This 220 was my wife's car for around 10 years until fate got me hooked up into Volvo 960's. I got this car for her just after our first daughter was born. She said she needed a more durable car than her '76 Corolla that she had owned since it was new. Since I was into Mercedes, and owned a W111 220Sb, I found this 220 and I served her well until she wanted the luxury of the Volvo. I couldn't bear to sell the 220 because it wasn't worth but maybe $2k, so I just kept it as a third car. Now, the first daughter is 15 1/2 and talking about driving, so I get focussed again on the 220.
Over the years, I had also owned a very nice W108 for around 13 years and became friends with a retired master Mercedes mechanic and learned many things about working on these cars. When I started prepping the 220 for a first time driver, I worked on the suspension, putting in all new Bilsteins, all Spring Pads, Diff Mount, F & R Subframe Mounts, all Tie Rod Ends, Drag Link, Frnt Sway Bar kit, Bilstein Steering Shock. Then fixed air & water leaks with new R & L Vent Window Seals, Window Channeling, Fuzz Strips, Rear Window Seal, Windshield Seal, R & L Frnt Door Seals.
I also needed to repair some rust on the front fenders at the bottom as well as a spot on the driver's door, so I got a couple of rust free fender parts and replaced the bottom section of the R & L Frnt Fenders and fixed two holes in the drivers door, one on the inner panel and one on the outer panel, both up near the front bottom corner.
At about this stage of of the work, just about ready to paint the repairs on the fenders and door, I get hit by a 19 yr old girl who, stopped in a line of cars awaiting a left turning vehicle, turns into the side of the car from the left lane while holding her cellphone to her right ear. She doesn't even bother looking to the right, she just turns into the other lane and hits the 220 just behind the front bumper and sweeps about 7-8 ft along the side of the car while I am skidding to a stop.
I have full coverage on the 220, but the girl is insured. Almost two weeks later, she still hasn't called her insurance (Geico); she says "she's a busy person and she'll call them when she gets the time". . . . I finally get a nice person at Geico and share with her what a 'nitwit' Paris Hilton wannabe their client is and give them her cellphone number and ask them to try her there as she seems to have it with her regularly. Twenty minutes later, I get a callback message saying they have found fault with their insured party. Then the fun of fixing a 34 year old car begins.
Pictures of the damage:
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http://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fndrsd1my1.jpg
http://img519.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fndrtopic3.jpg
Pictures of repair in progress:
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This last one of the Rt Frnt Fender shows the repair I had made before the accident.
The latest surprise inconvenience was the Mercedes recyclers sending a nice Rt Frnt fender instead of a Left. Since I had already fixed that Rt Fender nicely, I wanted to get his matter resolved with a good part, so I drove the wrong fender down to L.A. (~100 miles) myself to try to find a good left one. Spent several hours there browsing the "stacks" and waiting for one of the guys to go visit another storage area for a good Left Frnt. End result was that there were no undamaged, reasonably rust free W114/115 Left Frnt Fenders. I brought back one that was pretty much rust free, but had damage to the flat area next to the door. Had a nice crappy drive back to Santa Barbara on 101 on a Friday afternoon. Went straight to the body shop and showed the results to the bodywork guy. Now we're thinking more about reworking the one I had. I've already fixed the rust; it's off the car, so working it is a lot easier that way. We'll figure out the strategy Mon morning.
The good news in the whole saga that I keep holding on to is that I won't have to paint those fenders & door, the body shop is going to do that. I'm disassembling & reassembling all the body trim etc to offset the cost of the extra paintwork. The car is going to look absolutely beautiful when it's done in a week or two.