The engine on my $2,000,000 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing catastrophically failed

[00:01] Welcome to Hoovie's Garage and this

[00:03] truly is the dumbest automotive channel

[00:04] in all of YouTube cuz you are witnessing

[00:06] the final breaths, the final moments of

[00:08] life

[00:09] of my 300SL Gullwing as far as the

[00:12] motor. It is

[00:14] it is knocking. I'm getting it off the

[00:16] highway.

[00:18] I don't know what happened. I was on the

[00:19] way to the first of college car show and

[00:22] unfortunately

[00:24] she just blew the moment I got on it to

[00:28] pass somebody to go near 90

[00:32] This is This is where we're at. So,

[00:34] this will be officially my most

[00:36] expensive breakdown

[00:37] ever.

[00:39] Ever.

[00:40] Yep.

[00:46] Yeah we're

[00:48] We're at the last moments of its life,

[00:49] aren't we?

[00:54] Hasn't been rebuilt in probably 50

[00:57] years.

[00:59] No.

[01:10] All right, let's get hooked up.

[01:12] >> I like that.

[01:13] >> Yeah, that's clean.

[01:17] >> It's cute.

[01:18] >> Oh.

[01:20] Oh no.

[01:38] >> I put the brake on.

[01:40] >> Okay.

[01:43] Well, as far as breakdowns go, it

[01:45] doesn't get much worse than your 300SL

[01:47] Gullwing, but also I'm incredibly

[01:50] incredibly lucky because I didn't want

[01:52] to be on the side of the highway with my

[01:53] 6-year-old kid something happened or

[01:55] whatever, so I limped it at idle to the

[01:57] next exit. I called my tow truck driver,

[02:00] Dennis. "Where are you?" He happened to

[02:02] be at that exit, at that gas station,

[02:05] and at that moment to where we could

[02:06] immediately load up the car. Where I was

[02:08] going was about an hour away from my

[02:10] house, but directly in between is

[02:12] Newton, Kansas, and the Car Wizard shop,

[02:14] and that happens to be where I broke

[02:16] down. Now, Wizard isn't happy about

[02:18] having a really expensive car in his

[02:19] shop because of insurance stuff and

[02:20] things. He's okay with it being there

[02:22] for a couple of days and taking a look

[02:23] at it with me, but as far as any serious

[02:24] work goes, nah, he doesn't want to do

[02:26] it. So, but it's kind of funny. The

[02:28] Dakota was also there, another lucky

[02:30] thing, so I was able to drive the Dakota

[02:32] home in a sort of a full circle moment

[02:34] cuz when I was 16 years old, my dad got

[02:36] a Dodge Dakota cuz he wanted a truck

[02:37] around, but also something for me to

[02:39] drive to high school other than the

[02:40] Mercedes 500 SL because it was so

[02:42] unreliable at the time, my real first

[02:45] car. And I saw a Gullwing for the very

[02:48] first time when I was 16 at

[02:50] Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction,

[02:52] and I thought that was my ultimate dream

[02:54] car. So, here we are almost 25 years

[02:56] later, and I have a 300 SL Gullwing. In

[02:58] the same year, I married April Rose, and

[03:00] I got a 300 SL Gullwing. What a crazy

[03:02] year, but obviously, my Gullwing

[03:04] ownership has been very, very

[03:06] challenging. After it got revived at the

[03:08] Mercedes Classic Center, it needed a lot

[03:10] of work, a lot of work. The fuel system

[03:11] needed gone through, the fuel tank

[03:13] nasty, the cooling system, the brakes,

[03:16] so many things, but it all got fixed in

[03:17] time to go on a beautiful rally through

[03:19] Colorado and Utah, over a thousand

[03:21] miles, and I had minor problems, just

[03:23] little things that I needed to fix, but

[03:25] the dumb part was I left the handbrake

[03:27] on and overheated my brand new brake

[03:29] drums, which were very expensive.

