Merc-benz 280TE Sportline
Panels to the body shop – hire a van? Not if you’re JJ…
Afew months back, I needed to deliver some awkwardly huge panels to my favourite paint shop – that’s how this tale begins at least. Said hunks of faded metal included the doors from my three-door Golf GTI 16V, which are about as vast and heavy as any out there. The other obnoxiously shaped item was the front bumper from my 190E. This suddenly presented a problem, how on earth was I going to cram these into a Toyota Celica?
Obviously, I wasn’t, so an alternative form of transport was sought for the trip to Rustrepublic in Nottingham. In this job, I’ve been fortunate enough to come across plenty of friends and colleagues struck down by the same affliction as me for collecting old cars. Though inexplicably none of them seemed to have a vehicle – on the road at least – with the capacity to fit my bits. ‘Hasn’t he got an old Range Rover?’ I hear some of you cry, or is that my conscience? Well yes, it’s true, though I’ve recently completed the job that nature started, by removing the rusty rear floor. Not ideal. That left me in a quandary… did I wait for a mate’s old wagon to return to the road, hire a van, or add yet another old car to my collection? Fate was about decide for me…
Size envy
Even aside from the impending need to move those sorry old panels to the location of their makeover, I’m also fresh from the ‘joys’ of moving home. It’s remarkable how quickly this experience ups one’s appreciation for the greater capacity of an estate body shape.
Universally speaking
Then, as if the universe had somehow heard of my dilemma, an old photographer buddy on Facebook asked if anyone wanted his majestic W124 wagon. He was poised to let it loose to the feral horde on ebay, I couldn’t have messaged him faster! Despite my hair trigger texting thumb, it turned out I was already third in line to buy it. Knowing how well he buys and maintains his cars, I flung him a larger than usual (for me at least) sum, by way of a deposit, and a deal was done in the nick of time.
In the space of the about an hour I’d gone from worrying how to move some panels to worrying how to collect a large vehicle without MOT from south Wales, in the middle of lockdown. As is
‘The seller was poised to set it loose to the feral horde on ebay!’
often the way with my purchases, I’d not really thought this deal through. The five and a bit hour journey each way was a little daunting, especially as, at the time, the Welsh border was still closed. The only option was to await the Welsh border lifting and, in the meantime, find some poor sod to collect it for me. Our very own Clive Jefferson stepped up to take the job on, despite having another gig the following day which would take him up to Scotland. What a hero.
First impressions
Of course, the haste at which I’d leapt to buy this near 30-year-old Benz meant that I’d not actually seen it in the metal or asked many of the pertinent questions you’d usually trouble yourself with when buying something totally unknown from another country. Knowing the owner and squinting at a few pictures were my only consolation as I waited weeks to see what
I’d done.
Eventually, I got the text from Clive to say he was nearing our offices in Peterborough and could I come and meet him. I grabbed the keys to my 190E to take it to see its new big brother and, as I screeched into the car park, I wasn’t disappointed. The Bornite beauty (purple to you and me) sat on the trailer hauled by deputy ed James Walshe’s old BMW X5 was
a major relief. It was all there and looked great. I couldn’t grab the keys from Clive fast enough.
The next pleasant surprise was that it fired up and drove off the trailer without incident, idling happily as Clive and I had a natter. An MOT test later that week was passed with ease, despite the car sitting unused for at least six months in a barn. My first glimpse underneath (thanks to Nick at Barnack test centre) revealed that plenty of new parts had been fitted recently. There was an advisory for the exhaust back box (which has since been replaced), but basically everything Tarmac side looked sound and well cared for. My sigh of relief was epic.
As soon as it was road legal I popped over to the PC workshop to collect a spare 190E door from Danny (cheers boss) and since then I’ve done a few obligatory tip runs. I’ve yet to deliver the panels to the paint shop – the reason
I bought this thing in the first place – but there doesn’t seem to be any hurry now, the laid-back E-class lifestyle seems to agree with me.