The Mercedes

Yep, we have a car in our barn.

This 1971 Mercedes-Benz 250C was given to us as a wedding gift two years ago. We've kept it up and I used to drive it from time to time. About a year ago I blew the valve cover gasket loose, causing to use a lot of oil and smoke, so it's sat in the barn for a while.

Recently, I pulled it out, reseated the gasket, cleaned it, and took it out to shoot these images.

It's a very pleasant car. A gold two-door, it appears to have been originally sold in Europe because of few English stickers under the hood, because of a metric speedometer (unheard of on cars sold for the USA) and because of the not-sold-in-the-USA halogen headlamps.

This was a classic Mercedes design. A 2.8-liter straight six, a solid two-door coupe body, walnut dash and trim, and lots of nice little touches. Many years ago I owned a 1961 Mercedes, a 220SE four-door sedan -- the legendary Tortoise -- and this car and Tortoise have a lot in common.

This 1971 car has twin Zenith carburetors, the automatic transmission, and York air conditioning. It has a little underbody rust and the paint is not original, but it's in remarkable shape for its age.

Surgery

In September, 1997, it became time to overhaul the rear brakes in the Mercedes. The rotors were old and thin and the right-rear caliper seemed to have stuck a little.

I have to say, air tools and heavy jacks make this sort of thing much easier. The parts actually were fairly inexpensive, totalling maybe $110. One time I got a quote from a place which offered to replace the entire brake system in this car for about $1600. It turns out that the only things it really needs are new rotors and pads, and to have the fluid flushed.

I guarantee you, this rotor will never look like this again.