Outside storage is usually not appropriate near your house or where visable. I had several cars years ago parked intentionally on the back of a three acre well treed lot. Not Mercedes.

They were vandalized extensively. The same kids destroyed the dashes of five brand new cement trucks not that far away. The owner of the trucks made a major error. He told the police he was going to sue their parents for the damage. My guess is since they had not entered service yet they may have been uninsured.

He just was not thinking. As a general rule restitution is frowned on where perhaps it should not be. So even if the police knew who those kids were. No action against them would occur. On my cars it was destruction by intent. I could understand some parts being liberated. Just not what they did.

Now it gets nasty. I have a 114 coupe that was set up and used for short track racing in Germany. With the manual transmission behind the engine it was quite a bit different than the normal ones with an automatic.

I had it in storage in a building I am replacing. The concrete floor gave way and the nose dropped into the basement. I wanted to save the engine and manual transmission at least. The 130 engines where balanced individually externally with the flywheel back then I suspect. So dragging it back up and out over the broken concrete was not the best ideal.

I doubt that if a m130 engine did not come from the factory with a manual transmission. You cannot put a manual transmission behind a m130 that had a flexplate. Not certain but a strong suspicion.

Anyways after the car was recovered with no damage underneath. Yet panel damage I decided unfortunately to part it out at some point. The building had 20 inch I beams So I just used three chain falls to lift it and work it back out. Propping it up on timbers and moving the chain falls back several times did it.

It was quite a sight with that thing swinging back and forth in the air. To move it back I angled the chain hoists. So when lifted it off the support cribbing it not only moved to the point the chain falls where. . It initially swung well past that point and back.

A car does not weigh that much still we had no local cranes heavy enough to horizontally reach in through the roll up door and lift it unfortunately. If nothing else my collection of chain hoists and lifting chains was increased.

That partial floor collapse also created problems in removing other heavy equipment from the building. You have to look for the upside in any situation. It could have been a much more expensive car that was stored in there.

All is not lost though as I also have a nice lower milage 114 coupe as well. So even thought the engine and automatic transmission are fine. I can drop the m130 engine and manual transmission in it if I decide. Plus any other modifications of a mechanical or suspension nature it I find. .


The danaged car also has a power steering box of a different design than the ones I have see on other 114 cars over the years. Initially I assumed this might be normal on the 114s sold in Germany. Still I am not yet certain.. The only history I have is the car was used on a race track in Germany. I also wonder if that m130 engine has had some internal modifications although I have never heard of any ever done to them. Still there are car people in Germany as well.

Anyone ever remember seeing a really much smaller power steering box on a 114? There is a chance that I attributed too much to it having a standard transmission. It is a 1972 and perhaps I should run the vin number through the classic center.

This car was not set up by the factory I believe as it has had too many miles. It has at least the second interior. That is also well worn. A factory sponsored car also is very unlikely to land up in private hands. I see no evidence of a roll cage either. Mechanically it is still very good. I have worked on enough 114s to know.

I also have decided to paint and sell if possible a 1977 300d to a fan of Ann Murray the recording artist if possible. She originally came from this area. When she was finished with it she left it with someone local is my best guess.

I picked it up years ago from a local car collector that was thinning his collection. At the time neither of us suspected it had been her car. I did a quick check and she still has a large active fan club even if she has retired. I am hoping that one of them wants something like this. I have thought about posting it on her fan club site. It can drive anywhere.

She still comes here every summer . So I will try to ask her about it. The last time I saw her has been quite some time ago. She was dragging Glen Campbell to her cottage. He was trying to act like he was not with her at the time in the store. So it was funny. She was driving a 107 Mercedes type that time.

Odd to me at least. Elvis actually had a cottage near hers for some time as well somebody mentioned to me. I did not think that was his style. Yet there have been an assortment of major stars that have quietly owned cottages at Fox Harbor Nova Scotia.

There is a privately owned airstrip there. It can take a smaller jet I have also heard. Fox harbor is a small enclave pretty well off the beaten path and expensive. We live only about thirty five miles away but never have ventured into it.