[03:31] They're $30,000 for a whole set. I

[03:33] burned up two of them, so that was a

[03:34] very expensive mistake. And then when I

[03:36] got it home to Kansas, I made another

[03:38] huge mistake by putting it in my living

[03:40] room for Christmas and then trying to

[03:42] push it out rather than drive it out

[03:44] with the door open. The door hit my

[03:46] house and almost ripped the door off,

[03:47] just just mangled the door, and that had

[03:50] to get fixed. So, two bad experiences

[03:53] with the car, both of them my fault,

[03:55] both of them negligence, both of them

[03:57] very expensive. This one is going to be

[04:00] way, way, way more expensive to go

[04:02] through with a 300SL Gullwing engine,

[04:04] whatever's gone wrong with the bottom

[04:05] end. Unfortunately, I was just driving

[04:07] down the road, too. I wasn't doing

[04:09] anything goofy. I didn't downshift or

[04:11] money shift or do anything stupid.

[04:12] Didn't run out of oil. I was just

[04:14] driving down the road, wanted to pass

[04:16] somebody, floored it.

[04:18] It didn't downshift cuz it's a manual

[04:20] transmission. And for some reason,

[04:22] something popped. It felt like a fuel

[04:24] system delivery problem, but it was

[04:26] actually something just actively

[04:28] bucking. Then I heard a noise, lifted,

[04:30] and knew the engine was wounded. So,

[04:33] nothing there was my fault. We were 30

[04:36] or 40 mi in. The engine was fully warmed

[04:38] up. The oil temperatures, everything up

[04:39] to temperature. Everything fine. Oil in

[04:42] the engine. There's nothing negligent on

[04:44] my part with what happened at all.

[04:47] Nothing. The classic car dealer did tell

[04:48] me that the engine was sort of on

[04:50] borrowed time. Maybe the compression was

[04:52] borderline. The oil pressure

[04:54] is okay. You might have a few years

[04:55] before you need to rebuild it. And

[04:56] obviously, well, that came

[04:58] That came a lot quicker than I thought.

[05:00] So, yeah, here we are. The problem is

[05:01] rebuilding Gullwing engines are are very

[05:02] expensive. The parts are very scarce.

[05:04] So, the people that make them, a lot of

[05:05] money. So, uh you've heard of a $100,000

[05:08] Gullwing engine rebuilds. I don't think

[05:09] it'll be that bad for me because a lot

[05:11] of the parts are new and I didn't

[05:12] completely shred the engine, put a hole

[05:14] in the block, you know, ruin everything.

[05:16] But still, this is a very, very, very

[05:18] spicy proposition here. But I really

[05:20] don't know how bad the engine is because

[05:21] it broke on a weekend, on a Saturday.

[05:24] The car wizard wasn't open. Daniel So

[05:25] was kind enough to meet me and let me

[05:27] into the shop to park it there. So, I

[05:29] had to wait a couple of days, a couple

[05:30] of agonizing days until the car wizard

[05:32] opened back up and we could see, well,

[05:35] what happened. So, 6 months of glorious

[05:38] Gullwing ownership and about 3,000 mi

[05:40] cuz of that rally, also the California

[05:42] trip to visit at Jay Leno and Doug

[05:44] DeMuro. And as you can see, this puddle

[05:47] I I knew it was coming. This summer I

[05:49] had planned to take the engine out,

[05:51] reseal the transmission, fix this rear

[05:52] main leak, and I would have been so mad

[05:54] if I did it and then the engine blew

[05:56] when I was doing it all over again. So,

[05:58] I thought I should clean up this spot

[06:00] where the going was marking his

[06:01] territory for months since it's not

[06:02] going to be back here for a while. And

[06:05] to do that, it's still really greasy.

[06:07] I'm going to use Release Clean, the

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[06:11] nice clean pass here on the floors.

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[06:23] I just had it at the car wash and you

[06:25] really couldn't tell by the wheels

[06:27] because they are super grimy. The car

[06:29] washes they don't get anything,

[06:30] especially built-up gunk on wheels

[06:32] that's been there for months cuz this

[06:33] thing been sitting at the Car Wizards.

[06:35] And also, I probably hadn't cleaned it a

[06:36] couple months before that, but

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[06:44] that nasty baked-on brake dust and grime

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[07:56] have to head up to the car wizards to

[07:57] find out what happened and I wish it was

[07:59] as easy to fix this

[08:00] as that.

[08:02] Oh, wizards really rubbing it in now.

[08:05] Funeral parking and you're

[08:07] >> I'm saying my final prayers, final rites

[08:09] for this thing.

[08:10] >> It's It's not good, wizard. Have you

[08:12] started it yet?

[08:13] >> I haven't started it.

