i thought that this was a mystery.

the m-b dealer in escondido, ca put a cl55amg up for sale a week ago. when i noticed it, i was traveling. would not be back home for a couple of days. so, i asked the dealer to hold it for me with a non-refundable deposit. until i could arrange to arrive home, then fly out to san diego to inspect the car.

that dealership gave me some nonsense excuse that because it was a public company, it could not do that. it would be first come, first served.

how silly. first time that i have ever encountered that. i wasn't about to fly out to san diego only to arrive and be told, sorry we sold it a couple of hours ago.

so, i sought out a 300sl aficionado to see if one of his 300sl buddies might eyeball the car for me. and, that was done.

in fact eric did inspect it for me. even invited the sales guy at m-b escondido to bring it over to his shop for the inspection. just so that the salesman might notice a real professional 300sl restoration facility. might recognize that the examination was not being conducted by joe the ragman.

i wish that i had been there for that. salesman would not allow for the evaluation of the abc system. nor for a borescoping of the engine cylinders.

though most of the car appeared in good shape, there were some serious cosmetic body deficiencies.

so serious that i could not imagine that the dealer put this car out on sale unrepaired.

so, i asked for the dealer to give me a quote on correcting those deficiencies as well as allowing for an inspection of the engine condition and the abc suspension.

short hand, i was told to go f*ck myself.

the car has a small number of miles on it. but, i passed on it. i did not like the attitude of that m-b dealership.

i cannot imagine a dealership selling a car with serious cosmetic deficiencies. makes no sense to me.

does it to any of you?