This is a story that hapened to me last weekend. For want of a better description i live near a local bar ( pub ) in australia.
Also near my house are some take out food places like chinese,
indian etc. as i walked out to pick up my order i noticed in the bar car park a fellow w116 owner, always up for a talk all things mercedes i decided to go on over and chat. So to make a short story even shorter the owner of the car was in australia on holiday from switzerland and had purchased a 280sel like mine for transport while here. I explained that i to owned this particular model (this indicated instantly that we understood each other) He stated that he had something that i might like to purchase and that was a complete set of lambswool seat covers.
The price $300.00 australian dollars. no decision needed purchased on the spot. (new front and rear approx $2000 aus). my car is very original but it will never justify the expense of a new set of covers. We dont even know each others names but we had something in common the three pointed star.

very cool story. something similar happened to me recently. A friend of mine had sold his Taurus SHO to a local garage owner. While they were at the license bureau transferring the title, he happened to mention to the garage owner that I was putting together a 1976 450SE. The garage owner said that he had a storage bin full of parts that he was looking to get rid of, from a 280SE, and that if I wanted them, they were mine for free. I went to meet with this man, and when he said storage bin, he wasn't kidding - it was a 20 foot long storage container that contained and ENTIRE 280SE, minus the engine and transmission, IN BOXES! The car had been COMPLETELY disassembled and EVERYTHING was there - body, trim, heater, shift knob, seats, etc. Even the screws that held it all together, and the weather seals and the WINDSHIELD. FOR FREE!

Needless to say I was quite grateful.