[08:14] >> Yeah, it's it doesn't sound very good

[08:16] and I definitely I mean I finally got

[08:18] caught. That's why I decided that after

[08:20] all the cars were, you know, like the

[08:21] Countach, the Bugatti and all this. I

[08:23] haven't had to do any big jobs on a

[08:25] high-end car like this. So

[08:28] if it's going to be the one, it's going

[08:29] to be the gullwing, you know? So I mean

[08:30] the Lotus, the transmission being bad,

[08:32] that's not as big of a deal as

[08:34] as this, obviously. So you want to hear

[08:36] it?

[08:36] >> Sure.

[08:37] >> Maybe I Maybe it's not a bottom end

[08:41] Maybe.

[08:44] Maybe the classic center did say that

[08:47] the rocker arm could have gone loose,

[08:48] you know? So

[08:50] but based on how it's acting, let's see.

[08:53] Do I have oil pressure here?

[09:04] Oil pressure's coming up.

[09:09] A little more tappier than usual.

[09:18] What are you

[09:19] What are you

[09:21] What's

[09:25] You don't need to hear any more?

[09:28] What What do you think?

[09:30] >> I think it sounds like a connecting rod.

[09:32] >> So I spun a bearing.

[09:34] Here at least. Jeez.

[09:37] >> Okay.

[09:37] >> could take off, we could take a peek,

[09:39] and then we can drain a little bit of

[09:41] oil. I'll let you do that.

[09:42] >> Right, but the stupid sport cam I just

[09:45] put in this was so expensive. That's the

[09:48] thing.

[09:50] >> And yeah, I mean, it's possible this

[09:52] could be the cam, but it just sounds so

[09:54] much to me like bottom end, lower end.

[09:56] >> What I'm worried about is if that

[09:58] crapped out, shot metal everywhere, and

[10:00] then killed my whole new top end,

[10:02] basically. Because if I Well, I have to

[10:04] do the bottom end, the compression was a

[10:06] little questionable on this engine. I

[10:08] knew I was sort of, you know, maybe I

[10:10] had a year or two left. It turned out

[10:12] about 6 months and 3 or 4,000 mi. I

[10:14] didn't drive this thing a lot.

[10:16] >> Yeah.

[10:16] >> Um so, I don't feel that bad. And I was

[10:19] going to have the engine taken out and

[10:20] resealed. So, imagine if I went to all

[10:22] that trouble, had the transmission

[10:23] resealed, the engine resealed, the rear

[10:24] main is just dumping out of this thing.

[10:27] And then the engine blew. It would have

[10:28] been so much more frustrating than, you

[10:30] know, now I'm just dealing with all of

[10:31] it.

[10:32] >> Sometimes catastrophe is actually a

[10:34] blessing.

[10:35] >> Well, it's a Well,

[10:36] >> in a way. Kind You kind of have to just

[10:38] look at the positive bright side.

[10:40] >> You don't rebuild engines on these, but

[10:42] >> No.

[10:42] >> the low end is 50,000. The high end is

[10:45] 100,000 to rebuild these engines.

[10:46] >> 100 grand?

[10:48] >> Yes. Yes. And the other thing is, I

[10:50] checked the oil afterwards cuz I was

[10:52] like, if it was me running this thing

[10:53] out of oil because of the rear main or

[10:54] something like that and my negligence, I

[10:56] was going to be so angry, but it has

[10:59] plenty of oil in it.

[11:00] >> Yeah, it has plenty of oil.

[11:01] >> I topped it off

[11:03] I don't know, 100, 200 mi ago. And it's

[11:05] a giant dry sump, so I knew I wasn't,

[11:07] you know, using

[11:08] >> Mhm.

[11:08] >> 8 qt of oil in 200 mi, so

[11:11] >> [sighs]

[11:12] [groaning]

[11:13] >> Jeez. Okay. But, this would be great.

[11:15] And I know it's really easy to take

[11:16] these off cuz this it's just twisty

[11:18] screws

[11:19] here and a few little things to see if

[11:21] my

[11:22] my fancy hot cam is still okay, and if

[11:24] there's, you know, anything going on up

[11:25] there.

[11:26] >> Let me get a fender cover, and then

[11:27] we'll take a look.

[11:29] >> I think this is from my '66 427

[11:31] Corvette.

[11:32] >> Yes.

[11:32] >> It was in the back of it.

[11:33] >> Mhm.

