---
title: 'Buying $500 Luxury Cars at Auction Is a Fun Way to Gamble.'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=LR2XZuPQR34'
video_id: 'LR2XZuPQR34'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 2194
---

# Buying $500 Luxury Cars at Auction Is a Fun Way to Gamble.

> Source: [Buying $500 Luxury Cars at Auction Is a Fun Way to Gamble.](https://youtube.com/watch?v=LR2XZuPQR34)

## Summary

The host of Hoovie's Garage buys two luxury cars at auction for around $500 each: a 2006 Land Rover LR3 and a 2008 Mercedes CLS550. Both cars run and drive but have significant mechanical issues. The video explores whether these cheap luxury cars are worth saving and the challenges involved.

### Key Points

- **Two cheap luxury cars** [0:00] — The host bought a 2006 Land Rover LR3 for $600 and a 2008 Mercedes CLS550 for $550 at auction.
- **Land Rover issues** [1:08] — The Land Rover has a timing chain rattle on startup, slipping transmission, and many warning lights.
- **Mercedes initial condition** [7:00] — The Mercedes has collapsed rear air suspension, mismatched wheels, and a missing bumper, but the engine and drivetrain feel strong.
- **Mercedes repair process** [11:00] — The host and mechanic Magic Mike replace the air suspension, control arms, and wheels for about $2,000 total.
- **Post-repair issues** [30:00] — After repairs, the Mercedes drives well but has electrical issues, including a ghost running problem after a car wash.

## Transcript

Welcome to Hooie's Garage. And if you
were wondering if you could still get a
cool car for around $500, well, The
Dumbest Automotive Channel has you
covered because I scored these for
around 500 bucks. 2008 Mercedes CLS550
for only $550. And this 2006 Land Rover
LR3 for only $600. Both of them run and
drive in their current condition, but
they need a lot of lot of work. So, yes,
you can buy them, but is it worth it to
own them and fix them? Well, the answer
is no. but definitely no on one of them
and probably not on the other. But we're
going to try. I know many of you would
say it wouldn't take long to figure out
if a Land Rover is totally screwed. You
just read Land Rover on the front, know
it's mechanically totaled. But in the
case of this one, you know, you're
absolutely right. Because when you start
this thing up, as much as I like these
things, especially the LR3, it's sort of
discovery 3, if you will, the trucky
version. There is a frame on body
construction. Listen to this startup
noise when it's cold.
There we go.
So, we have a pretty nasty timing chain
rattle on startup and then every single
light on imaginable when you start
driving it. For now, it's just brake,
but you have suspension warning lights
because it's been converted. 205,000 mi
on the odometer, which is actually
pretty good for one of these things. But
then when you look at it overall, I
mean, condition-wise, it is it is
incredibly rough. The dash is cracked.
These seats are ruined. They have cheap
covers on them. And you go in the back
seat, it's it's not any better. This
thing is definitely a mess, but it
could. I mean, it could be safe. Yes,
you could do the timing chains, I guess,
and replace those. It is a pretty
involved job and it is sort of an old
school V8 to where I suppose you could,
but considering what it's worth when
you're done, it makes it makes no sense
to do it. That is a 4.4 L V8 that is
trying to stall on us right now, but
seems to be doing okay. And it's
definitely dripping quite a bit in the
front and in the back. And I'm wondering
the second big issue with this thing is
the transmission. It is slipping very
badly on this thing. So, it's sort of a
one-two punch. Yeah, you could drive
with the timing chains loose until it
lets go. Maybe it'd last a while. You
can do it, but also the transmission
needs to be maybe replaced where it
could be just low on fluid. We'll find
that out here in a little bit. But the
body overall is holding up pretty well.
The paint pretty nice on the lower
parts. On the upper spot, it has sort of
a a paint chip, a Gorbachoff spot on its
head, if you will. And you go around and
yeah, not bad. The suspension's been
converted, so the air ride is no longer
troublesome. And for 600 bucks, I can't
complain at all. Well, Euro Asian Bob
wants this thing for parts if I'm not
going to fix it, which is most likely
where this thing will end up, but maybe
not. And like the Discoveries, it does
have the triple roof. So, one, two,
three pieces of glass there in the
ceiling. And I guess if I were buying a
Land Rover, you're putting a gun to my
head and say you have to buy a 20-y old
Land Rover, this would probably be the
one that I get just because this is the
simplest version and still full size.
