Sixty8panther

Yours wil be way cooler than any wagon that will ever be made in 2008 as they have a spine i.e. frame. What good is a utilitarian vehicle when it's bolted together into one big lump... big, load carrying vehicles are meant to have a body on frame construction.

Oh, and here's Sofia sittin' pretty in the B.B.B. She's been on a "beetle cars are my FAAAA-vorite cars ever" kick for about a year and a half, although she pretty much likes any rounded, and or fat fender pre-war car with round headlights & a sloping rear... She gets SOOO excited when she sees an old school VW Bug, and she keeps saying we should buy one. I'm tempted since a KdF from the 1960s gets like 32 mpg in the real world! Anyway after witnessing all four power windows drop and the open greenhouse that reminds of a panoramic post card she said, completely unprompted: "Hardtop cars are even cooler than Beetle cars!" I was so proud.

Agreed. This was the ultimate compromise. She specifically said 4-door only as one of her three criteria, the other two being no bigger than a modern midsize car and automatic. So I managed to miss two of the three "must haves" and yet she's in love with it.... that's what I call a win/win. I had to get her a "modern" car and so I sought oue ot worthy of my budget & wrench turning time. As you can imagine with 195,000 miles and some lifter noise I'll be popping the hood sooner rather than later to do minor-to-majort work, but its a car worthy of my time and she is smitten with it. She says I have succesfully "brainwashed" her into a big hardtop fan.

There's more BMW and Lexus there than I can shake a stick at. It's elegant and sexy but damn if you wanted to be picky you could make a case for this being one of the LEAST original (non-Chinese) cars of recent memory.

Wow... XP, you do have a WAY with words.

Balthazar: I have nothing but respect for your opinion, insanely extensive automotive knowledge and taste in American cars, but I guess this is one of those times I have to agree to disagree with you. Respectfully What in 1984, made in the USA by ANY manufacturer had even close to the presence, durability & sex factor that this MB does? The 1980s Daimler Benz products are not their BEST looking, waht esp. with the modern CLK & CL hardtops' elegant swooping roof lines & curvaceous greenhouses, but this is IMHO one of the most elegant German made cars of all time. For Mercedes Benz the 1980s was all about unprecedented durability, quality control and even VALUE. These cars show up used with 300,000 miles more often than any other. Now granted the rear tail light treatment with it's euro-esque center section that emulates Buicks & Pontiacs of the era is neither gorgeous or unique. But the ribbed tail lights on Benz products of this era ARE quite cool in terms of their ergonomic design: they're self cleaning as they channel air-flow through the ribs and flush out debris, salt, mud, ice & such. Now who else sold a (pillar-less fixed roof) hardtop in 1984 in the USA? For ANY price? -crickets chirping- Like I told Julie, just think of this as a Coach-built 5.0 Mustang for the types of Rodney Dangerfield, George Burns & Billy Joel. Billy Joel probably rolled an SEC or two at high speed at some point in the 1980s... perhaps even without spilling his martini. The license plates look awkward front AND rear because they are supposed to be 5" x 22" or whatever the European standard size comes out to... not 7" x 12" I will at some point buy or make a custom brackets front & rear that will look less awkward on the car. --- I sold the Banana with a trunk full of extra parts. Emblems, interior pieces, small mechanical components, tons of stainless steel trim and other parts, some that the car needs but most just spare parts. I got the Mercedes with several extra parts/optional equipment in the trunk. It has a good CD player in dash but I have the original tape deck, as well as an MB car cover, many many odds and ends and the US spec. headlights: which will NEVER muck up the nose of our slick 500-SEC.

F*** yeah! ....but still a true pillarless hardtop. Now that would be funny... seeing interlocking glass that's 5" thick and designed to gell & catch armored piercing rounds and yet its got to also seal in terms of weather sealing & also dropp down into the doors! Hell yesh!

Exactly, the damn A-pillar is as thick as a medium sugar maple tree. Just throw the armor on a H2, it will look less awkward. Better yet just give him a freekin APC with an Escalade grille, a 5-foot wide Cadillac-style LED CHiMSL, 22 inch rims & call it a day! The story of how Lincoln got the Whit House contract for a few decades by default as a result of the Truman Dewey debacle is an interesting one. I, for one, am happy the commander in Chielf has a Caddy, not some tarted up Fordproduct... if only on paper.

if only it was RWD.... and I HATE "car bras" they're lame on EVERY level.