[11:34] >> And that motor blew as well.

[11:35] >> It did.

[11:36] >> That was

[11:37] >> So, kind of just carry on the tradition

[11:39] here engines blowing

[11:40] >> Yes.

[11:42] >> Let me see if I can just take this

[11:44] loose.

[11:44] >> If it'll fold over.

[11:46] >> over just enough to take a peek. If not,

[11:48] then I'll have to take this off.

[11:50] There's that one.

[11:54] There's that one.

[11:58] And that one.

[12:04] So, it looks like I will have to remove

[12:07] this.

[12:08] >> At least the spark plug wires.

[12:09] >> Mhm.

[12:10] >> Okay. The wizard hasn't seen this car

[12:12] yet.

[12:12] >> Nope.

[12:14] >> He is a

[12:16] not wanting multi-million dollar cars in

[12:18] his shop.

[12:19] >> No, especially when I'm getting ready to

[12:20] move and

[12:21] last thing I need is a oops and it fall

[12:23] off the lift or God knows what.

[12:25] >> Right. So, yeah, we talked about this

[12:27] earlier. He doesn't want it up on the

[12:28] lift in case it falls off cuz it's above

[12:29] his insurance limits. So,

[12:31] um that's why I'm going to do it on the

[12:33] ground here just to see what the

[12:35] oil filter screen looks like.

[12:38] But, at least we can see something

[12:44] up here.

[12:48] >> Let me see if I can clear it.

[12:50] I think that'll be about as good enough.

[12:51] We can take a peek through the

[12:53] through the You can look through the

[12:54] other side.

[12:55] >> Sure.

[13:02] >> Looks like normal wear in.

[13:04] I don't I don't feel anything on the

[13:06] lobes.

[13:07] >> That's a brand new cam. So,

[13:09] >> there's no push rods or anything. It's

[13:11] just like a rocker arm with

[13:13] >> Right. He said make sure to check to see

[13:15] if the rocker arms were any of them were

[13:16] loose.

[13:18] >> I don't I don't know what they're

[13:19] supposed to be.

[13:21] I mean, that's very little movement up

[13:23] and down, but it sure does have a lot of

[13:25] side-to-side, which is probably normal

[13:26] for these. I would say.

[13:29] >> Okay.

[13:31] But if it were the one making the noise,

[13:32] it'd be up and down movement. Obviously,

[13:35] >> [clears throat]

[13:35] >> sounds more like bottom end, huh?

[13:37] >> Yeah.

[13:43] I don't see any damage up here. I don't

[13:45] see anything broken

[13:46] or scored or tore up.

[13:49] >> Okay.

[13:50] And I don't see any sparkly bits in

[13:53] here either huh?

[13:54] >> Not in here. Hopefully the screen caught

[13:55] all that.

[13:57] >> Yeah, cuz I I didn't drive I mean I

[13:59] noticed it immediately. It felt like

[14:02] fuel delivery problems again, which I

[14:04] just had that all sorted out cuz I was

[14:06] going pretty fast like just doing a pull

[14:09] up to

[14:09] 90 or so. And it felt like that and then

[14:13] I heard the noise and I saw the oil

[14:15] pressure drop. And when I lifted it, it

[14:17] it just immediately shut off.

[14:19] >> Isn't it interesting that this is like

[14:21] 1970s, '80s technology back in 1955?

[14:24] >> Isn't it wild?

[14:25] >> Yeah, I mean not in 1955, Americans

[14:28] would I mean this wasn't even on their

[14:29] mind. It wasn't even didn't even exist.

[14:32] >> As far as a cam and a timing chain and

[14:33] all that stuff. It was all push rods or

[14:35] you know, still flatheads in some cases

[14:37] in in the '50s.

[14:39] It is a technological marvel, for sure.

[14:42] >> It really is.

[14:43] >> And the fact that they had to mount it,

[14:45] you know, at this angle for it to fit in

[14:47] the car since they wanted to keep it,

[14:49] you know, sort of low with the hood line

[14:51] and all that stuff. So, it's at a 45°

[14:52] angle.

[14:54] It's It's really cool.

