Our Winner For June Is Ruudje!! Congratulations Ruud!
Username: Ruudje
Name: Ruud
Location: California, USA
Car: 190e 2.3 WDBDA28D5PG069753.
Details:
Proudly presenting my trusty fellow in daily traffic – WDBDA28D5PG069753.
I bought it in the summer of 2003 from my sister in law who was told by her stealership that her ride needed extensive engine repair, due to a corroded head caused by cheap coolant. Instead she approached me and asked if I’d be interested in buying it for a good price – did not have to think about it for a long time. I was still living in the Netherlands at the time but my fiancée (now my wife) was really helpful in talking to one of her friends (who is a certified MB mechanic and still looks after my car) who parked the Benz in his backyard and built it back together. He finished the rebuild just in time for me to hand it over in November 2003. The original owner (a local other lady of Dutch descent) dressed the Benz up nicely with chrome rims, headlight wipers, a car phone (took it out of course) and the windows were tinted a bit darker than stock. I think it still looks awesome, especially when parked next to a lot of newer cars. And indeed stock fits well enough. I only shaved off the trunk badges and added some trinkets in the interior like cubbies, a storage tray in the console and those rear head rests. I was planning to do a lot more after a nice detail job in late 2004 but then … we bought a house. That meant the budget would be spent a lot differently. I still want to have it detailed again (although parking indoors helps a lot) plus the engine will need some more work. But hey, it still does between 300 and 400 miles a week in absolute comfort and style. All my clients love the fact than I am not driving something stodgy like a Camry or Accord.
Added the 250,000 km badge last week…..here parked in the garage next to our A4 1.8T
In the driveway – it still has that “preferred owner” sticker from the stealership – helps me in getting a free carwash every now and then ;o)
The white paint inside the wheel wells is still visible. Yes I love to keep my baby clean!
Same story here….
Despite it being a daily driver I try to not eat and drink (other than water) in here….cubbies, storage tray, phone bracket and upgraded speakers make it a great place to commute in.
Hopefully in a year or two this bay will be filled up by something called SR20DET. This means that there will be a need for more mods than just the engine, but we will see…. So far the good old 2.3 does his job, but most probably it will need another head job at around 200,000 miles (in exactly two years from now – am about to hit the 160,000 mark)