Bill can't access the PC right now so he asked me to post this for him...hope he and the family are okay... poor barn, that was a nice site during the GTG.

Those of you that came to the GTG will recall my antique shop located in my old barn. The barn was hit by lightning today and burned to the ground, almost taking my beloved TD with it. The car was parked just in front of the barn. When my wife yelled that the barn was burning the first thing I got out of the way was the car which had burning cinders on the hood. I had always thought the glow plugs cycled quickly but believe me it was forever going out after I turned the key. Had I not backed the car out of the way I certainly would've lost that too. got the embers off the hood and everything is fine. That is about as close as I'd like to come to losing my car.

Cheers,

Bill Murrow

__________________
My Mercedes-Benz Homepage and W123 Owners Photo Gallery and W111/W112 Coupes & Convs Gallery
2005 Northeast GTG and 2005 Mid-Atlantic GTG and Summer '09 Central FL GTG on YouTube

Glad to hear no one was hurt. Sorry to hear about the barn Bill, I hope you were able to salvage some of the antiques. Did the 240 make it out alive?

__________________


1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

I'm glad you got the wagon out of harms way! I'm sorry to hear about the barn, I hope you didn't lose everything that was in it. Sometimes mother nature has her own game plan.......Hope everything works out.

__________________
-Randy Wakefield

1969 220D 4 speed (parts car)
1976 280C
1976 280S
1981 240D 4 speed (parts car)
1982 300D
1983 300TD (Ivory)
1983 300TD (gold)
1985 300TD (gray)
1987 190D 2.5
1970 280SEL (sold)
1977 240D 4 speed (sold)
1974 280 (rusted to death)
---
1927 Chevy 4 door sedan
1938 Chevy 2 door sedan
1950 Willys Jeepster
1955 Studebaker President 4 door
1977 Ford F250
1979 Glastron 17'
1948 John Deere A
1960 John Deere 2010
1979 Satoh S650G
--
2000 Bichon (Doby)

The 240 made it fine. It was plenty far away. The TD was right up against the barn though.

The barn/antique shop is a total loss including my 1939 Farmall BN, a rare tractor. I bought it from the original owner believe it or not and it was completely restored. All the antiques were lost and, sad to say, I had zero insurance on contenets and only minimal insurance on the building itself.

Thanks all and I doubt I'll have time to keep up with the forum for a while. I've got a monumental task on my hands.

Cheers,

Bill

Bill,

That's horrible news. Talk about bad luck. That was a terrific old barn and it was a perfect place to store old stuff and antiques.

My sincere condolonces. Fortunately, nobody was injured. And, the M/B came out unscathed.

Hang in there. Things will look better with time. LMK if I can assist you with anything.

damn, what are the odds of getting hit by lightning ? that's just crazy

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Audi TT

Thanks Brian. Just so glad the Td came out fine. You have no idea how glad/thankful I am for that!

Sure, you can help. Just bring a shovel and a wheelbarrow with you!! LOL I'd let you use ours but they burned up.

Heres the real kicker...my Mom was wanting me to store the TD in the barn for the winter. We were just talking about it last week. I told her no because what if the barn burned? She said the barn wasn't going to burn.

Cheers,

Bill

Don't know but the odds here were evidently pretty good. MY question is what are the odds of it hitting twice in the same place. I think I'll sit in the TD during the next storm.

Cheers,

Bill

Bill, any plans for rebuilding the barn?? Lots of amish down your way. I remember seeing the farmall in the barn, that is a shame, a rare tractor indeed. My best wishes go out to you, and your family.

__________________
-Randy Wakefield

1969 220D 4 speed (parts car)
1976 280C
1976 280S
1981 240D 4 speed (parts car)
1982 300D
1983 300TD (Ivory)
1983 300TD (gold)
1985 300TD (gray)
1987 190D 2.5
1970 280SEL (sold)
1977 240D 4 speed (sold)
1974 280 (rusted to death)
---
1927 Chevy 4 door sedan
1938 Chevy 2 door sedan
1950 Willys Jeepster
1955 Studebaker President 4 door
1977 Ford F250
1979 Glastron 17'
1948 John Deere A
1960 John Deere 2010
1979 Satoh S650G
--
2000 Bichon (Doby)

Three years ago the top of our chimney got hit, it shattered the clay pipes inside part of the chimney and damaged the top on the outside as well, insurance covered that though. Our chimney is right under a large tree! Tree: Unhit! Weird!

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Next GTG we have at Bill's will have to include a barn raising....

__________________


1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

OMG Bill thats horrible news!!!! Ahh why does the bad stuff always happen to the good guys!

Well at least no one was hurt and your car was ok. But your awsome barn and business are in ruins. Don't worry things will get better!

If you were closer I would be up their with a shovel!

Maybe we should have a MBshop barn building weekend!

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Ouch...
Seeing cool old antiques, etc. go to the flames is just sad...

I guess if you reconstruct the barn, an appropriate lightning rod might be in order. Do you guys often get lighthing out your way into structures?

I have a 50foot tower in my back yard and although we never get lightning, you can be sure I unhook my expensive ham radio gear from its coax cables and hook them to ground.

Silly ham radio hobby has me putting aluminium in the air...

...but around here lighting isn't so violent.

Hattie... that does sound nice... I'm ready to help Bill anytime.

__________________
My Mercedes-Benz Homepage and W123 Owners Photo Gallery and W111/W112 Coupes & Convs Gallery
2005 Northeast GTG and 2005 Mid-Atlantic GTG and Summer '09 Central FL GTG on YouTube

Bill,

Just wanted to add my condolences for the loss of your barn. That's really a shame, and must be terribly frustrating. I hope you will be able to "rebuild" both the barn and the antique collection over time. I think it's great that you could save the TD, though ... if there is a silver lining, that has to be it.

If you need help cleaning up or rebuilding, I think there are a lot of folks here (esp. those of us who were at the recent GTG there) who would be glad to help out ... as you can see in all the responses from others!

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)