Best smoker barges 1-5 large [vol8]

[0a]

r129sl said:

I agree with the others: this sort of thing happens with cars, old or new. I've certainly had a couple of breakdowns within a day or two of leaving the garage. At least the garage is being decent about it and no harm came if it.

Life expectancy on the hard shoulder of a motorway at night is not long at all: measured in minutes.

For future reference, most Mercs of our favoured vintage do not require coolant if they keep moving and if the revs are kept down. I was passenger in a r107 500SL when the driver rear-ended the car in front on the M25 (the idiot was busy dusting out the instrument cluster in heavy traffic). Despite losing all the coolant, the car made it to MB World at Brooklands and then into central London where it did a day's work and then across London to the mechanic's without any harm.

I do hope Slippery is not on the hard shoulder of the M25...

A great 4,000th post R129 - helpful as always and congratulations!

[r129sl]

0a said:

A great 4,000th post R129 - helpful as always and congratulations!

Ha! I spend too much time here. Although I am typing this at my desk at the office. Ugh.

[slippery]

Don't worry, I'm still here, and all is well! Just working to a tight deadline until very late tonight. Will report back properly over the next couple of days, I promise, but it's a very lovely car indeed. Not particularly well described, as there are several minor cosmetic issues that they chose not to disclose, but it's a superb enough example to justify sorting the niggles.

[0a]

Excellent news - I'm sure a thorough write up with unnecessary photos showing all the equipment would be much appreciated on this thread.

Also please describe the pleasant V12 feeling when you put your foot down!

[barchetta_boy]

OK guys - confirmed my thoughts re the garage - I have total faith in them.

I didn't realise that my car could be driven with no coolant in. I baby'd it past the M23 interchange and stopped where I thought it was relatively safe to do so ( left of where the M23 slip merges onto the M25 so me on left, traffic flowing and drifting to the right). Never stopped on a hard shoulder before in 20 years of driving. Next time I will do differently but this was the first time and I had to make a call.

[slippery]

A few initial thoughts on the CL600. After reading the ad, it looked like a superb example with very strong provenance, but the seller had disappointed a few people previously with some scant descriptions that failed to mention some minor niggles and cosmetic issues. With the level of interest that was being shown in the car as soon as it was advertised, I knew I had to move fast and going to view it was out of the question, as I am way too busy. Fortunately, the seller had listed where the car had been serviced and when, so at 8am, I phoned the very well regarded indy and asked him about the car. He gave it a rave review, said he had been looking after the car for the previous owner for over a decade and that whatever needed doing had always been done. He had MOTd it a few weeks earlier with no advisories as well as giving it a full service and as far as he was concerned, the asking price was a total bargain. I immediately sent an email to the seller, asking him to call me as soon as he was able, as I had a meeting to attend first thing that morning and I managed to get to speak to him just before they opened at 9am. He wouldn't budge a penny on the price, referring me to a few of the rather optimistically priced alternatives on sale and even charged me £100 to deliver it, but I didn't really care. When it arrived, it wasn't quite as described, but the pure honesty of the car itself made up for that. There are a few small marks on the bodywork and a little bit of peeling laquer, some wear to the centre armrest and non functioning parking sensors. The worst of the bodywork marks, a dint in the boot lid that looks like someone has tried to close the boot with something too tall in it, wasn't mentioned at all. The parking sensors weren't mentioned either and they will need to be sorted quickly, or I'll be needing some more bodywork done! That's the bad stuff. The good stuff, well where do I start, there's loads of it and I will do a more detailed write up some time soon. Firstly, a massive stack of invoices for every penny that has been spent on the car, including the bill of sale for when it was purchased by the previous owner as an Approved Used Car. Also, it has never been smoked in and the carpets etc still look as good as new. Everything inside seems to work. As for how it drives, I haven't got it out on the open road yet, but it is creamy smooth. Like a six, only much, much smoother. It drives straight, brakes straight and there are no untoward rattles or squeaks. The alloys could do with a bit of a freshen up, but it's the kind of stuff that only I will notice. It's clearly a good enough example to justify lavishing cash on it, but in the meantime, I'm just going to enjoy using it how it is so I don't have to be too precious about it. Sorry for the lack of paragraphs, I've literally taken a break from the work I'm knee deep in to crash through this as I knew a fair few people were interested in the car. Back to the grindstone now!

Edited by slippery on Friday 19th December 02:48

[r129sl]

barchetta_boy said:

I didn't realise that my car could be driven with no coolant in.... Next time I will do differently but this was the first time and I had to make a call.

I ought to have added that no coolant is hardly ideal, it's just our Mercs are quite resilient even in extremis. Sounds to me like you did everything right. Not an enjoyable evening, I'm sure, plus the (probably unfounded) sense of unspoken scorn from the Missus about your car choices.