And there are some pluses to this thing.
It still has cold air, so the air
conditioning works, the radio works.
It's not a complete disaster, but
obviously if this transmission doesn't
want to come back to life, then it is
done. So, cross your fingers for it
here.
All right.
This is a German Seal for Life
transmission, isn't it?
Yeah. There
there's no dipstick. There's no way to
fill without dropping the pan.
And uh we're not going to do that today.
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final breaths of this thing. Come on,
move forward. There it goes.
Old slippy slippy. Uh, that's the thing.
I didn't realize obviously until I
looked, but it makes sense because they
unveiled this sealed for life
transmission concept where there's no
dipstick. There's no topping it off.
Supposedly for the life of the car, the
transmission fluid is supposed to last,
which is stupid cuz of course it's not
supposed to last. What the car is
supposed to be dead at 100,000 mi. So
obviously 205, I can't imagine the
transmission fluid's never been changed
on this thing. Uh but since it requires
dropping the pan and doing a whole lot
of work to to do it, obviously that's
not going to happen today. But okay,
it's trying. There's a big slip.
There's a big slip. We have suspension
fault.
We're getting some speed now.
There we go. So, I guess for $600,
you could get from A to B. For how long?
I don't know. Probably not very long.
Between the transmission and the timing
chain noise, which now I'm starting to
hear at all times, we are probably in
the last moment of this LR3's life. If
it makes it down to Euro Asian Bobs,
which is about 15 miles away, I'll be
I'll be very happy. Oh, Slippy, I bought
this just, you know, as a drive-thru. It
barely made it through the lane of the
Hooptie auction, and I thought, you
know, for $600, why not? Let's see how
much life is left. Whoa. Full full rev.
Oh crap. Come on. Come on. Grab a gear.
Grab a gear.
There we go. Clearly not much left. Not
not much. Whoever got this thing uh to
the dealer to trade this thing in to
where it end up at the hoopy auction,
they they got all life out of it. But
205,000 mi, I mean, that's that's pretty
respectable for one of these. So, I
mean, you can't really knock the car all
that much, but dang it. So, one for two,
definitely not savable for around $500.
The other one though, I'm going to let
you in on a secret. I got the thing
months ago. I got it back in February
and it has been a process to even get
this thing somewhat working again and
it's basically the never- ending journey
unfortunately. So actually let's go back
to February when I first got the CLS
like 5 months ago. So obviously not
worth on that one either. But this is a
legend right here. A Mercedes CLS 550.
The car that started the trend of
four-door coups. the sort of banana
shape that sort of dominated design
language of cars for a lot of years,
especially European automakers. But this
was the birth of it. It's also way past
its birth date. It is on its last legs.
And I thought I was going to do an
autopsy video on a car that was near
death to take it to the junkyard, its
last drive, because this CLS is in
really, really bad shape. Unfortunately
for me though, after I bought this thing
at the Hoopty auction, I drove it back
to my shop and the car wants to live.
There's just enough life left in this
car where I feel like it can be revived
for a reasonable amount of money, but
it's definitely not going to be easy.
I'll never forget seeing one of these
for the first time. I thought it was so
stunningly gorgeous. And it was so
funny. It was at the Witchaw Auto Show
and they actually put it behind velvet
rope like it was something very fancy
that they didn't want people getting uh
too close to, you know, over 20 years
ago. As you can see, it is a total
disaster. Not only is this thing just
totally beat, but it has a lot of weird
stuff going on with it, including three
different sets of wheels. So, an
aftermarket one here that just scraped
to hell. Audi wheels on the rear. Please
explain that to me why someone would put
Audi wheels on this thing. The
suspension, of course, collapsed to the
ground and that's why I imagine the
bumper is missing because it kept
hitting the bumper and eventually
knocked it off. Probably got ripped off
driving down the road for a prolonged
period with no rear air ride. And then
an Audi wheel on this side. And then the
most destroyed AMG wheel from the wrong
generation right here. I mean, just
gouged to incredible destruction. And
then on the inside, well, it gets worse.
Yeah, this is this is trashed.
Why am I thinking I need to fix this?
