Discussion
well I've been enjoying people's tales of mystery and imagination on here and so I thought I'd try a short one of my own....
For the last 20 years, I've been 'in love' prior to this period I'd hankered after but never thought about actually pursuing my desire. What is it I'm speaking of? Why a bent 8, and not just any 8 it had to be a Yank V8 - there is just something about it that made my (motoring) tingly bits tingly! To that end I had a succession of IROC Camaros (as well as an RS Camaro, an SS, rare beast over here and a Firebird) as well as a few Ford offerings, a Mustang and a couple of Ford Lightnings (now they are a bundle of different!).
Halfway through my ownership of my last Lightning, I was curious about what I should buy next, the only stipulation was that it MUST be a V8. Idid think about going back to a Mustang but at the time of looking they were actually more expensive than a 2005 SLK55 (a situation that seems to have changed slightly now) and I flat out refused to buy a worse Mustang for more than I sold my excellent condition one for.
So on to searching... Mrs I (quite unreasonably in my view!) advised that she really didn't want me to get a C5 Corvette nor, after sitting in my friend's TransAm, was I allowed to get a late model TransAm. I'd decided that I wanted a 2 door car and suddenly my price point was starting to look quite bereft of choice. Step forward the 'left-field' German idea an SLK55. Decent performance? Check. Rare? Check. Comfortable? (if my wife's then car, a 2012 SLK250 was anything to go by) check! Good looking? Check (though it did take me quite some time before the looks gelled for me from when I first saw them).
SLK it was then! It was at this point that I realised that, as with all special cars, it's never just about well go out and buy one. You need to hunt the buggers down!
The first thing I did was to compile a wish list:
V8 - that's narrowed my choice massively!
Heated seats - I'm getting soft in my old age
Airscarf - I'd never even heard of this genius device but once I had I knew my car had to have it (it blows warm air around your neck/back of head).
Colour - not black or silver. At this point I realised i wasn't making my search that easy since black and silver are the most common colours
Long story short I found one that sounded to be just what I wanted half the country away (not an issue, I've flown from Essex to Glasgow before to buy a car). It had all of the 'must haves' as well as an LSD and sports exhaust.
Deposit placed on a car undriven (on the understanding that if I didn't like it/it didn't match the description I'd be refunded) I drove the c.275 miles up there with Mrs I and after a decent test drive the deed was done. The first thing I noticed was that the SLK was distinctly un-mercedes like, truth be told it had a bit of hooligan in it (tubular manifold, secondary cat delete, Bilstein shocks) and once you punched the loud pedal it was quite vocal!
Currently unwashed thanks to the weather recently
For the last 20 years, I've been 'in love' prior to this period I'd hankered after but never thought about actually pursuing my desire. What is it I'm speaking of? Why a bent 8, and not just any 8 it had to be a Yank V8 - there is just something about it that made my (motoring) tingly bits tingly! To that end I had a succession of IROC Camaros (as well as an RS Camaro, an SS, rare beast over here and a Firebird) as well as a few Ford offerings, a Mustang and a couple of Ford Lightnings (now they are a bundle of different!).
Halfway through my ownership of my last Lightning, I was curious about what I should buy next, the only stipulation was that it MUST be a V8. Idid think about going back to a Mustang but at the time of looking they were actually more expensive than a 2005 SLK55 (a situation that seems to have changed slightly now) and I flat out refused to buy a worse Mustang for more than I sold my excellent condition one for.
So on to searching... Mrs I (quite unreasonably in my view!) advised that she really didn't want me to get a C5 Corvette nor, after sitting in my friend's TransAm, was I allowed to get a late model TransAm. I'd decided that I wanted a 2 door car and suddenly my price point was starting to look quite bereft of choice. Step forward the 'left-field' German idea an SLK55. Decent performance? Check. Rare? Check. Comfortable? (if my wife's then car, a 2012 SLK250 was anything to go by) check! Good looking? Check (though it did take me quite some time before the looks gelled for me from when I first saw them).
SLK it was then! It was at this point that I realised that, as with all special cars, it's never just about well go out and buy one. You need to hunt the buggers down!
The first thing I did was to compile a wish list:
V8 - that's narrowed my choice massively!
Heated seats - I'm getting soft in my old age
Airscarf - I'd never even heard of this genius device but once I had I knew my car had to have it (it blows warm air around your neck/back of head).
Colour - not black or silver. At this point I realised i wasn't making my search that easy since black and silver are the most common colours
Long story short I found one that sounded to be just what I wanted half the country away (not an issue, I've flown from Essex to Glasgow before to buy a car). It had all of the 'must haves' as well as an LSD and sports exhaust.
Deposit placed on a car undriven (on the understanding that if I didn't like it/it didn't match the description I'd be refunded) I drove the c.275 miles up there with Mrs I and after a decent test drive the deed was done. The first thing I noticed was that the SLK was distinctly un-mercedes like, truth be told it had a bit of hooligan in it (tubular manifold, secondary cat delete, Bilstein shocks) and once you punched the loud pedal it was quite vocal!
Currently unwashed thanks to the weather recently
Tommie38 said:
Looks great!
Can you say kor about the LSD and sports exhaust?
Factory or aftermarket? Would be interested to know.
the LSD is a quiafe unit and I've troubled it a couple of times but I've not got any feelings one way or the other with regards to it (I'm just not that rapid a driver) though others who've had it done swear by it.Can you say kor about the LSD and sports exhaust?
Factory or aftermarket? Would be interested to know.
The sports exhaust initially was formed of a shorty manifold and the secondary cat and resonator delete. Regrettably, that manifold was by then knocking on 6 years old and was starting to crack... everywhere. What that meant was that I had the choice of either putting the original manifold back on.... or getting a mid-length and sports cats. I think that you can guess which option I chose lol!! Soooo long story short time again I got some mid-length headers with the intention of getting them fitted.... oh dear.
You know when you see something that seems like a bargain you should check to see what the catch is? Well, I learned that one all too well. The manifolds I bought were, in themselves, good quality. The issue was that the bolt-holes to attach to the engine were too large and needed sleeving
so that was an extra cost from the start. The next cost was the dopey b
ks here didn't realise that mid-length headers meant that I'd lose the primary cats so I'd need to buy some 200 cell 'race' cats and get some pipes fabbed up to make the whole lot fit together. A 'cheap' set of headers turned out to be quite bloody expensive! The thing is though, depending on your taste, they sound amazing 
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