I just like having a couple of old sportscars around. I have five boys, and there really is no better father-son quality time than puttering around with these darn things. I also always wanted a 107 280 SL - kind of a nostalgia thing - I drove a 77 280E when I was younger, and always wanted the sport model which was hard to find in the late 70's. When a cherry 83 280SL came up, I scarfed it. I let my nineteen yr old take his girl on a date in it last night. It felt good, especially when it came back in one piece.

We currently have an 84 Porsche 944 we are working on now.

the G-wagen and the Unimog. These were purpose-built and super robust, and if expensive, were meant to stay in service for decades.

Problem with SUVs is that they try to be too many things - passenger car, truck, off road vehicle, status symbol...and it's my opinion that they don't do any one function exceptionally well...the Uni and G also require a certain amount of know-how on the part of the operator, just like the old-school Jeeps and Land Rovers did (all that stuff with setting each hub when you wanted four-wheel drive). Those who DRIVE an SUV tend to ascribe way too much ability to these vehicles...they tend to think the big things will keep driver and passenger out of trouble by some sort of magic...and this gets operators into even deeper doo-doo. And I think it's dishonest that most SUVs are presented as "rugged"...when in fact they may be even more fragile and tempermental, and expensive to maintain... than anything else on the road.

After the fall of the W140 S class mercedes really started to change in my mind.

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W126 1983 300SD 286,000 miles and ticking
Baby blue exterior Grey MB tex
Recent work:
Replaced air cleaner mounting brackets and heat shields
Replaced alternator, fan and power steering belts
Replaced positive battery terminal
Replaced negative battery terminal and cord
New Duralast Battery

My car needs work.

I've got a 126 560 SEC and a 210 E55. I feel the 210 is a much better car. The engine, tranny, seats, suspension are miles ahead of the 126 cars. There is just no comparison. I have found the 210 to be more reliable than when my SEC had similar mileage.

I drive the E55 every day and save the SEC for fun. The supercharged/intercooled SEC is much more powerful than my E55 and is a blast to drive. The E55 has a much more solid feel and is more comfortable and quiet on the interstate. The new 211 E55 is an even better all around car with close to 500 hp and straightline performance similar to a Dodge Viper.

I think Mercedes is making better all around cars than they were 20 years ago. However, I also feel they may be packing a little too much technology into their cars before they have worked out all the bugs. These nagging little problems are causing them to suffer in the quality rankings. I think they need to perfect the product before releasing to the public instead of always trying to be the first on the market with new technology. Mercedes does need to get back to its roots and make cars that have higher quality then any others while still keeping the soul of German engineering and style.