Last Friday I took a trip in my SL to visit the Good Doctor, Dan Caron and his BenzBarn. That day was beautiful, with 70 degree weather, no humidity, a high-pressure system over the area, and not a cloud in the gorgeous blue skies.
This after nearly 40 days of rain.
I left my home in Novi, Michigan which is just off of "8-Mile Road", that road being made famous in a recent movie. I passed some interesting commercial buildings on my way to the highway, perhaps you've heard of them. Mahle, Bosch, Harmon/Becker Automotive Systems, as well as Mercedes Benz of Novi--all these within a short distance from my home! A short hop on Interstate 275 took me to Interstate 696--which is also known as "The Autobahn". While I was doing 65-75MPH in the right lane, I was being passed at 85-95MPH by all sorts of vehicles--and that's how 696 got its nickname. While most of 696 passes through dense area and is fairly new, there are some stretches of the road where I prayed I would not "catch a stone" in my windshield or on my car. I made it.
The suburban density of 696 led to near rural conditions of Macomb county as it merged with Interstate 94, and I took this to 26 mile road. An 11 mile straight run East on 26 mile road, past farms and fields, took me to the small hamlet of Marine City, Michigan--which is on the St. Clair River. For those of you not familar with the Great Lakes, The St. Clair River connects Lake Huron to Lake Erie via Lake St. Clair. All the freighter traffic and all the water that moves between the lakes passes on this river.
It is quite a short hop and $5 to cross the river on a tiny ferry boat to cross to the even smaller hamlet--in sight--of Sombra, Ontario. A quick interview by Canadian customs and I was on my way to Dan's. It is only a few miles to Dan's place from Sombra. It really is so close to suburban Detroit but a million miles away if you know what I mean...
If you think the BenzBarn is some quaint moniker, you would be wrong. There are at least two barns--real barns--one of them just recently removed of cattle. This means the cattle were gone but their smell was not. The barns of course are full of all kinds of MB stuff. To say Dan has some acreage would be wrong--I think you would measure it in hectares (whatever the heck those are but I know they are bigger then acres!). Due to the rain, the fields had not been planted, but Dan's dad was on his way to pick up the soybeans. The actual work barn had two gorgeous 190's in various states of restoration. There was also a fabulous 1960 220SE Cabriolet, in reasonable looking condition but in need of someone with some $$$ to really give it its proper due. Anyone interested should talk to Dan off line. And Dan's Dad, equally as nice as Dan, put his arm around me and wanted to sell me a late model 300D.
I watched as the rear subframe was forcefully removed [:0] from a late model sedan; it took a tractor and a torch to free it. This sedan had been Dan's but sadly caught fire last year. Some other sedan owner will be happy with the parts. I saw the distributor tester, and all manner of Dan's skill with Bosch distributors. When I saw all the parts involved, I thought to myself DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. I also got a ride in a really cool Euro-spec but federalized 500SC(?) which went like a bat out of...
Last year at Joe Alexander's place, I had the good fortune of meeting so many of our regular contributors and it was good to meet Dan as well--and a perfect day for this drive into the countryside. Anytime we can meet each other is a good thing.
When Dan clears out a few items on his current agenda, I'll make the trip again and leave the car there for some fine tuning. He took a ride in mine (squeezing his 6' plus frame into the driver's seat) and agreed that it could probably use a bit of a checkup.
Did I mention the cats? There are several really cool Siamese cats around--I'm not a cat person but if I were it would have to be these beauties. Full of personality, very talkative, and very beautiful. Anyone knows if you have a barn you have to have cats...Here are some photos.
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Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored
