Well, we have had some rain here in Southern California recently, but it wasn’t bad and in most cases, greatly needed. But then yesterday, all the clouds disappeared here along the coast in Orange County and I took my SL out for a spin. You can’t really see them without zooming in, but I was taking a shot of the snow capped mountains in the background. It was about 68 degrees out and, of course, the top was down. The weather in Southern California is pretty much the ONLY reason to live in this crazy state, but it is a great place for top down driving—especially in a R231. Cheers!

 

It is nice to have great weather. My son and I worked on his car yesterday in 63 deg F weather and pure sunshine and then drove it beside the ocean in Carmel and Highway 1. That said, California has a boatload of good things (in no particular order):

The Golden Gate Bridge
The Getty
Mendocino Charm
One of the best in the nation for the legal and employment protections available to women and LGBTQ+
The UC System
Direct democracy allowing California citizens to vote in propositions to make real change
UC Berkeley (the world's #1 public university)
Sequoia National Park
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Laws which foster innovation in Silicon Valley
Caltech
The wine and fruits of Napa Valley
Carmel-by-the-Sea
Among the top three states in the nation for the most forward looking climate laws
The quirky charm of Eureka and the Samoa Cookhouse
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Pebble Beach golfing
Redwood National Park
Stanford University
The distinct neighborhoods of San Francisco
The incredible brain trust of Silicon Valley and the best in the world innovation that it drives
Citizens Redistricting Committee
Cal Poly Maritime Academy
Mount Shasta
Disneyland
NASA Ames Research Center
The incredible innovation of Hollywood
Steamers Lane, Capitola
San Francisco National Cemetary
The nudity at Black's Beach
The stargazing at Joshua Tree
A trip to Furnace Creek, Death Valley
The incredible skiing around the Lake Tahoe area
Edwards AFB
Best in the nation (possibly best in the world) for high-end and exotic car ownership - Numerous car festivals throughout the state
San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Golden Gate State Park - San Francisco
World class surfing at Mavericks
The air at Mt. Whitney
The 6000 year old trees near Mt. Whitney
Balboa Park
UC San Diego
The strong social safety nets typically rated in the top five states of the nation overall
Lake Tahoe and its incredible fauna
The Imperial Sand Dunes
UCLA
Among the top three states in the nation for civil rights and finance protections (id est, ... making sure a black family can buy a home without discrimination)
Yosemite and Half Dome
The Griffith Observatory
Big Sur
The incredible foodie spots which dot the entire state
La Jolla
The California Academy of Sciences
Universal Studios
MCAS Miramar - Fightertown USA
Santa Barbara dining

I could easily go on for another 67 pages. When high school ended, I came to California to attend UC Berkeley from a small coal mining town in Appalachia. The town I grew up in was not far from a hell hole. Dirty, dark, with miserable weather, and the roads laden by coal trucks. Many of the people were closed-minded and provincial, and remain so to this day. Many are uneducated and in a quite painful manner, ... proud of it. I would take California with all its warts (immigration, high taxes, huge home prices, etc .... ) over returning there any day of the week. If someone paid me a $100,000 a week to take a job in town in which I grew up, I don't believe I would take it.

 

Most all of the things you mention might be a reason to visit California, but are not reasons to live here. I’m a CA native and have witnessed how this state has gone downhill for decades now. But if you can afford to live in one of the “BUBBLE” areas, where reasonable law & order still exists, there is no place like it for sensational weather—and what I refer to as the Gold Coast of South Orange County is, in my opinion, the absolute best place weather wise.

 

Mighty Mouse saves the day!

 

I like that you got the carbon ceramic brakes added to your superbaby. That is the direction my son is going to take I think. We are not fans of the stock brake pads they put on the R231 facelifted 450s and 550s. As to the folks that are always complaining about California, ... well, ... at least there is Texas Fortunately, it's a free country and folks can choose.

 

If the weather was even similar, I do believe that I would become your neighbor.

 

Stream, I would be interested to hear your list of Cali's problems!

Don't you [still] have custom MM 45TH badges??

 

Eddie, You are just a barrel of laughs to start out the new year! Unfortunately, if I were to list the issues I have with the once Golden State, I’m quite sure my post would be removed post haste. Not that I would intentionally offend anyone or any group, but because someone here would most likely object, using the excuse that I wasn’t talking about MB’s or at least competing brands. The folks who think more along the lines as I do, for the most part, don’t mind reading such things here. But the ones at the other end of the spectrum most always jump on the least little thing to scream & complain, so I’ll just play by the rules.

As for BADGES, you must know that my signature comment refers to all the “badges” that the operators of this site decided we all needed to display, such as the 5 & 10 year membership badges, etc. which I don’t care for. Kudos to the site operators for allowing members to opt out if they so choose. The Mouse still proudly displays her (Mighty Mouse identifies as a female) modified badges.

From “LA-LA LAND,” wishing you and all the folks here a happy, healthy & prosperous new year!

 

I like personality touches, I can identify the most well kept SL on the road (pretty much) that way and know it is Streamliner I am passing by. It is a great feeling.

 

Steamliner, do you know of any place where one can buy a complete Mercedes chrome lettering kit (that is in the font and text style that Mercedes uses for the trunk and badging) which includes the letters A to Z and numbers 0 to 9? Searched Ebay and asked at Mercedes of Monterey and no go.

 

I bought mine from MB Laguna Niguel parts department back in 2019. They are sold as sets with various sets having the appropriate letters & numerals to badge a few different models. As I recall, they were not very expensive.

 

High today where I live was 27. I almost took a job in San Diego until I checked the real estate market. Good weather is nice but not that important in the grand scheme of life. Happy New Year.

 

I'd love to find some way to know your, and compare our thoughts on the ills of CA and the nation in general. Me, I'm a liberal happily ensconced in a blue state with a second home in a red area of said state. MA doesn't have the same extent of immigration issues as CA, but I believe it's income inequality that is the root of much of our problems; your opinion here would be a valuable one.

Oh, I was not aware of your antipathy to the forum badges, several of which I display. And I don't know how/why I added a "TH" to MM's custom ID. That she identifies as female is evident by the ample and shapely booty and well proportioned rack up front!!

 

A to Z??! What do you plan to spell??

​​​​​​​What was wrong with the RE mkt??

 

Eddie,

Nah, won’t do it. I’m not going to post my political opinions here. But, to add a bit of MB content to this comment, I will say that all one need do is to visit San Francisco these days and see just what has happened to the once lovely city by the bay. My wife and I used to drive our Mercedes-Benz up and visit there regularly, but now we will not set foot in the place. The number of retail businesses that have closed down there is nothing short of phenomenal. Parking a Mercedes-Benz or most any high end vehicle on the street there, with absolutely no personal property showing inside, has a severe chance of being broken into within minutes.

As for the “badges,” I don’t care if folks post them, I just prefer not to. And I actually dislike the idea of ranking members by their participation stats. I actually would like it if I could remove my “MBWorld Fanatic” moniker. I believe there are folks here who make the most useless comments on every forum & sub forum, just to get their stats up. It’s like it’s some sort of contest, but it is what it is and MBWorld overall is a great site. Cheers!

 

To be sure, Mercedes does not sell alphabetic letter kits of any kind.
One can only buy model designations and other badges that relate to different cars.

 

If memory serves you can change the MBWorld Fanatic designation. It’s been a while though…

 

Hope you've been having a nice top down January this week if 68 in December was good!

Have been putting some miles on with our 70+ degree weather this week into next... today was into the 80s!

 

65 deg today in Carmel, CA! I won't ever be moving from Coastal California unless that destination is Hawaii or the Bahamas