Hello Forum,

I am a lifelong car nut that just purchased a CLK 320 Cabriolet to be my daily driver. I live in Eastern Europe and bought the car in Germany. It's now in customs for a few days to be cleared here.

156.000 km's
Automatic
Driver's side electric memory seats
Bi-Xenon Headlamps
CD Player in Glovebox
2 keys

Just drove it back last night 1,100 kilometers in heavy rain. It ran great, and not a top leak to be seen. The engine seemed super smooth and the transmission shifted smoothly. Felt some vibrations around 120 km/h but think it was flat spots in the tires. That seemed to die down as the trip progressed. Finally got a reading of the dashboard oil level about half way through the trip and it said 1.5 liters from maximum, so we added 1 liter of oil. (That's about 1 quart for those of you in the states.)

All of the lights and electronics seem to work except the driver's side head rest which did go up and down by motor when I first sat in the car, the LED screen on the radio (although the radio works fine), and the top is inoperable, it does not go up and down I am told.

The wood all looks new, the dashboard looks great. Now curling or anything like it was baked in the sun.

The needs:
The following warning messages appear:
ABS
ESP
BAS
Brake Pad wear
and Speedcontrol (After I tried to usethe cruise control on the trip)
Plus the check engine light and what looks like an ABS light

We installed new brake pads on all four corners before we left. The sensors only seemed to go on the right side, front and rear. But after installation all of the warning lights above remained. The rotors looked fine.

There is a rattle inside the right side passenger door around 120 km/h.

Cosmetically, the front seats look very tired.
The glove box door is completely off. I haven't had a chance to get a close look at it out of the rain.
The CD changer in the glovebox looks destroyed, just bare metal.

The car had been sitting for a long time. The tires were down 50%. I think most of the flat spots worked themselves out on our trip. The tires had plenty of tread.
There is some rust along the bottom of the driver's door.

The wheels:
I don't know what kind of wheels are on the car, but unexpectedly the dealer said I have 4 Mercedes wheels to go with the car. Does anyone know if these could have come with the car? They are staggered, different width for the front than back. I would like to get them cleaned up. Not sure what the process is there, painting or plating???

There is a crack in the rear bumper corner.

The top:
I have read here and watched the TopHydraulics videos and look forward to tackling that myself with my own hands, as long as the shipping and customs duties are not prohibitive. The top is covered in some kind of green algae or mold. Will see how that cleans up.

The car passed German TUV inspection 4,000 kilometers ago.

My main focus now is fixing and clearing whatever is causing the error messages. Fix the rattle in the passenger door. Glovebox door, and then the top. After that the radio LED screen and CD player. The interior seats I will wait to see how they clean up after a professional detail. Then if those Mercedes wheels are appropriate mount them in the spring with summer tires.

I think I bought it right and could have a diamond in the rough here. More pics after I spring the car out of customs.

Look forward to hanging out here and sharing with and learning from others.

Thanks,

Sixcarbs