Blown Budget Mercedes Rebuild

[lxpeery]

I was told to post this in the chat, but I doubt it will be terribly exciting for anyone. Should be pretty cut and dry. 

After I sold the Cadillac, I had some pocket change to roll into the next "sight unseen salvage auction" buy. Watched for a while, came across a relatively low mileage clean looking 2004 E500 with front end damage. Looked good, one owner, good inspection sticker, 102K miles. Worth a shot. I even had a donor car for the hood and bumper it needed lined up, so it was good to go.



Got into one hell of a bidding war with some jerk from SC who didn't want to give it up and won it at $1750, which comes out to $2173 after fees. Add in half a day and half a tank of diesel to go pick it up and I was way over the $1500 I wanted to be in it for, but I was itching for a project and patience has never been my strong point.

Picked it up from the auction no problem, this was my first time towing with the 6.0 and other than the trailer brake connection deciding to give out after the car was loaded it did mint. The towing mode that uses the variable vane turbo to increase back pressure and enhance engine braking and the torque converter strategy rendered trailer brakes completely unnecessary for a 6k pound load. Car is super, super clean other than the obvious deer hit. Not a scratch on it, interior looks brand new, runs like a top. Even has a sticker in the windshield from Mercedes for the next oil change, so very likely dealer maintained. Exhaust nuts could be taken off with a crescent wrench, so probably a garage kept car. Runs and drives perfectly. Had a moment of fear for the air ride when it was first loaded on the trailer and it looked like Chase's Mini, but the compressor kicked right in and put it back where it's supposed to be.



Back in the shop, the bumper and hood are obviously toast, as is the entire radiator / condenser / fan assembly. Luckily that all comes out as one unit and should be cake to replace. 









The problem at this point is that the donor car I had lined up is not the same shade of grey, and I can't find used color matched panels anywhere closer than California. Shipping them in would cost more than I have in the car - a far cry from the $200 I was expecting to pay for panels. At this point my best option is looking like a cheap paint job from one of the body shops I do business with. Best quote so far is $400 to paint the hood and bumper, no fender blending. Not sure how that's going to play out, but we'll see. 

I'm estimating that the car with a salvage title is worth $3500-$4000 to the right person. I'm in it for ~$2200. I'm figuring another $300 for the panels and aluminum up front, another $400 for paint, $125 for the rebuild certification, and then registration. It's gonna be tight, I lost any chance on making a buck on this one the second I refused to let it go during the auction. Fingers crossed I can get out of it breaking even though, and as someone who usually just breaks things it will be fun to try going the other way around. 

Headed to the junkyard tomorrow for parts, I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[BLINGMW]

whoah wait, this car looks fine as-is for $2k!

[Senor_Taylor]

Very nice. Excited to see you rolling around in this.

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[lxpeery]

It should be fun to own for a few months, and half the reason I bought it was to get a feel for the rebuilding process. Definitely not my kind of car, but at least it's a V8. Plus as much as I'm a fan of the F-250, having that as a daily driver isn't ideal, so short-term ownership of a luxury sedan doesn't sound too bad. Who knows, I actually really enjoyed owning the Cadillac, maybe this will be the same.

Just another step in my master plan to trade my way to something that I actually like without having to pay for it.

[lxpeery]

Finally got around to some disassembly and repair work. Found a hood and grille for $150, radiator / AC condensor / fan / PS cooler assembly, lower grilles, and radiator support bracket for $60, and a pre-primed bumper for $110. Test fitting the upper rad support indicated that one of the headlight brackets was tweaked, based on the broken tab on the bumper support in the picture below I'm guessing passenger's side. Test fit the hood and it almost lines up, I didn't make even the slightest attempt to get things perfect so hopefully after it's painted and I do the job right it will lock in on the passenger's side the way that it's supposed to. 

Time to start putting it back together I guess, then shop quotes for paint. There's a body shop within walking distance from my shop but I think the work they do is too good for my budget so we'll have to see. That's going to be the difference between coming in under budget and blowing it out of the water. Not a whole lot of work here, just tedious. Removing all the crap the sits behind the old bumper cover and reinstalling it into the new one is going to take as much time as literally everything else I've done. 

Just for S&Gs, here's where we're at on the budget:

Car + Copart fees: $2173
Parts so far: $320
Half tank of diesel: $40

Total: $2533

[Senor_Taylor]

Those front tires are beefy

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