Anyway, the pillarless coupe thing is
definitely a trend that went a little
too far, I feel like, where it's kind of
stupid, especially in SUVs where you get
rid of all the practicality of rear
cargo room for a coupy swoopy style
rear. But with a car in the CLS, I think
they did a really good job. But the big
drawback is definitely head room. So,
when you get in the back of this thing,
and there's my engine cover,
this is
this is really, really tight. This is a
four-door sedan and a human does not fit
in the back of this thing. So, it is
kind of stupid being a design exercise,
but
it does look pretty cool when it has a
bumper on it. Of course, now you're
probably thinking that I am a total
idiot for thinking this car could come
back. But when I did pick it up from the
hoopy auction, despite the suspension
being totally on the ground, it drove
really, really nice actually. Like
surprisingly nice. especially here in in
the front half of things, the engine and
that kind of stuff. And that's why I
thought, well, okay, maybe this is a
hooptie rescue mission instead of an
autopsy.
So, when you start this Hoopty up,
you're not greeted with a bunch of
warning messages, believe it or not. So,
no airbag light, no check engine light,
tire pressure warning, of course, a few
parking lamps and lights and things. But
then one red light comes on and that is
stop vehicle too low.
And you can hear it rubbing there in the
back. So, the rear suspension completely
shot. This whole car is riding on four
airbags and uh clearly the back is not
working.
But what is working is the engine. This
thing pulls strong. It drives great.
Obviously, very bouncy, but the
drivetrain feels wonderful. And that's
why I saw the potential in this thing.
So, I got this car cheap. And my goal is
to be under $2,000 all into a
presentable, nice CLS. And I've already
spent well a lot of that money
unfortunately because the bumper I
couldn't find in silver, but I found one
cheap for $300, but I'll have to have
that painted. And then I had to find a
set of wheels. That was another $400. So
now we're at $700 there with the
painting, with the cleanup, with the
labor, with the seats, which speaking
of, I turned on the heated seats. Ouch.
And it's it's direct metal heating
elements cooking my butt. So, I got to
fix that as well. Um, this is going to
be a pretty tall order for all in under
two grand, but it is possible because
I'm not taking it to the Mercedes
dealer. I guess the ABS lights on, too.
I have no traction control, but jeez,
this car is fast. If I were doing that,
I would be uh spending $3,000 just on
the suspension. The airbags, they charge
$1,000 each. But there are aftermarket
companies out there where I got the
airbags for 200 bucks. Very easy to
replace and keep going. I did get a
wheel speed sensor and that was like 40
bucks. So, there are some really cheap
parts on these things aftermarket to
keep them going. And that's the nice
part about this era of Mercedes is
there's a lot of DIY how-to videos to
get things done on this era and it's not
too complicated electronically uh to
make everything work. It's just in the
right spot where yeah, it's not the most
reliable, but it's definitely fixable.
This is still a serviceable vehicle. And
I do plan on helping out a little bit,
but I brought in a Mercedes expert here
inhouse in the garage to help me fix
this thing up and to assist me in this
really stupid task of trying to save the
CLS. Magic Mike,
>> if you're calling me to fix your
Mercedes, this really is the dumbest
automotive channel in YouTube.
>> Oh no, you've been working on Mercedes
forever. Forever. I mean, you quit
Wizards what, about three years ago now?
>> About three years ago. Yeah, I left
Wizard.
>> He just couldn't work a normal 9 toive
for somebody because it cramped his
dating life so much. He's just so busy
with that that he had to go out on his
own.
>> Such a socialite. That's exactly what
people know me for.
>> So, first step is to fix my lovely SLR
uh Roadster. Yes.
>> I saw it before you took it on your car
Trek episode and I didn't see the
episode, but I saw it before and after.
>> Yeah.
>> What did you do?
>> Well, we made it into the 722 Sterling
Moss winning $100 million car.
>> Ah, that's what it was.
>> Yes. Oh, I should have been able to tell
by the uh by the vents on the side. That
should have been the dead giveaway,
>> right? But it did start life of a $700
SLK. And my sidepipe exhaust, I'm
noticing, is a little Oh, no.
>> Yeah, I'm guessing you guys were driving
pretty hard. A little bit of spirited
driving.
