She's ready. We are so looking forward to seeing her all back together again after what felt like
major surgery!
It is well worth the wait: she looks absolutely stunning in the bright sun. Finally we have fixed all the bodywork
and rust issues after nearly five years of having her.
After thanking Silchester for all their hard work (and paying the final instalment of the bill!) came the
somewhat nerve-wracking drive home: she has never looked this good and I don't want to spoil her!
Anyway, we all arrived home safely. I hope that someone at least spotted the shiny C123 and C124 mini-convoy -
I believe that she got some looks from other motorists. My wife was behind me and in a better position to notice
any heads turning and a couple did...
I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of Bertha on the driveway in the sun!
The brightwork shines up really nicely...
The sunroof opens once more - not perfectly: we think it needs a new motor and should possibly
open a little further - but this is the first time since we have had her that we can use it...
Just love a pillarless coupé...
More shiny brightwork - and with no rust underneath it...
It's been a very long and expensive road with Bertha, and of course the journey is not yet over - if
indeed it ever will be. There are more things that we want to do to her - an interior refurb, get the
rev counter and the cruise control working, investigate the slow sunroof issue and make it go back further
if it is supposed to... Few classic cars are probably ever really finished but the remaining issues get
fewer and fewer and come under the heading of 'nice to have' rather than 'essential for preservation'!
We have certainly had quite a few issues in the latter category (there is nothing more expensive
than a cheap Mercedes Benz, after all!) but for now we plan to enjoy using her
and to take stock of what we want to do in the future.
So I guess the question is 'Would we do it all again?' The answer is 'Yes, in a heartbeat!' 'Would we do it the same way again?'
The answer is 'No, we wouldn't.' We have spent a little more than we needed to by having the bodywork done in three tranches:
it would have been better to have had it all done in one go rather than to have paid for more than one respray, for example.
However, had we done it all in one go we might well not have used Silchester, as we were still using our original mechanic and he
didn't have the in-house capabilities that Silchester do. It is what it is and we are very happy with where we are with
our lovely Bertha!
I am going to finish this part of the blog with one more shot of her...
More to come...