[Krikkit]

Heroic work, look forward to hearing a bit more once you've had a proper sleep and a jolly up a real road in it.

[r129sl]

slippery said:

A few initial thoughts on the CL600. After reading the ad, it looked like a superb example with very strong provenance, but the seller had disappointed a few people previously with some scant descriptions that failed to mention some minor niggles and cosmetic issues. With the level of interest that was being shown in the car as soon as it was advertised, I knew I had to move fast and going to view it was out of the question, as I am way too busy. Fortunately, the seller had listed where the car had been serviced and when, so at 8am, I phoned the very well regarded indy and asked him about the car. He gave it a rave review, said he had been looking after the car for the previous owner for over a decade and that whatever needed doing had always been done. He had MOTd it a few weeks earlier with no advisories as well as giving it a full service and as far as he was concerned, the asking price was a total bargain. I immediately sent an email to the seller, asking him to call me as soon as he was able, as I had a meeting to attend first thing that morning and I managed to get to speak to him just before they opened at 9am. He wouldn't budge a penny on the price, referring me to a few of the rather optimistically priced alternatives on sale and even charged me £100 to deliver it, but I didn't really care. When it arrived, it wasn't quite as described, but the pure honesty of the car itself made up for that. There are a few small marks on the bodywork and a little bit of peeling laquer, some wear to the centre armrest and non functioning parking sensors. The worst of the bodywork marks, a dint in the boot lid that looks like someone has tried to close the boot with something too tall in it, wasn't mentioned at all. The parking sensors weren't mentioned either and they will need to be sorted quickly, or I'll be needing some more bodywork done! That's the bad stuff. The good stuff, well where do I start, there's loads of it and I will do a more detailed write up some time soon. Firstly, a massive stack of invoices for every penny that has been spent on the car, including the bill of sale for when it was purchased by the previous owner as an Approved Used Car. Also, it has never been smoked in and the carpets etc still look as good as new. Everything inside seems to work. As for how it drives, I haven't got it out on the open road yet, but it is creamy smooth. Like a six, only much, much smoother. It drives straight, brakes straight and there are no untoward rattles or squeaks. The alloys could do with a bit of a freshen up, but it's the kind of stuff that only I will notice. It's clearly a good enough example to justify lavishing cash on it, but in the meantime, I'm just going to enjoy using it how it is so I don't have to be too precious about it. Sorry for the lack of paragraphs, I've literally taken a break from the work I'm knee deep in to crash through this as I knew a fair few people were interested in the car. Back to the grindstone now!

Edited by slippery on Friday 19th December 02:48

Thanks for posting this. For some reason I feel full of enthusiasm about your purchase. The cosmetic stuff sounds minor and the parking sensors issue most likely is attributable to one bad sensor. I know exactly what you mean about a car seeming honest, especially when it comes with a wad of invoices from Brian Nair. I look forward to hearing how you get on with this one. By the way, are we in the same line of work?

[slippery]

r129sl said:

Thanks for posting this. For some reason I feel full of enthusiasm about your purchase. The cosmetic stuff sounds minor and the parking sensors issue most likely is attributable to one bad sensor. I know exactly what you mean about a car seeming honest, especially when it comes with a wad of invoices from Brian Nair. I look forward to hearing how you get on with this one. By the way, are we in the same line of work?

Thanks Jonathan, it sounds like we are on the same page with the car, but we're not in the same line of work. You might be thinking of another regular poster on here who is.

[Triumph Man]

r129sl said:

barchetta_boy said:

I didn't realise that my car could be driven with no coolant in.... Next time I will do differently but this was the first time and I had to make a call.

I ought to have added that no coolant is hardly ideal, it's just our Mercs are quite resilient even in extremis. Sounds to me like you did everything right. Not an enjoyable evening, I'm sure, plus the (probably unfounded) sense of unspoken scorn from the Missus about your car choices.

I can imagine what made it worse (or it would do with my GF!) is that she would say, "you just spent how much?! And we've broken down?!"

[Huntsman]

barchetta_boy said:

the W124 E55 it turns out he wants to build

Oh god yeah. A W124 500 estate in right hand drive is the panacea of my dreams.

See my previous thread. http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by Huntsman on Friday 19th December 08:38

[hornetrider]

Triumph Man said:

r129sl said:

barchetta_boy said:

I didn't realise that my car could be driven with no coolant in.... Next time I will do differently but this was the first time and I had to make a call.

I ought to have added that no coolant is hardly ideal, it's just our Mercs are quite resilient even in extremis. Sounds to me like you did everything right. Not an enjoyable evening, I'm sure, plus the (probably unfounded) sense of unspoken scorn from the Missus about your car choices.