[14:57] And you know,

[15:00] they say you don't want to meet your

[15:01] heroes and obviously this has been a

[15:03] challenging ownership experience with my

[15:05] ultimate dream car, but

[15:07] you know, I I I don't feel as bad about

[15:10] this one. Like I don't feel

[15:12] like when I ripped the door off, that

[15:13] was really stupid or the handbrake I

[15:14] felt really stupid doing that leaving it

[15:16] on and and just smoking my drums, but

[15:19] with this one, it's not my fault. I

[15:20] didn't do anything. I didn't money shift

[15:22] it. I didn't run it out of oil. It just

[15:24] decided it was time, you know.

[15:26] >> They definitely can't say it's the

[15:27] wizard's fault cuz I physically never

[15:28] even seen this car before.

[15:30] >> No. No, unfortunately. Yeah.

[15:32] >> Unfortunately.

[15:35] >> Yes, cuz then you could fix it.

[15:37] >> Oh.

[15:38] >> [laughter]

[15:39] >> I say that, but everybody wants to blame

[15:40] somebody or something. You know, it's

[15:42] just

[15:43] >> That's the society we live in anymore.

[15:45] It's always somebody else's fault.

[15:47] >> Just stuff happens. But, I'll be giving

[15:50] updates on the Lotus soon because

[15:53] progress is being made there. And we've

[15:55] had the 454 and the '76 Eldo inspected

[15:58] and work starting, but that's in a video

[16:00] in the near future. This is obviously

[16:01] getting jumped to the front of the line

[16:02] because

[16:04] it just happened.

[16:05] And I I need to talk about it. This is

[16:07] sort of my therapy here.

[16:09] All right, back together.

[16:10] >> So, you were taking this to a car show

[16:12] and until the halfway point when this

[16:15] happened, it was quiet, it was happy

[16:16] engine, running fine.

[16:18] >> Yeah. Well, yes. I mean, it was always

[16:20] kind of a borderline engine when they

[16:22] did the compression tests early on. And

[16:24] maybe the oil pressure was a little bit

[16:26] lower than what other people were saying

[16:27] they're supposed to be. So, that's why I

[16:28] thought it was tired, but

[16:30] there was somebody that was behind me.

[16:32] So, I was passing and then somebody

[16:34] decided, "Oh, this old car's trying to

[16:35] pass somebody. I'm going to get on their

[16:36] butt and just you know, tell them that

[16:38] they're impeding me." So, I decided to

[16:40] just hammer it. I didn't downshift. I

[16:42] just was in fourth, final gear, and just

[16:44] put my foot down. I was just going to

[16:46] show them how this is the world's first

[16:47] supercar and it's faster than your

[16:48] little Volkswagen Jetta.

[16:50] >> Mhm.

[16:50] >> And once it just it just felt like it

[16:53] hit a wall. It felt like a

[16:54] where it something happened.

[16:56] And I thought it was fuel, so I clicked

[16:58] on my fuel

[16:59] pump to help it. Just pop that on. And

[17:02] then when I looked at the gauges, I saw

[17:04] the oil pressure gauge

[17:07] when I was at full throttle at you know,

[17:09] it was 15 psi at 80, 90 mph, which is

[17:14] I mean, about half of what it was

[17:16] before.

[17:16] >> Mhm.

[17:17] >> And then when I lifted it, it went to

[17:18] zero and just

[17:19] >> So, that definitely So, anything that

[17:21] would happen with your cam

[17:23] or [clears throat] or the the rocker

[17:24] arms or things that could make noise,

[17:26] but very likely you wouldn't lose all

[17:28] your oil pressure. And the fact that you

[17:29] felt like you hit a wall, that's very

[17:31] common when the bearing starts to seize

[17:33] up. It takes I mean, it tries to push

[17:35] through that messed up bearing.

[17:37] >> Mhm.

[17:37] >> You felt that hit a wall, then you saw

[17:40] your oil pressure drop. Those are all

[17:42] very strong telltale signs of bottom

[17:44] end.

[17:44] >> Yeah, that's

[17:46] unfortunate. And when I started it up

[17:47] cold just with you right now, it was

[17:49] very low for a cold start engine. It's

[17:51] showing, you know, 15 psi, but it should

[17:53] be triple that when it's a cold start.

[17:54] So,

[17:55] >> My guess is one of the main bearings or

[17:57] more has completely just shelled out.

[18:00] So, your oil pressure is no longer

[18:02] sealed at that It just dumps at that

[18:04] point. It can't build up pressure to get

[18:06] to the rest of the engine.

