Why I love Mercedes Benz

[Ricardo]

OK so that might be a little over the top, but here's a good story to tell the doubting folks in our lives.

A friend of mine and his wife emigrated to Canada about 25 years ago from Germany. They decided to bring a suitable vehicle with them while they searched for a farm...a 1968 Mercedes stepside van called a 406d Combi. They travelled many miles throughout the east for 9 or 10 months before settling in West Quebec to start their Ginseng farm.

The van was their only transportation for several years and after their son was a few years old they retired the van when it started giving trouble and occasionally wouldn't start and bought a pick-up. The van became a farm storage shed parked between two buildings where it slowly sank into the mud. Last fall I asked Alfons what he used the van for and when the reply was "nothing" I suggested I might be interested in making a camper, as it didn't look too bad yet. He thought I was crazy but told me he would sell it if I wanted.

He said "I bought a used dual axle for a trailer and it cost me $250....I should have used the one from the van ....so give me $250 and it's yours".... Sold!!!  Alfons pulled it out of the hole with his big tractor and found all but one back tire still had air so with a pump up, away the tow truck went, and it arrived in my yard yesterday, much to my wife's dismay.

"It will make a good storage shed for my car parts" I tried to explain my way out of another hole.  Today, after cleaning out all the hay dust and grime I thought I would see if the engine was seized and "surprise" it turned over easily with a socket on the crank bolt. I checked the fuel tank and sure enough it was half full of diesel....put a battery in it, pumped the manual fuel primer and with 15 seconds of cranking it fired up and ran....poured some water in the rad...no leaks...a cup of brakefluid and pumped up the brakes and I took off down the road a quarter mile to my mailbox and back...twice...good oil pressure...normal eng. temps and all the electrics work.
 
All this after sitting for 17-18 years in the summer sun up to it's axles in mud. Now that's build quality!!

Ricardo



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[ja17]

Hello Recardo,
Looks like a good deal!

Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[Jonny B]

Fabulous! While not really on the topic of this group, still a Mercedes. Keep us posted on your travails and travels in this rolling tool shed!



Jonny B
1967 250SL Auto

[Benz Dr.]

Yeah, next thing I know it's at my place for a
''tune up''  Val ( his wife ) should know better. He drags all kinds of lepers home, or so he says.

 She's pretty good about it though. After all, she's been push starting the 250SL for the last few years.....


Daniel G Caron

[Ben]

For some reason I cant see the web page picture or has the mud creeped back and recovered its prey ??

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.
'03 CLK Kompressor

[Ricardo]

Hey Ben
I reloaded the picture file....for some reason it wouldn't open, but it should work now.
Upon further discussion with Alfons and some searching for papers, it turns out it was last run in '91 so it is actually only 13 year old fuel....don't want to be accused of stretching the truth here
When I told Alfons that I had it running, he was very surprised. He had tried everything to get it started the last time and concluded the injection pump was messed up....he hasn't asked for it back though
Ricardo

[Ben]

Hey thanks for that Ricardo !

The van looks in pretty good shape all things considered !

We used to see alot of those vans over here until about 10 years ago when the sales of new MB vans really took off. Now nearly every second van is a Mercedes Sprinter, including our own which is a 313cdi semi automatic.

About 15 years ago I used a 309d to tow a rally car around the country. It was borrowed van and had about a foot of play in the steering and even more in the gear lever !

I'd say it'd make a nice camper !!

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.
'03 CLK Kompressor

[rwmastel]

Wow, what a neat van!  Thanks for reposting the pic.

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[JamesL]

Interesting.

I wonder whether that'll be the case with the new MBs?

This month's Top Gear magazine has an article on MBs

Highest on the brand "attributes" - all the soft fuzzy intangibles

Bottom (or close to) on customer satisfaction

JD Power has also given them a beating.

Question is though, as it's a Merc, do people have higher expectations than of the cheap Hyundai - and so the Hyundai beats expectations resulting in a good customer "experience"