R63 AMG The Unicorn of my Destruction

Hahaha sounds like me as well. My wife won't let me be around when we sell one of our cars just for this reason. Is the insurance trying to jack your rates just because you have a 16 yr old in the house. Mine tried to do that when my daughter turned 16. Said nope not going to happen as she didn't have her license or even a learners permit. Ten years later she still doesn't have one and not to sure if she ever will.

Had to try and explain the shirt to a person who hadn't even heard of the book it is named after. That was a fun one.

What about a R350 with a LS swap. Same body less insurance but a butt kicking motor no one would be the wiser. Just a thought. 

Congrats on all the car sales. I'm working on selling my Challenge BMW, and it took a lot to make the decision to let it go. I've got a lot of sentimentality in that car. But in the end I've lost motivation on it and it's just clogging up my garage. Once I decided to sell it I immediately felt better. There's bound to someone else out there with the time, motivation, and resources to use it properly.

In reply to 759NRNG :

Both of them are moving north. Apparently all the cool cars are in East Montgomery county. 

In reply to brad131a4 :

I spent a LOT of time looking at the subframe when it was out of the R63. I think I'd do a LS with just RWD and make a Mercedes drift van. That's for another time when I gain actual skill and talent at making things work. Maybe someday. 

In reply to ShawneeCreek :

Emotionally I feel lighter just knowing that the ad is out there. Someone will love these cars. Just need to find those people. 

I heard about this epic project over here because of the good folks on the TexAgs Automotive forum. I spent all weekend reading the whole R63 thread (staying home from work with a stomach bug provides one with a lot of free time) and even made it through most of the Ferdinand thread.

I've loved cars since I was a kid and have always had an appreciation for the unique. Growing up, my dad had a 1970s Alfa Romeo Spider as his daily driver. It was a beautiful blue with a delicious sounding aftermarket exhaust. He ultimately had to sell it because my sister was born. In 1990, he bought a Jetta GLI as a replacement and that was his daily driver for 27 years. The car was in great condition, but it was time for it to go. I would've bought it, but I don't have a garage of my own to store it.

Ultimately, I'd love to have a project car of my own. I've been driving turbocharged VWs (2002 GTI - exwife got this, 2009 GTI - sold because I couldn't find a good seating position, 2014 GLI - traded in because of shoddy paintwork, and now a 2017 GTI) since senior year of college, so I'd love to pick up something different with more power- maybe a naturally aspirated inline-6 or V6 or V8 - that's unique but easy to work on.

Just wanted to drop in, say howdy, and that I've found another automotive forum to waste my time with. If you ever make it over to TexAgs, my username is the same.

In honour of this thread I'm collecting a C55 AMG Estate this coming Wednesday.

In reply to hatchback :

So if you're one of those Aggie guys, do you know the TAMSCC kids? I loooooove running autocross at A&M, one of my favorite sites. 

I'm glad you've enjoyed the thread. We all love project vehicles, but life sure can get hairy when something that was supposed to be the "good car" needs to turn into and exploded view diagram all over the shop. Hopefully we'll cross paths at some point.

Dammit said:

 

In honour of this thread I'm collecting a C55 AMG Estate this coming Wednesday.

So, yea, we're going to need pictures and stuff and now that we ALL know all there is to know about the 63 motors, you get to be the official teacher of all things 55.

Hey, everybody who said "LS SWAP!!1!!!" when the head bolt let go- here's a chance to put your money where your mouth is: challenge priced R-series with no drivetrain on craigslist.

mazdeuce - Seth said:

In reply to hatchback :

So if you're one of those Aggie guys, do you know the TAMSCC kids? I loooooove running autocross at A&M, one of my favorite sites. 

I'm glad you've enjoyed the thread. We all love project vehicles, but life sure can get hairy when something that was supposed to be the "good car" needs to turn into and exploded view diagram all over the shop. Hopefully we'll cross paths at some point.

Nope, never was involved with TAMUSCC. I spent all of my time cooped up in the college of architecture building. I'm sure our paths will cross at some point. 

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

That is so many shades of bad idea that I don't even know where to start. 

mazdeuce - Seth said:

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

That is so many shades of bad idea that I don't even know where to start. 

I’m sure if you shipped it here I could figure out where to start

In reply to Patrick :

You want an R350 with a bad motor, sketchy body work, missing the hood and front bumper and god knows what else that is currently in Queens? That would have to be negative Challenge money for me to be even slightly interested. 

