Thank-you and happy trails; sold 89 260e

[Tom 260E]

I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who make this site possible and all of the members who contribute thru their postings. I sold my 1989 260e today for the bargain price of $2750 for a car with only 110,000 original miles. I put a lot of money into this car in the 3+ years I owned it. I bought it from the original owner with 43k on it and it never left my wallet alone. The only work I didn't do myself was the transmission overhaul at 66k due to a retainer ring for the reverse clutches that had broken. It is by far the nicest car I've ever driven but the absolute worst in terms of maintenance. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was a leak in the a/c suction hose which is part of hose set that incorporates a fuel cooler for fuel being returned to the tank from the fuel distributor. A new hose is almost a thousand dollars but I could have mine rebuilt for a third of the price. I'm still looking $600-$700 before it's fixed. I figured that if I went ahead and fixed it the evaporator would probably be next. I've got approx $10k in receipts for all the parts but that figure also includes normal wear items like brakes, tires, etc. I'm an aircraft mechanic and work out of my toolbox everday but I'm tired of working as a mechanic at home too. I can only imagine how expensive it would be if I had all the work done by someone else. I long for the 1966 230 I had almost 15 years ago; it didn't require a fraction of the maintenance the 260e did. To borrow an analogy I read on another post here some time ago, I wanted to stop the bleeding before it turned into a death by a thousand cuts. Thanks to all. Tom Keating Phoenix, AZ