Good morning folks. For those who may have seen the photos of the Idaho Pagoda it might not be too surprising to read that I'm in agreement with Tom's sentiment about making some pragmatic alterations. If we avoid fundamental cutting of metal those individualizing enhancements can always be returned to original. In my way of thinking it just ain't that big of a deal. And in the meantime my wife & I are greatly enjoying a 35-year old car that really is approaching the comfort and reliability of a brand new machine...with some aspects of safety and performance also on the way up.
BTW, a little activity we may take on before too long is to carefully remove the original MFI, properly stow it away for safe keeping, then make a few mods which I rather suspect might deliver a slightly better power-to-weight ratio than that of a new SL500. In my book, it would be pure fun...while having the comfort of knowing that this, and all the other individualized/enhanced aspects of the car, could be taken back to the original configuration if & when that mood strikes.
Except perhaps for that firewall pad I've already changed out...Har!
Tom in Boise
'71 280SL 4-spd, signal red w/lt. tan interior, restored/enhanced