>> It was Yeah, a little bit of fire. Yeah,
this
>> Oh, yeah.
>> It's It's a touch restrictive now, this
exhaust but
>> yeah,
>> you know,
>> it's definitely been through the ringer.
So, it started just dumping transmission
fluid and it was up on the lift and it
just dumped it on the car beneath it.
>> Yeah,
>> Freddy went in here and did the
conductor plate for me. And surely he
took his time and, you know, did a good
job. And
>> I'm, you know, I've seen Tvar do some
incredible work, but, you know, he
everybody misses a couple of O-rings
every once in a while. There's supposed
to be a second O-ring here. There's
actually supposed to be an O-ring around
this right there. I'm not blaming him
for it. They could have been missing
before he touched it, but yeah. So,
that's it. We'll just get you a couple
of seals and a new connector and you
should be good to go.
>> Oh, so that'll be really easy. And then
it can go up and be in it shrine for
what it is. I mean, this windshieldless
ridiculous thing.
>> Are you putting it up on the top rack on
your racks over there? Does that where
it belongs?
>> Probably. Yes. Yes. The hoopty rack.
Well, the CLS is going to be I mean, we
looked at it before. I did get a little
sneak peek before the video
>> and you do agree with me.
>> I think the CLS is worth saving.
>> Did the suspension collapse and then the
bumper got ripped off?
>> I think so. I think that's what happened
is it just being bottomed out. The
bumper got ripped off. So, I have since
got some parts in. So, over there should
be the air suspension, some other bits.
>> Okay.
>> I got a different set of wheels since it
has like three different set of wheels
and Audi wheels and everything else. And
I did get a bumper so it can look like a
car again.
>> Okay. Yeah, I did see the Audi center
caps on there. I wasn't sure if that was
blasphemy or if it was like illegal for
me to touch the car.
>> They're literally Audi wheels. Some
someone just decided. Anyway, it it's
it's a mess.
>> Yeah, we'll go through it. We'll get it
sorted out.
>> Oh, magic Mike. What am I doing?
>> I don't know.
>> You obviously you wanted the work, so
you were going to say, "Yeah, let's fix
it." But
>> well, yeah, why not? It's excuse to come
over and hang out with you.
>> Magic Mike pointed this out. It looks
like one side has tried to pop up.
It's trying.
>> Yeah,
>> that's a good sign. At least we know
your vacuum pump's working. She's
leaking.
>> It's hissing. That's because of your
jack right?
>> Yeah. Well, the bags are toast,
>> right?
>> But because we adjusted it, it shifted
the position and it started leaking
again.
>> Yeah. Relieving pressure or whatever.
Yeah.
>> Relieving itself. Oh, yeah.
>> Does it look the same?
>> Yeah, I think we're looking the same.
The only thing that's a little weird,
and it may just be because of our
suspension link, but that tire rubs on
the body.
What? See how far forward it sits?
It may just be an alignment adjustment,
but you can see how much more room we
have here,
>> I guess. So, it's also the wrong size
wheels.
>> Oh, yeah. That could be it, too. with
the Audi stuff.
>> I always forget you've got four
different wheels on here.
>> Exactly. You would never imagine
somebody would do that. But so these are
the airbags and they have a little dust
cover that's exploded. But then inside
that one is thoroughly just
>> imploded inside. That should be a nice
little balloon.
>> Yeah. And it's probably the same story.
Oh no. This one decided to air up today.
>> So that one came back. But
>> this one came back to life.
>> Not a bad idea to do them as a pair,
right?
>> Yeah. Yeah, I definitely recommend doing
them as a pair, especially seeing how
low it collapses. I'd recommend doing
them both.
>> And then overall everything else,
>> looking up front, yeah,
>> I mean, a little bit of an oil leak, but
nothing major.
>> Nothing crazy.
>> Nothing major.
>> So, that's when we decided, okay, well,
let's see if we can bring this back. But
that oil leak's gotten a little bigger
since the last time it was
>> just a little bit. We can pop those
covers off and double check.
>> Maybe we take a peek of what's going on.
But yeah, the front airbags, they look
pretty nice. Like maybe they've been
replaced at one point.
>> Yeah, I was trying to see if those were
our nose. No, these are the Conte.
So, they have been replaced.
>> They have been replaced.
