...great documentation, Gerry! Couldn't agree with you more. That is why I purchased my 6.9 in mint condition from the owner I knew for years.
How come you don't reply to my email from this weekend, re: Techno classica etc?
Frank

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"Schwarzbraun ist die Haselnuss":

1979 300D 234.000 Miles "Brownie"
daily driver,
1979 6.9 Sundays to the Tavern
and car shows "Big Brownie"

Frank,
I've been flat on my back for the past 4-5 days with the flu, and am just now digging out of a myriad of email correspondence and questions from people. I see your mail and will respond when my queue gets down to that point.

Thanks
Gerry

Well I picked up the two rear quarters from a yard in alabama. The donar car actually looks pretty nice until they hacked it. It had really nice navy interior and Euro lamps. What a scary propersition bringing it up. They cut the quarters with lots of metal to spare so I could only get one in the rear of my volvo 740 wagon and the other had to go on a roof rack. Driving back the 100 miles to Atlanta was not fun. Now I have accumilated two quarters, two fenders and two rockers. All I need now is a guy to put it all together:-). I have one guy that agreed to do it. The person I really wanted to do it does not want to use used rear quarters so that fell through. It looks like it will go in this weekend. Right now, I am really enjoying driving it. Between the Volvo wagon and the 6.9 the E420 has become redundant. I will take pictures of the progress.

__________________
With best regards

Al

Dropped the car in the garage, first set of pictures are up. Check the resto section on http://alabbasi.netfirms.com/www/450SEL.htm.
Wish me luck.

__________________
With best regards

Al

Wow. Looks like you have your work cut out!

In your gallery, I am only able to view two pictures, BTW.

You should document with pictures the entire restoration project..those stories are a blast to read.

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'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E

Which two pictures (right click on the image or "x" and go to properties). Send me the URL and I will have a look. The pictures are pretty high resoloution and have been resized to fit the web page. If you just use the image URL in the browser you will see much more detail.
Example: http://alabbasi.netfirms.com/www/quarter2.jpg
If you using dial up this maybe why it hasnt shown up, try right clicking on the picture or "x" and selecting show picture.

Many thanks.

__________________
With best regards

Al

For any who are insterested, The Body shop has begun disassemble the car and found more rust in the inner sills. We have begun re-negotiations. Anyway you can find more pictures on my website under cars/450sel 6.9/restoration phase one.
Wish me luck this is becoming a big old job.


See http://www.alabbasi.net (go to cars, 450sel and phase one) for more pictures

__________________
With best regards

Al

Thanks for sharing those pictures.

You might want to consider swapping the US bumpers and lights for the non-US versions. Depends on which you are used to seeing- you are from the UK, right?

Good idea to document such a project for insurance purposes, also.

Nice color combo too- very '70s.

__________________
'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E

I considered this and found a set of bumpers for less the $300 dollars. They guy did want $180 dollars shipping and I thought that the money was better spent on rust repair.

I am originally fom the UK and prefer the Euro style bumpers over the US spec ones.

__________________
With best regards

Al

Al,

The car looks so different than when I last saw it! I certainly admire your tenacity. I am interested in checking out the progress in person.

Jeff

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1978 450SEL (Pearl white, bamboo interior, 97k)
1959 Impala (2 dr. Hardtop, red, white int., 283 V8, 45k)
2003 Tiburon GT V6 (Ultra Sports Pkg. 3, red, blk int., 13k)

Jeff, ,

More pictures are coming very soon. Your welcome to check it out in person, just give me a call when you get some free time. Lets see how it looks when the paint is on the car.

__________________
With best regards

Al

Al, I'd like to know how much all of this sets you back when said and done. Personally, I would have gotten a rust-free 116 chassis (maybe even a 280S or something) to put the 6.9's engine and tranny into, for probably 1/3 of the price. But I gotta admire your perserverence! Keep at it and let us know a rough estimate of the final restoration cost (so we know if Gerry is right when he says you're better off dropping $15000 on a new one in good condition rather than getting a beater to restore)!

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Current:
2021 Charger Scat Pack Widebody "Sinabee"
2018 Durango R/T

Previous:
1972 280SE 4.5
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited "Hefe", 1992 Jeep Cherokee Laredo "Jeepy", 2006 Charger R/T "Hemi"
1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k

Right now, they need to take more bits of the car before they get a clearer picture of the price. Once done I will try to break down the cost.
Even though, to be honest, I really do not want to track the cost for the following reasons.
1. As the costs grow, I am sure its going to start to hurt when I add these numbers.
2. Any paper trail of how much I am spending on this car will probably result in Jessica ramming an Axe in my head.

__________________
With best regards

Al

Yes...one must always be careful of SWMBO................

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

More pictures have been posted of the 6.9 Resto. They stripped the interior and found that the floor pan on the driver's side is pretty badly shot. The passenger side is in good shape however so with just some patching needed on the footwell. They wanted another 1500 dollars to do this work if I provide the front and rear floors. I agreed on the condition that I can change the colour. After some pushing and pulling, and seeing as the car is pretty much stripped anyway. He agreed to painting the car silver

Anyway, more pictures have been posted to my site (under phase one).

I really hope this car is mechanically sound. It is getting more expensive then buying a good one, but when done the car will be born again.


Take a look on http://www.alabbasi.net (cars, 450SEL, phase one).

__________________
With best regards

Al