DaveW68

This has been studied in depth.

Mike5215

I'm just saying does it make sense to take a chick on a whirlwind tour of Europe and propose in a hot air balloon over Paris when you probably could have just taken her to McDonalds and gotten laid on the second date anyway?

Mike5215

Suddenly now you're thinking about unforseen circumstances, long term costs and financial merits? I thought this was a pure, sentimental labor of love, reason be damned. Look, this thread might be more headache than it's worth. Maybe ask a mod to close it, and start a new thread when the car is finished, showing all of the steps along the way.

dildil

That would've been worth it and benefits from it would be for as long as your with the chick,

But OP situation is different even after the tour and ballo0n ride this this would turn out to be a turn down

DaveW68

But then you end up with something like this:

Mike5215

Well even a base S Class is still an S Class. You get the excellent ride quality and comfort (although those non-active seats are stiff as hell). Just cosmetically not that cool to look at (for me) as the AMG Sport or actual AMG cars. You can live without the options of course although a lot of them really do increase the satisfaction and enjoyment of the car.

For a first S the base low optioned car is fine for a couple of years, but it won't be long before he's eying something a little more fleshed out.

Mike5215

I'm ashamed to admit I had that date, and ended up boning her anyway under what at the time was my long held belief that doing a chick was better than going home and whacking off. Turned out not to be the case at all. because when you're done whacking off, the Kleenex doesn't follow you around for six months.

beboy

uh oh from s class mechanical, electronic lessons to life lessons by Mike.....

bigkev21

I have the P2 package on my 2010. It's only been a month and a half and I already want more bells and whistles.

nycphotography

If the quarter panels are the same, then yeah thats the same price.

But every single AMG specific part costs like 4x as much.

An AMG bumper cover is like $2400. At least it was for my '08 CLK63 Cab. A M156 oil cooler is like $500. Etc etc etc.

An S550 has infinite used parts available, particularly on the east coast. An AMG much less so.

DaveW68

He's buying a used or aftermarket rear bumper. The aftermarket parts (even AMG clones) are dirt cheap and perform as well as OEM....although they may entail a little more work to install. That's really the only difference that I'd see based on comparable differences between a 550 & AMG car in a similar wreck.

Mike5215

There's no getting around the pricey AMG mechanical parts, but this S550 has no mechanical damage (that we know of). A guy on here sells a full S63 body kit for a couple grand. He sells the rear bumper with two piece diffuser for $600. It's a clone but a lot of guys have the kit. eBay is also showing a bunch of S63/65rear bumpers between $400 and $800.

My point was only that for all the rigmarole, money, lost keys and fork lifting it would have been cool if the end result was something more interesting. And before someone cries foul over an aftermarket bumper, the guy planned on banging out the crushed quarters with a mallet, so either way we're not talking about a rotisserie restoration here.

Mike5215

Mine is a cautionary tale.

JonMac

Rotisserie.. mmmmmmmm

xpl0sive

quarter panels are exactly the same. He would simply need to find a used s63 bumper, which wouldn't cost much more than a regular s550 bumper

Mike5215

I'd have put an S63 bumper on it anyway as long as I was buying a bumper. 1/4 of the way to a full AMG body kit. I did a kit on a 220 that way, just picking up parts on eBay cheap as they became available. Did the exhaust on this car survive BTW?

KitMaddox

Hmmmmm 🤔🤔🤔 hahaha!

amgm5s8

How I can't wait for the key to go in ignition!!!!!

Suspense is killing me. I'm sweating over here, you would think it's my car.

Listen OP, most on here giving advice are your dad's age and we all have done crazy things before and we've learned from our mistakes. Hell I remember when I first got on ebay in 1999 and bought 1992 Mercedes s500 cheap. I was so excited, hit the buy it now, had the car shipped. Totally trusted the seller. Got it home and it was not what I expected. Not a bad car but everyone's perception of "perfect condition" is different. I did not think twice about talking to the owner, having it inspected and hearing it run. After that experience I said to myself it could have been a lot worse. How can people buy cars on ebay and not speak a work to one another. I now have sold every one of my cars on ebay, probably over 20 and still it's about 50% or more who I never speak with and have the car shipped.