>> So, what's the first order of business
then?
>> I think we knock all four wheels off to
get started.
>> Okay.
>> Uh then we can look at doing So, we've
got a wheel speed sensor. Uh because
this wheel is rubbing, we need to
replace that wheel speed sensor.
>> Yeah.
>> So, we'll do that first. Once we've got
that done, then we'll go and start
knocking off our airbags.
>> Sweet. get those replaced and we'll go
from there.
>> Okay. Gord some AMG wheels for 400
bucks. Isn't Ain't this nice here?
>> Oh man,
I bet that holds air like a champ.
>> That is a weld. Oh man. But it's the
right wheels. That's the thing.
>> They're a little stuck together here.
>> These are the correct CLS AMG wheels.
>> Oh yeah. with a bit I mean a bit of
>> they've definitely seen uh seen their
share of use but
>> but instead of four different wheels we
have only four different brands of tires
and and tread wear which is is an
improvement right
>> I think so slow progress is better than
no progress
>> we're working on a budget
>> oh yeah those aren't bad how did the
other two look you haven't opened them
yet
>> I'm I'm scared to do it honestly
this is the worst Christmas ever I'm
excited
>> oh Oh my god. This one too.
>> I wonder what they hit.
>> Oh,
>> that's pretty impressive.
>> Cuz they're staggered, I think. So when
one side of the car, they're stuck
together. Hang on.
>> Oh, there's
There we go. That's wonderful.
Okay, so only two different. So we have
Max Trek on the front and Michelin's on
the back.
>> That's not bad. Yeah, it's a chicken or
the egg here. Did the suspension
collapse because the airbags failed or
because the wiring was getting chewed up
by the tires that didn't fit. H that's
going to be hard to tell. We'll get some
correct size wheels on here and get the
airbags sitting where they need to. But
yeah, we're going to need to repair some
of those wires cuz one of those is a
wheel speed sensor. I need to double
check and see what the other two are
for. But yeah, we'll need to repair
those.
>> And me doing burnouts right before
definitely didn't help, right? You know,
I just expect it. Whenever you bring me
a car, I assume you're going to do
donuts and burnouts in the parking lot.
>> Sorry. So, then the fender well liners
are completely gone, too. But that's a
>> Yeah,
>> that's a fight for another day.
>> Yeah. Your charcoal canister, it's just
going to suck up all that rubber. No
problems.
>> Yeah. And doing burnouts with class
suspension when your fuel lines right
there. Or Okay.
>> Yeah, it is. Yeah. That's your fuel
filler neck.
>> This is not good. That's
>> So, we got some popcorn going.
The suspension's going into the body
itself.
>> It's been pushed forward.
Oh,
>> it's been pushed forward. But the
subframe,
did they repair the subframe? Cuz I
would expect to see like I was expecting
this lobe to be pushed forward or these
mounts to be out of alignment.
>> So, what happened?
Holy cow. Was it in an accident and then
repaired with an whole new subframe?
Cuz that's
it's hard to imagine spray foam the hole
and then replace the subframe.
>> Nobody would go to that much trouble.
>> Yeah.
But yeah, that's definitely smacked,
which is part of the reason why our
wheel doesn't line up.
>> Okay. because the new wheel is much
>> shorter, but it's it's wider.
>> And plenty of tread left, too, on this
on this tire.
>> Oh, yeah. You're good for another 10,000
mi on that tire.
>> But this one this one touches, too.
>> This one touches, too.
>> So, what can we do?
>> Mhm.
That's what I'm trying to figure out.
Because if it's just a matter of
replacing a couple of these arms to
bring it back into position, we could
definitely do that.
>> Like you said, there's nothing looking
all tweaked and weird.
>> Yeah. I mean, sway bar link looks just
as curvy as the other side.
I expected to see, you know, one of
these arms just totally bent forward.
And
>> Matt Armstrong would have it fixed in 5
minutes.
>> Matt Armstrong is very talented. I do
not have his resources, though. We
finally see one obvious difference with
this control arm here where I can put my
hand in and then around to the other
side.
It is much closer to the airbag as you
can see. Just Yeah. You can't even stick
your fingers through there. So bent bent
bent. You like like it's twisted. You
think?
