Do you ever get discouraged with things to do on your car?

[jpinet]

I love my 230Sl. Fabulous car. And I've owned over 200 automobiles. But one thing after the other is giving me headaches. And since the summer season is so short here, I'm getting a bit discouraged. I had my brake booster redone by specialists. It's not 'boosting'. Have to take it out and send it to get checked, as the guy says it's next to impossible that his repair is bad. But I've thoroughly checked everything else. And he's giving me a 2-3 weeks delay to check it. Then I bought a new soft top from Auto Berry. They sent me a top for which there is no fabric to attach the front bar. Manager says I should have let him know and is basically telling me tough luck. Ask me what I think about these guys... Then my top installer, who has over 30 years experience installing tops in all kind of cars, including vintage ones, can't get my top to fit properly. The sides just won't extend far enough. He's actually given up after having had my car 3 weeks in his shop. He won't charge me for the work, but I still don't have a functioning soft top. I'l probably bring it over to SL Tech, a 6 hour drive from here, so that Gernold can take a look at it. Now, I know these are luxury problems and that there are people going to bed hungry, but nevertheless, it seems I just can't see the end of it. The rest of the car is great by the way. It's simply that I have to redo things over and time flies. By the time I'm done, summer will be half gone.  I just wanted to vent my frustration to a bunch of sympathetic ears and see if others were 'fed up' sometimes, even with such a great car. Best regards to you all.

[jameshoward]

I think you've had a run of bad luck/timing, coupled with a couple of bad suppliers. I don't see how the brake guy can say his work is perfect until he's tested it. The time he is taking to do it totally smacks of messing you around. As for the softtop supplier, i would tend to agree with previous comments about him. just ensure others don't use them. Name and shame if you get no recourse.

I have good days and bad with the car. I guess that if you work on your own car that cycle is inevitable. I try to stay clear of big jobs in the run up to summer for that reason. That said, I get no break this summer for work reasons, so have sent some big bits off to be rechromed.

I think these are called 'First World problems.'

[Garry]

I think some very clear messages here and that is that is for anyone about to farm out some major jobs on their car that they ask for recommendations or seek what others have done.  I know on my first 280SL Pagoda, I probably wasted 30% of the cost of restoration by not getting the right items or workshops to do the work where I contracted it out and learnt some lessons from that to get it right the second time with my 230SL.  The big one was to ask about the pricy items here on this forum and also make full use of the supplier lists in the Tech Manual.

Garry

[jpinet]

James and Garry,
thanks for your words. Garry, I'm learning that lesson! The thing is that we are much more limited in Quebec when it comes to suppliers. The cost of shipping and customs adds up quite a bit, and I was foolish to think I would save by getting some things done locally. This is just not a regular vintage car that can accept simply OK things. They really have to be done right by people who know what they're doing. I've done a lot of major work myself, but I did not want to tackle the top or the booster on my own.

 James, I had it planned so that it all would be over by the beginning of summer. Ha! If my 'friend' David at Auto Berry does not correct the situation in a way that I consider fair, I will certainly let it be know to all. So far, I'm not impressed.