God no.  But if it were sitting here i’d definitely figure it out mostly out of curiosity.  

Here she is, much fun:

This means that I've now owned cars with 2, 5, 6 and 8 cylinders (two of which I currently own).

I was starting to sound like that sketchy dude on craigslist who says "all it needs is a battery and a tune up and it'll be worth $1000 more but I just ain't got the time". I bought the front and rear brakes together when the rears started hitting the sensors. Almost two years ago. The fronts weren't all the way worn out then so I thought I'd wait, and blow up the car, and fix it, and not want to jinx myself by putting the new brakes on before I figured out if the motor was good, and then more waiting, and finally I dragged them down from the fort in the Grosh and put them on. 

So now I should probably update the Autotrader ad to say new front brakes. I'm sure that's what's holding a seller back. 

Just for fun I grabbed an Accord rotor off the scrap pile and took a picture. Track car rotor vs. van rotor. 

Can you get a trailer hitch for this thing?  I did talk to the wife on the way home about this again......just saying...

Mercedes says no. I consider that a soft no. A bit of internet sleuthing shows that it's been done a couple of times. 

I thought I'd bump this to the top 5 after reading about the life changes on the COE thread.....with numero uno goin' to college and the others being distributed to new and various campus's .....does the 'R' still figure into the taxi two step and or the Missus' drive to the office to give the 'P' car a break? 

Selling the R63 was part of reorganizing things. I couldn't quite spill the beans on that until it happened, but yes, that's what was going on. The 911 is the only "good" car we're keeping while we get everyone though school. Probably. Unless I find a smoking deal on a Ferrari or something. I'm still me after all. 

mazdeuce - Seth said:

Unless I find a smoking deal on a Ferrari or something. 

Is “smoldering” close enough?

Deucekid#4 had his elementary celebration today. Kind of a big deal for me as this represents the end of 11 straight years of me having kids in elementary school. I let him come home afterwards and we went grocery shopping. Mini corn dogs are in the toaster oven and he just fired up the DVD player. A special day for us. 

I keep talking to 1-2 people a week contacting me through the Autotrader ad. Lots of them aren't more than a single email, some of them do get to the phone call stage, it's like dating. I've talked to a handful of really cool guys about the R63, other cars they own, what they think of Mercedes, fun stuff. They're all slightly terrified of the prospect of owning the van. Usually selling a car is terrible, but the people that call about the R63 have made it fun so far. 
I'm a couple weeks out from pulling the ad and putting the van on the battery tender for the summer. I've been enjoying using is as a spare car so we'll see how I feel about re-listing it in the fall. 

You are you and I am I , but for the life of me letting this 'go' after all the mental,emotional ,physical sweat equity expended thus forth just

dumbfounds me.....here is the perfect foil for all all that is Lemke....it deserves a spot next to the other Teutonic weapon of choice. To be used at ones' leisure....kinda like putting on a nice sports jacket when the missus wants to eat seafood other than red lobster..I would have this if only I were  flush with cash and the front seats had all the bells and whistles....now about the cabinets.......sorry congrats Dkid#4 !!!! onward and upward!!! 

Seth when are yu off to the UP? Oh, and what is the vehicle of choice for said journey......the 'R' perhaps????

I've read every word (except the AC stuff - I live in Canada after all) and I've loved it all. Thank you Seth and all other chimers-in. The one-off tool deserves a spot on the mantle, under lights. Failing that, it should be fitted as a rear spoiler (read, "tail") on the unicorn. Or a hood ornament/horn?

Speaking of which...did it sell? I love it. With six all told around here, there would regularly be a bum in every seat. However, seeing as this weekend marks my first-ever attempt at changing the oil IN A LAWNMOWER, I'm not your qualified buyer. I love it and want it or another regardless. 

Again, did it sell? Thanks, too, Seth, for all you've done and do. It is very much appreciated. 

Still in the driveway. We took it out for icecream after soccer and to Ikea last weekend. Had to renew inspection last week so we're good for another year. It does need a bath, I should probably do that tomorrow. 

Thanks for the kind words. If you can change the oil in a lawnmower then you can change the oil in the van, and if you can turn the wrenches to do that, you're basically a mechanic. Take your time, pay attention, and you'll be pulling motors in the garage in no time.