>> I It's almost like it was kind of the
whole assembly was twisted and rotated
up and under. But I don't know what
would do that.
Okay, the subframe is not tweaked. It's
just the control arms are all
>> the control arms are pushing everything
forward.
>> That's definitely repairable, but we
probably need to check and see what
these control arms cost cuz I don't know
off the top of my head.
So, doing a little bit of digging, these
are all 230 part numbers,
>> which is the SL chassis number.
>> So, it looks like this shares several
same similar components.
>> Is it $69? We've got a kit here and
they're used, but $69.
I mean, we'll double check these
bushings, but if the rubber's intact for
69 bucks, I think we're in pretty good
shape.
>> Just because it's $69, we got to try and
do it. But obviously, the labor of this
is
>> a little
>> spicy. I wouldn't think it's too bad.
I'd think half an hour for each arm. I
mean, they've already cut a hole in the
subframe for me to get this one out, so
they've done most of the hard work. Give
me a head start. All right.
>> Yeah. I would think three hours of labor
we could get all those arms replaced.
>> And the mounts themselves, they don't
look
>> they don't look like they've shifted.
>> No,
>> I was expecting to see them twisted,
mangled.
>> Okay.
All right. Well, delay of game, I
suppose, on this one.
>> Bit of a delay, but we'll come back to
it.
>> Okay.
>> I still think it's worth
>> strike one. Strike. We'll see what
strike two and strike three are by the
time we're done. And I have $50,000 in
this CLS 550.
I appreciate the work.
>> One week later, we have parts. $69 worth
here of control arms or whatever. And
they don't look crooked. There's not a
big difference. Yeah. I mean, after they
after we've got them all out, they look
fairly straight. The lengths appear to
be correct. They haven't been smashed or
mangled. But one thing we can tell the
difference on, so this is the airbag
that came out of the driver's side, and
this is the airbag that came out of the
passenger side. So, one of the things
that's happening is whenever it was hit,
this airbag, whenever it tries to
inflate, it's inflating at an angle.
Now, this one still inflates straight,
but this one's inflating at an angle,
and that's part of what's pushing our
whole assembly forward.
>> So, it's bending at all.
>> Mhm.
>> And we have the new ones in. Speaking of
cheap prices, like back in the day when
you were working at Mercedes, it would
have been $1,000 a strut, $1,000 to
install on each side. So, we're looking
at like a $4,000 repair from Mercedes.
>> Yeah. more than likely. But nowadays
>> nowadays it's it's 150 bucks for the
pair.
>> Yeah, we got two struts and they even
look to be a little higher quality than
what came from bins. I mean, these are
these are very nice.
>> I'm going to knock on wood there cuz
famous last words. I mean, aftermarket
from, you know, but yeah, we'll see.
Suncor Industries makes these. They make
conversions, but it makes sense when
it's so cheap now just to go back
airride.
>> Yeah, I agree. I think the air raid on
these cars is great. I don't think it's
worth deleting, but I'm impressed. Yeah,
these are these are very nice. I think
we're going to be in good shape.
>> You haven't put them in yet, so he could
be cursing it here in a minute. We'll
see. Now, the moment of truth. This is
everything uh Michael's reputation
stands on right here. All these parts,
the $69, the air struts. If this thing
doesn't fit
>> Oh,
>> and it's mechanically totaled.
>> Well, we're off to a good start. Before,
only that smaller wheel would fit on
here.
>> So, this is the big fat rear. This is
the big fat rear tire.
>> And it was rubbing on the front. Hence
why the wiring was destroyed.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay.
>> So, after getting all of our arms
replaced
>> and the bag
>> and the bag. So, we're still a little
loose. I don't have everything connected
on the bag.
>> But we're not rubbing.
>> But we're not rubbing.
>> Not even close.
>> Yeah.
>> So, what do you think? Cuz those arms
look straight. What was it?
>> There must have been enough twist in all
those arms. That's the only thing I can
think of is all of them were out just
enough to push it forward.
>> Wow. Well, nice work.
>> Thank you.
>> You were probably puckered a little bit.
Like if you were wrong, it would have
been
>> Yeah. I mean, we've been at this a few
weeks now.
>> The video is going to be like 10
minutes. This has been like 3 weeks.
Yeah exactly.
>> Between getting wrong parts and getting
the correct stuff.