I can imagine what made it worse (or it would do with my GF!) is that she would say, "you just spent how much?! And we've broken down?!"

"Felicity's husband has a nice Mondeo. That isn't broken down. Why don't you get one of those instead of this old... thing."

[Krikkit]

hornetrider said:

Triumph Man said:

r129sl said:

barchetta_boy said:

I didn't realise that my car could be driven with no coolant in.... Next time I will do differently but this was the first time and I had to make a call.

I ought to have added that no coolant is hardly ideal, it's just our Mercs are quite resilient even in extremis. Sounds to me like you did everything right. Not an enjoyable evening, I'm sure, plus the (probably unfounded) sense of unspoken scorn from the Missus about your car choices.

I can imagine what made it worse (or it would do with my GF!) is that she would say, "you just spent how much?! And we've broken down?!"

"Felicity's husband has a nice Mondeo. That isn't broken down. Why don't you get one of those instead of this old... thing."

"Why don't we get one of those Golfs like the Petersons have down the road... That's never broken down."

• shudder*

[Huntsman]

Bad times....

I've posted twice on this thread in the last couple of days, thre times with this, I've had the XJ6 a few months, the signs are there, its going to happen again...

[r129sl]

Krikkit said:

hornetrider said:

Triumph Man said:

r129sl said:

barchetta_boy said:

I didn't realise that my car could be driven with no coolant in.... Next time I will do differently but this was the first time and I had to make a call.

I ought to have added that no coolant is hardly ideal, it's just our Mercs are quite resilient even in extremis. Sounds to me like you did everything right. Not an enjoyable evening, I'm sure, plus the (probably unfounded) sense of unspoken scorn from the Missus about your car choices.

I can imagine what made it worse (or it would do with my GF!) is that she would say, "you just spent how much?! And we've broken down?!"

"Felicity's husband has a nice Mondeo. That isn't broken down. Why don't you get one of those instead of this old... thing."

"Why don't we get one of those Golfs like the Petersons have down the road... That's never broken down."

• shudder*

My Golf is in thousands of pounds of bits after a rat ate half of it. Again. Tell her that. No woman wants a rat in the car, trying to eat its way out. And tell VW not to make its wiring harnesses out of peanut oil.

[0a]

Slippery, that doesn't sound too bad. The most important thing is that it's in sound mechanical condition and the interior is undamaged. Everything else can be put right later.

This seems a reasonable smoker for under £1,500 http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C569239

[Triumph Man]

r129sl said:

Krikkit said:

hornetrider said:

Triumph Man said:

r129sl said:

barchetta_boy said:

I didn't realise that my car could be driven with no coolant in.... Next time I will do differently but this was the first time and I had to make a call.

I ought to have added that no coolant is hardly ideal, it's just our Mercs are quite resilient even in extremis. Sounds to me like you did everything right. Not an enjoyable evening, I'm sure, plus the (probably unfounded) sense of unspoken scorn from the Missus about your car choices.

I can imagine what made it worse (or it would do with my GF!) is that she would say, "you just spent how much?! And we've broken down?!"

"Felicity's husband has a nice Mondeo. That isn't broken down. Why don't you get one of those instead of this old... thing."

"Why don't we get one of those Golfs like the Petersons have down the road... That's never broken down."

• shudder*

My Golf is in thousands of pounds of bits after a rat ate half of it. Again. Tell her that. No woman wants a rat in the car, trying to eat its way out. And tell VW not to make its wiring harnesses out of peanut oil.

I will use that because she did actually once say to me: Why can't you buy a Golf or an Audi A3 or something newer and cool.

I am trying to educate her...

[olly755]

cat220 said:

olly755 said:

Rare.



Hardly looks like a concours example, and the photos don't do it many favours, but there could be potential.

I miss my old, pre facelift 540i/6t. Manual takes away some the waftiness, but adds a bit of involvement if you like stirring your own cogs. (I do.) Such a fantastic all rounder for so little money.

The pictures in that add are awful. Almost looks like it's went off the road in the second pic. Zero preparation has went into the advert yet he's still looking for 3.5k. Combine that with rust on the arches and wing and I'd say 2k was closer to the mark.

Looks like it didn't hang around for long.

Still, this looks like a better buy. 1 owner, low miler, BMW ramped & stamped.

[barchetta_boy]

hornetrider said:

"Felicity's husband has a nice Mondeo. That isn't broken down. Why don't you get one of those instead of this old... thing."

My wife loves the W124, the 928 and was a keen driver of the 964 before we sold it. She also liked driving the Boxster Spyder.

In the words of the Knight Templar in Indiana Jones and the last crusade, "I chose...wisely"