In 1972 I was a 15 year old in highschool in a small town in Mississippi working after school in a TV shop. A guy came in to buy a TV named Bob and he was driving a beautiful 1970 280 SL. I was totally captivated by the beauty of the 280 and he was kind enough to let me look it over and get in the car and check it out. Well i decided i wanted a sports car and the next year I bought a Porsche 914 to drive in HS. I would see Bob and his car occasionally over the nest 20 years and them we moved to Houston and lived there for 10 years and then moved to Tennessee. Fast forward from that day 38 years ago to last week, my wife and I were visiting my mom and ran into Bob and his wife. I was wearing a Mercedes Benz shirt that i got when we bought my wife a new SLK 300 and Bob asked me about the shirt and I asked if he still had the 280 and said yes but it had not been driven in years and was in storage. I said if you ever decide to sell the car I would be interested and said he was. Last weekend I met him at the place where the car was stored and we made a deal for me to buy the car. The body does not have a dent anywhere and all the chrome is perfect. The interior has to be restored and it needs paint but otherwise it is in great shape. He has a complete set of MB shop manuals given to him when the dealership closed that goes with the car along with all the records and owners books
As you can guess am very excited about the car and restoring it.
I did offer to let Bob drive my wife's SLK and he had a big smile as he took the wheel.
I do need advice on repairing the dash, the leather is cracked pretty bad.
The car is automatic and has AC and both tops.
This forum is a great resource for new guys in the pagoda world.
Update.
I picked up the car today and Bob had a rebuilt engine, Transmission, Injector Pump and fuel pump installed just before he parked it in 2006. We cleaned the tank and fuel lines and it started up and runs. I put injector cleaner in the tank and let it run for 20 minutes. It does not have any major rust, just a few places on the body.
It is a grey beige color.
Where is the build data so I can go back with the correct color scheme?
I am going to take it to a guy that specializes in older Mercedes to get it checked out but the fact that it runs and drives is good news.
The Mercedes manual is fantastic and has part numbers and adjustments etc.
Thanks to everyone for a great forum.