[18:07] >> Okay. But,

[18:09] I didn't drive it long enough to smoke

[18:11] anything on the top end, so

[18:13] good news there. That makes the rebuild

[18:16] not not as I mean, it's still going to

[18:17] be unbelievable, but let's see Let's see

[18:20] what's in this screen. All right. I'm

[18:22] going to do some wrenching on my my

[18:24] gullwing.

[18:25] >> Did any of those fit properly?

[18:26] >> Yeah, I got it. I'm off.

[18:27] >> Okay, good.

[18:29] >> Now, Daniel looks terrified. Daniel,

[18:31] just don't It's okay. It's a front from

[18:34] the 1950s. It's It's It's easy.

[18:35] >> Don't tease me.

[18:36] >> It's easy.

[18:37] >> Mhm. Yeah.

[18:38] >> Wrenching on my 300SL gullwing.

[18:41] It's not like I can do any more harm to

[18:43] it, I suppose. So, famous last words,

[18:45] right?

[18:46] Good.

[18:47] >> [laughter]

[18:50] [groaning]

[18:56] >> Oh, yeah.

[18:57] >> Oh.

[18:58] >> Oh, yeah. There's all kinds of metal all

[19:00] in it. Look at that.

[19:03] >> Yep.

[19:04] >> It's like someone dumped glitter in

[19:05] here. Tons of metal.

[19:07] Yep, that's the bottom end.

[19:10] Oof.

[19:13] That was the bad news you were not

[19:15] wanting to see, huh?

[19:16] >> I mean, we knew.

[19:18] >> Yeah, we kind of knew.

[19:19] >> This just totally confirms

[19:22] that there is

[19:24] a bunch of little bits of the engine

[19:25] right there in this screen, which

[19:27] >> Yeah, it looks like glitter like spray

[19:29] paint. See it glitter? Like glittery?

[19:30] >> Yep.

[19:32] So, this is cleaned every single time

[19:33] rather than reused rather than here

[19:35] replacing the filter on a Gullwing.

[19:36] >> Mhm.

[19:37] >> It still does the job clearly cuz it

[19:39] stopped all this from going all over the

[19:41] engine and

[19:42] causing more damage, I guess, right?

[19:44] >> Very good. I'm glad it did. Yeah, we

[19:45] don't need that all over the cam and

[19:47] everything.

[19:48] >> All right. So, I did not as far as

[19:51] damage goes

[19:53] nothing I did here was stupid.

[19:55] >> No, this wasn't caused by any person. I

[19:58] think this was just time. Age caught up

[20:00] with the car.

[20:00] >> Mhm.

[20:02] So, now I need to figure out

[20:04] who's rebuilding it what's next cuz

[20:07] the Classic Center, you know, they do a

[20:08] lot of work. They did the top end work

[20:09] last but they don't do machining, bottom

[20:11] end rebuilding, and all that stuff. So,

[20:13] >> Oh.

[20:13] >> I have to find a shop. There's still a

[20:16] few left, you know, in the US and you

[20:18] know, of course, some in Europe and

[20:20] Canada and stuff

[20:21] that do these, but it's getting less and

[20:23] less by the day as far as shops that

[20:25] know what they're doing on classic

[20:27] engines

[20:27] >> Mhm.

[20:28] >> or any engines of that of that matter.

[20:29] Like, we have one machinist left in

[20:31] Wichita that we trust, right?

[20:32] >> Yeah, I don't think he would touch this

[20:34] with a 10-ft pole.

[20:34] >> no, no, no, no, but I mean, as far as

[20:36] just

[20:37] >> less and less machinist out there, yeah.

[20:39] >> And that was Wizard in the past life.

[20:40] You worked in a machine shop, right?

[20:41] >> Not in automotive one. It was aircraft,

[20:43] yeah.

[20:44] >> Right. Mhm. So, you know what it takes

[20:46] and

[20:46] >> Yeah.

[20:47] >> [sighs]

[20:48] >> Woo.

[20:49] That's

[20:51] that that

[20:51] >> It looks like about 50 grand.

[20:54] >> Thank you for reminding me.

[20:55] >> [laughter]

[20:56] >> I'll find out here shortly.

[20:57] >> Yeah.