I love the G-bodies... thanks for sharing. Good clean photos as well BTW. Now i you could get a Pontiac GP, a Buick T-Type & Malibu Classic 2dr in there we'd have a great G-body wallpaper. But damn the Olds & Monte are two VERY clean semi-classics.... love that stainless steel trim on the Cutty. Say what you will (hardtops aside ) 1987 was still a year when you could buy a classy, elegant 'Merican car. BOF, RWD, a choice of V6s and V8s... who knew the 2000s would make the 1980s seem like "back in the good old days" ...? Now as far as the Chevelle's rollbar, kudos for getting one that does not ruin the lines of the car's hardtop roofline by mounting so that it is visible from the outside... if and when I ever put a rollbar or a roll cage in a hardtop car it will hugg the roof, A & C pillars tightly so as to not ruin the lines of the slick pillarless greenhouse. I saw a custom made (but very professional) roll cage in a hardtop 1st gen. Camaro (67 IIRC) that was virtually invisible from the outside anywhere except in the A-pillar area. Plus WTH would you want t rollcage that is as expansive and lareg as possible?

WEll we already knew PCS had no soul.

Thanks guys.... yeah considering this was THE most expensive Mercedes model of 1984 and it's a gray-market European model: no accommodation for US shaped plates (Balthazar) I think we got a damn good value this time around. It DOES need a bnch of work, both minor & considerable but for now it will function as Julie's new daily driver. She loves it. It took all of 20 minutes for her to fall in love with the hardtop body style after years of being unimpressed at my obsession with it. She named the car "Shiela" ...all I can thik of is Cartman's mom

Oh agreed... it was a bad example, but it DOES to a degree illustrate my point. I'm all for your enthusiasm and unique approach. Just not in love with the idea just yet.

BOBO sees where this is going. The SEC should function just fine for Julie as a daily driver for now, but when and if that 303-cubic inch SOHC V8 has outlived its usefulness a 300TD motor swap would not be unrealistic... add to that a veggie conversion & you're talking T.W.C.C. wet dream.

$1455. Which is $1454 MORE than most people are willing to pay for an obnoxious yellow Cadillac that gets 13-ish miles to the gallon when we're paying $4.09 up here. Sad to say the car could NOT function as my daily driver any more with the mileage I drive these days. I bought it back from XP when gas was right around $3.07 which was already pretty much like getting violated in jail every time the needle would dip past 1/4 tank on the fuel gauge. Now heres the good news: The Road-mOnster is going to become my new daily driver while the money from the Banana went towards a kick ass bargain on a Big Body Benz. Check it: more 411 to come soon... I need to go to sleep though *yawn!*

The "Banana Boat" '77 Cadillac Coupe deVille is SOLD as of less than 24 hours ago. A moment of silence please. a picture of the Banana from 2 weeks ago: to be continued in a few min...

This afternoon I purchased car # 47. 1984 Mercedes Benz 500SEC (two door hardtop!!!) Although it replaces the Banana Boat which I sold less than 24 hours ago it will become my pregnant wife's daily driver & I will be taking over the Road-mOnster for the time being. more 411 (and pictures) to come soon.

Yeah, "Tim Taylor" would probably squeeze a hilborne injected 454 Chevy Big Block into a toaster oven just to have his toast done in 2.7 sec. versus the usual 45.0 sec.

I think you did pretty damn well o this one, I know you're more partial to '71s than '69/'70 but those huge "monolithic" front fenders look awesome from head on with this gen. At once point as a young kid I considered the '70 my FAVORITE year of Cadillacs after being awestruck by one at a car show. Anyway you're having your fun with the car despite $4/gallon gas AND it always helps to WORK at an auto parts store if you're always buying/fixing up/maintaining/selling old GM classics. Does the G/F approve of it as much as that '69 she was smitten with?

The Impala is looking good. You sure ARE a neat freak. P.S. still can NOT get over the '05-up Impala's headlights... "glass tumors" is what I call them.

Congrats! True dat 'bout the interior. Black-on-tan is always a winning combo.

I like the idea to a degree but the execution is not 100% realistic & might be more damaging than helpful. I mean to put it in perspective this would be like Toyota turning themselves into the Celica-Supra corporation or if the Germans decided it was now Porsche A.G. instead of VW/Audi/Porsche group. You going to be more likely to buy a Camry if it's made by Supra Motors? Are you going to be more apt to go test drive a FWD, triptronic Jetta if it's made by Porsche Inc.?

1. Not REALLY following my dream of working for GM in Detroit at ANY cost. 2. Spending ALL 4 years in college dating the SAME girl instead of like 30. 3. Not buying that 1938 "Runs & yard drives, Barn Find" Buick for $2800 back in 2005 Yeah! I hear that.

$4.00+ gallon gas makes me think I'd be happy as pigs in $hit if I could spend $23,000 & buy a power option delete Camaro with a 2.4 ecotech, wide-spread-gear 5-speed & highway geared rear end for a killer combo of "MPG & cool factor" 5th generation Camaro style. [let the roasting begin] Just remmeber I've owned dozens of V8s, so sellig out it's not.

what are you basing that on? I too think wagons are WAY overdue for a resrection. The magnum failed to break the "momy-mobie"/"grampa-buckboard" preception when gas was $2.25/gallon, HEMI-powered crew cab Ram 3500s Subrbans were still flying off the shleves.