[gwhite]

A mother with two small children in tow, slammed into my 1993 300TE, leaving it questionable whether I should invest the $10,000 likely necessary to repair the damage to the pasenger dows, center post, running board and quarter panel. It was so stupid. Meantime, it's been tough finding a black 1995 300TE in decent condition here in the mid Atlantic area. I strongly dislike (read "hate") the body style of 1996-2003 wagons. So I'm having to consider a 2004. This model doesn't look quite as bad; but new cars are designed with that corporate look, where there's not much room to make modifications that individualize your car. The wrong modification could easily turn out to be inconsistent with the overall design.

I figure with a 2004, I can lower it a bit, tint the windows and add AMG ground effects. To do much more than that would be risky.

Anyway, if anyone is trying to sell a really top condition black 300te, and you're within 300 miles of the metro Washington, DC are. Give me a shout out. Otherwise, I'll let you all know what I decide on by month's end.