly or a trailer.

[TylerH860]

Saw the picture in the gallery banner and wondered if there was an update.