>> I see some spray foam is on the floor.
>> Oh, yeah. So, we had to utilize
that pre-existing hole that they had
chopped or cut into the interior.
>> It's always nice to utilize a
pre-existing hole. So, without it, you
would have had to do a lot more work to
get those arms off.
>> Without it, we would have had to lower
the entire subframe.
>> Oh, that's insane. Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> So, a hole makes sense.
>> Yeah. So, they
Well, they were in here. I pulled up our
bench seat.
Yeah, there it is.
>> They may they took a couple of attempts
at it, it looks like.
>> Oh,
okay.
>> Now, would you have done that if it were
your car?
>> No, I would have lowered the subframe
and probably done it correctly,
>> but on a $600 car,
>> I would have done the same thing.
>> I think it was $600. It's been so long
now, I don't remember what I paid for
it.
>> I don't honestly don't know. But
airbags are in. You've got some wiring
to fix. The bumper goes on and then the
thing should move.
>> It should be up and moving on all four
wheels and ready to do more burnouts.
>> Believe it or not, it's starting to look
like a car. But we're having to get a
little creative here. So, Magic Mike has
fitted the black bumper and starting to
fit things on. But we have a problem
with the exhaust. Huh.
>> Yeah. So, it's spread a little too far
apart. You can see we're rubbing on
these edges here. And it's going to be
tough to make the bumper fit correctly
with it, but I need to bring them
together. There's a point of adjustment
right here. And that was my first try
was squeezing them together and locking
that down, but they're still not close
together enough.
>> So, you need to squeeze this car's legs
together.
>> We need to squeeze.
>> That's just not happening. So, this is
where a ratchet strap comes in.
>> Yeah. We're going to try to tie her down
and see if we can uh
>> So, like loop it there and there. and
then just ratchet pull it together.
>> That's kind of what I'm thinking.
>> Okay.
Interesting.
>> That's what I'm thinking.
>> I don't think that's in the Mercedes
shop manual.
>> No, it's definitely not. And if they saw
me doing this in the dealer, they would
probably kick me out.
>> Hoopty problems require hooptie
solutions here.
Well, one's okay. That they're both
moving.
>> They are moving. It's working. Rise.
Rise.
Come on.
>> It's trying.
>> Come on.
That does a little left, a little right.
Little left, a little.
>> Uh-huh.
Slow and steady.
Look at that.
She's looking good. Now we can go for a
ride.
>> Yeah,
>> it's
>> Oh, is it locked?
>> It locks itself. Good thing the window
is down.
Okay, we have the ABS light cuz it still
needs to be reset.
And then
>> airbag. Nobody's worried about the
airbag though.
>> That's a lot of
>> a lot of bulbs.
>> A lot of bulbs. And we're out of gas.
>> Okay.
I was going to say it may still throw
wheel speed sensor fault codes because
of the different size wheel on the back.
>> Oh, that would make sense. All
right, first time out as a car that
works. It's so nice to not have a
bouncing flat rear suspension. Okay,
here we go.
Straight to the gas station.
>> Straight to the gas station.
>> Feels great.
>> All right.
>> See why I wanted to save it?
>> I do see why you wanted to save it.
>> It's actually a really nice car. Got the
windows rolled away, so it's nice,
quiet, and smooth.
>> It's pretty good. I was going to say
steering feel nice and tight. We're not
like
>> It's fine.
>> All right.
>> For still having three different sets of
tires on it,
>> has no business feeling this good.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> Things are coming alive.
>> Radio works.
Let's see here. Do we have good AC or
not? I'll be surprised if this AC is
charged.
>> Why?
>> Uh, it's been sitting forever. I'm sure
it all leaked out. So, a few little odds
and ends to take care of lights wise,
bulbwise, error lights wise. But
>> she's a cruiser.
>> She's a cruiser. I'm pleasantly
surprised for 600 bucks plus a little
bit of time and labor.
>> Yeah. Well, we'll see what the cosmetics
come out to be cuz Yeah,
>> she needs a little bit.
>> There's Look at all this this whatever
fungus is growing here. That's just
That's just people's, you know, like
belly button cheese that they pick out
and put in there. It's Oh, jeez. All
right. Well, thank you, Magic Mike.
>> Happy to help.
