Hello,
I have been lurking for the past few days, as I was in negotiation to purchase my first Mercedes. I had been looking at 2006 bmw's for quite a while, and while I am fresh out of college and have landed a well paying job, I was still very hesitant to spend that much on my first car right out of the gate. I am one who likes to save his money and wants to put himsef in a position so that later on I can afford all the things I want in life. Discipline I guess is the word I'm looking for. Anyways, I am from Peoria, IL. I noticed a member from Normal, IL which is a short distance away(hello).

Anyways, my family is good family friends with the sheriff of my city and he is selling his Mercedes. I went over to take a look at it with no intention of purchasing. My God, I had no clue how sexy these machines were. I never really gave much of a glance towards a Mercedes, but damn, these w208 models are hot. It is an all white '00 CLK-320 with 25,000 miles on it. Got it for a little over 19k. He offered to give it to me even cheaper, being a family friend, in fact he was gonna give it to me for an insanely low price, but as a gesture of good will, I wanted to give him a fair price. He had bought the car for his wife, but he had a car through the police/government and she also had a company car where she worked...so it got driven very little and only in nice weather the past 5 years.

I'm just really digging this car, and although I wish it had the v-8, I am very impressed with the performance of the v-6 and if i really love the car, I might drive it for 2 years and then come back and buy an '02 430.

I don't know how personal these introductions are supposed to get, but besides being a recent college grad, i'm also a huge myrmecologist, which is the study of ants. I raise and do research on about 50 different colonies of ants at my home and specialize on invasive species (Those in California might thank me one day for ridding of your "Argentine" problem). I am currently in the process of also buying a digital SLR camera to take photographs of my ants. If any of you like photography you should check out my friend's work at www.myrmecos.net Brilliant work and a world renowned expert in entomology. Anyways, as soon as I get a hold of a camera, I will take some photos of the car, and if any of you have advice on a camera, please indulge me Thanks for reading my post and I enjoy reading all of yours.

 

Hey 'Bounty'..Congratulations on your new purchase and welcome aboard! Thanks for my edification - I would have never guessed what the heck is a 'myrmecologist.' At any rate, Don't get too upset at not obtaining a V8 for starters, I know those V6 engines do well and with the soaring prices of gasoline...you did the wise thing. You'll find these boards helpful with any problems you may have (hopefully they'll be few) and for the most part, the people on board are fantastic. Cheers and if you need something PM or email with your troubles! BTW what's the best way to keep ants out of the house? just kiddin'....

Frank

 

Congrats. Whenever all of us Illinois people get together you'll have to be there. Of course we've been talking about meeting for a few months now and have just never got around to doing it, ha ha.

 

I'll bring the Esvenvalerate and Prallethrin, you bring the ants. :p

 

Welcome and congrats.