Me personally and have done this before is to part out the car. If you have the room and time you could make back more than double. The time I did this I bought 2 wrecked Audi S8. One with rear damage and one with front. Put them together and sold the rest and covered all my costs on parts alone selling them.

KitMaddox

So do I! It does apply to anything purchased online (including a mail order bride) 😉

TechSuperstar

Yesterday's episode here is rubbish! Stop the bickering. Can we keep this civil? There really is nothing else to say here until the key arrives. There are many of us rooting for you mercedesbenzs55!

MrRat

Here's one as per Mike's recommendation.
It's an S63 with what appears to be damage with no airbag deployment.
The auction closes in 6 hours. Was at about $4,300. Might be in the same cost range to make it roadworthy. It does look like more work though.
http://www.copart.com/us/Lot/1833243...hId=1420447156

It has more enthusiast interest when done. If parted out, lots of desirable parts.
ABC might be a huge headache though. Definitely not boring.

Mike5215

Without an antagonist there is no story. The hero must overcome enormous obstacles and find himself in a predicament that is impossible to overcome. Then, in the 3rd act, the hero marshals his resources and despite astronomical odds, wins the day, defeating the antagonist in the process . We're still in Act II.

DaveW68

All that BenzS55 has to do here is come clean, then the attitudes of most, if not all folks here would change to cheering him on. Things he should do:

1. Admit that he really isn't a perfectionist if he planned on repairing that car to perfect standards by banging out some panels and throwing on a used bumper and taillights.

2. Admit that it was just a pie in the sky idea to repair that car to make it safe and presentable on a $1000 budget.

3. Admit that nobody purposely damaged those rear panels after the fact in order to try and defraud the insurance company.

4. Admit that it's going to cost him a lot more than his original budget and that the car is going to take a lot more work than he originally thought to make it right.

5. Admit that the advice of many of the detractors on following through with this plan wasn't really economically feasible, especially on the limited funds he said he has to do the project.

6. Admit that this was just an ill-conceived idea, but that he's just going to follow through on it any way to challenge himself and help others understand whether they should ever consider something like this.

I think that when the OP finally comes clean, all of the detractors are going to get on his side and will be anticipating watching the progress. This thread is already over 20 pages, and the car is just sitting in his garage and hasn't even been started yet. That thread about the guy who did the body work to restore that wrecked SL63 on a limited budget and to a very high standard for somebody who'd never done it before was a great example. That thread is only 6 pages from start to finish and showed the entire process with lots of pictures. He was realistic about what he was getting himself into and had no detractors along the way. That's what I'd like to see this thread morph into. But the OP needs to come clean first and change his original outlook to something that is actually realistic. Maybe he should just start a new thread with proper expectations and let this die off into the MB World Hall of Shame.

After he gets his car all fixed up, then he can begin creating the same kinds of threads that everybody else does by *****ing about how their dealers are screwing them over on repair costs, how to do their own repairs, figuring out the strange noises coming from their car, why is their car slammed to the ground, would these 22" wheels look good on my car, should I purchase a warranty, etc.

mercedesbenzs55

Exhaust is in great condition this S63.


This S63 has dmv fees.. How much would i have to pay? It has a key and power but the mileage doesn't show?? What if it has 150k. It is going to end up costing much more than my car. From the dash you see a warning like,to me that's a red flag. Where it's the pic of the engine?
This S63 was most likely purchased of copart already, then saw that it had much more underlying damage asked put it back on copart. I know this because its too clean. Looks like a bait car.


I bought my car as a base model specifically with the least amount of gizmos so that offer time there is less that needs replacement.

mercedesbenzs55

You, Mike, and your brown nosing Dildil do not make up most or all the attitudes of folks on here. Most people here are positive, and I thank them for thier uplifting spirit.