>> You brought her back.
>> We can bring more of them back, too.
Hopefully.
>> So, here we are 5 months later, and a
lot of YouTube channels will now take a
victory lap, see their completed car,
brag about how amazing it is, how fixed
it is for so cheap. And I am definitely
not going to do that because this thing
is a total mess. Along with most cheap
YouTube project cars, they're never
really across the finish line. Yeah,
there's an end point where they're
running and driving down the road and
doing well, and that is a major
improvement on this car, but it still
has some serious issues. So, let's go
over the good. Now, I have all the
wheels on. Unfortunately, I had to buy
two tires new because the existing tires
on the $400 set I got were no good. So,
that was another $500 there. So, I'm
$900 just in wheels and $550 into the
car. So, you can imagine 1,500 bucks,
$200 into the struts as well. And you
get into Michael's labor and I am right
at or a little bit above $2,000 into
this thing. That is why the rear bumper
did not get painted because we hit max
budget for this car. In addition, I
forgot the interior. Huge improvement. I
spent $300 on a new seat bottom here and
it completely dresses up the interior.
also had a cheap detail done for a
little over $100 and it is very, very
nice inside. Looking much like it did
when it was brand new. So, for a little
over two grand, this thing looks totally
amazing. And there is definitely some
potential here. It looks like a
completely different car with a bumper
on it, the right wheels, the interior
cleaned up, the headlights polished. It
does look like the $50,000 plus car of
when it was new. It is close in that
sense, but very far away when it comes
to issues. So, number one, electrical.
Still have issues with the ABS. An ABS
light is illuminated on the dash along
with a bunch of bulb failures. I'm not
sure if they're the bulbs. It's like six
different bulbs that have failed on this
thing. So, it might be an electrical
issue. In addition, the rear quarter,
it's still tweaked on this thing. I
suppose when you paint the bumper, you
could sort of tweak this quarter and
make it look a lot better, but obviously
the fitment is not perfect. Also, this
wheel, the suspension, it's still not
perfect. So, on the back side, I had to
buy a new tire, which is quite a bit
meteor uh than the older one. And it
does touch when it's in the air. On the
ground, it doesn't touch, but definitely
still a bit forward. And you can see it
as well just looking at it that it does
sit probably, I don't know,/ an inch,
3/4 of an inch too far forward. So, you
could size down on tires, or you really
could dig into the suspension and figure
out what is going on. But, it's totally
usable as is. It's a hooptie. So, the
big issue now is I decided to take it to
the car wash to get it all cleaned up.
Even though I've been detailed, it had
rained a couple times since then. The
cats had walked on it. So, I thought,
well, why not go wash it again so it
looks all pretty for the finished
product so I can brag about my amazing
CLS transformation for around $2,000 all
in. And uh well, the battery is
currently disconnected and that is for a
reason. So, brace yourselves here.
During the car wash,
I think the sand module got wet.
Yeah.
So, it quits honking at you when you
start it up.
And as you can see, a lot of warning
lights still illuminated. The air
conditioning also doesn't work on this
thing. So, that is something to figure
out. And the stereo, it boots up. All we
get is the Mercedes crest and then it
completely flakes out. So yeah,
something still needs to be done there.
A lot of electrical issues to sort out,
but now we have a new one.
Unfortunately, yeah, I can go drive it
right now. Everything's working. I can
drive across country right now, but then
when I want to go turn it off, let me uh
take out the key. Here we go. The key is
out. Everything is dead as far as inside
the car, the tachometer. But listen to
this.
Not only that, but with the key out, the
steering wheel is still unlocked. It
still goes into gear. It still moves.
And it's not the keyless go system.
That's completely dead. So, this thing,
well, it's it's it's ghost running right
now. It's it's literally ghost running.
And that's what I get for taking it to
the car wash to show you how cool and
done this car is. because now, well,
it'll just run forever, unfortunately,
unless I pull what I believe is the fuel
pump relay right here.
There we go. And then we just give it,
you know, 10 to 30 seconds. It'll start
starving.
Come on.
Come on.
There we go. Disconnect the battery. And
now it's off. That is how I turn off my
CLS 550 now after spending all that
money and five months to get a video to
you guys talking about how you can save
a $500 car.
Typical, right? Thank you so much for
watching.