I appreciate all your responses. I found a great mechanic that really, really knows older Mercedes so I'm blessed that way. And no, he doesn't charge as much as my doctors but my car insurance plan doesn't cover mechanic visits.
I was just feeling a little hopeless after spending $1300 yesterday.
I can live without the A/C & heat because as long as the car is moving, there's a lot of air flow through the vents. I changed the coolant to MB coolant but it turned green because I didn't flush the system. Maybe a flush will help. It never gets above 180F so I'm not worrying for now. I double clutch on downshifts but upshifts are hard uphill as I lose a lot of time to shift. The car rides nicely on new Bilstein's and the steering is incredible. I know restoring the seats is a project I can do. I use 15w-50 Mobil 1 synthetic and B20 biodiesel and the car seems to like it.
I'm well over budget for this car this year...hopefully I can keep driving it until I can re-evaluate things next spring...I agree, winter is a bad time to unload it. I don't particularly want to have it sit for a long time as I know it runs better & better the more I drive it.
-AC