[21:02] >> Getting my first car off the lift in

[21:04] months and making sure it starts and

[21:05] runs okay. My 1985 Mercedes 500SL It

[21:08] seemed like an appropriate way to end

[21:10] this video because this is where the

[21:11] madness started back basically when I

[21:13] was born and was obsessed with this car

[21:15] basically since I was in diapers and

[21:18] that just grew and grew as far as my

[21:20] love for Mercedes until I saw a Gullwing

[21:22] for the first time. Now, if this

[21:23] happened to me, you know, 3 or 4 months

[21:25] ago, I'd probably be all doom and gloom,

[21:28] all woe is me and two things have

[21:31] dramatically changed. The first thing

[21:32] was getting myself fixed

[21:33] pharmaceutically because I had labs done

[21:35] and it showed that I had very low

[21:37] testosterone. 260 was the level or

[21:39] whatever and it was definitely on the

[21:40] low end for my age at 39 years old and

[21:43] that can cause brain fog which I had and

[21:45] this whole woe is me, doom and gloom,

[21:47] everything was terrible scenario that

[21:49] reflected in the videos. You all saw it.

[21:51] I had everything. Everything was fine,

[21:53] but I was still complaining about taxes,

[21:55] complaining about home renovations,

[21:56] complaining about money spiraling out of

[21:58] control when

[21:59] it's it's stupid. It's all relative and

[22:01] obviously it was all solvable problems

[22:03] that I didn't need to complain about

[22:04] endlessly on YouTube. But the other part

[22:06] of that is you all saying in the

[22:07] comments, "Why are you complaining about

[22:09] all this?" I feel like people in the

[22:10] public eye have had an issue with this

[22:11] before YouTube. If they're not

[22:13] YouTubers, they don't know how stupid or

[22:15] how much they're ostracizing themselves

[22:17] from their audience by talking about

[22:19] things because they don't have a comment

[22:20] section that instantly tells them how

[22:22] stupid they're being. And thankfully,

[22:24] you all exist. You watch my videos. You

[22:25] stuck around for the long haul 10 years

[22:28] now and you're telling me, you know,

[22:30] "Hey, you're married to a supermodel.

[22:31] You got a Gullwing. You have amazing

[22:32] garage. What are you complaining about?"

[22:35] And you are absolutely 1,000%

[22:38] right. It also helps that I don't have

[22:40] the tax issues that I had in previous

[22:42] years, but now

[22:43] well, like I did in previous years, I

[22:45] need to sell a bunch of hoopdies to pay

[22:46] for now Gullwing repairs and also

[22:49] there's not much room here since I went

[22:50] on that hoopdy buying binge before this

[22:52] and got five cars. So, I guess it'll be

[22:54] a video soon of what I am selling off. I

[22:56] think I counted about eight that I'm

[22:58] going to do and then, you know, life

[23:00] goes on. Maybe the Gullwing will have to

[23:02] sit in the garage inoperable for a

[23:03] couple of months while I gather up some

[23:05] money and also research alternatives

[23:08] because there are a few places like

[23:09] Cameron DC Motorworks, Ed's wizard if

[23:12] you will, that is wanting to take on the

[23:13] Gullwing. He is a Mercedes expert. He

[23:15] has the shop manual sent it over to me

[23:17] for the Gullwing. He's been able to find

[23:19] all the parts as far as the piston

[23:21] rings, you know, all the stuff that you

[23:22] would need for an internal rebuild of an

[23:23] engine. So, it seems doable. The reason

[23:27] why it's so expensive with the Classic

[23:29] Center, they didn't give me a official

[23:29] quote or anything, but they outsource

[23:31] the rebuilding of the engines to an

[23:33] outfit that does like Singers and

[23:35] high-end crazy crazy builds and their

[23:37] prices well, definitely to match. And

[23:40] what few shops are still known for

[23:41] rebuilding Gullwing engines, they know

[23:43] they can charge pretty much whatever

[23:44] they want, but it's still at its

[23:46] principle a pretty simple engine outside

[23:49] of the crazy fuel system stuff, which is

[23:50] already dialed in, so I don't have to

[23:52] worry about any of that stuff. It's just

[23:54] basically bottom end. As long as I

[23:55] didn't mess up the cam bearings or

[23:56] something like that, but those are also

[23:58] still getable. So, it is a solvable

[23:59] problem. Don't get me wrong, it is

[24:01] definitely a bad week to have your

[24:02] Gullwing engine fail, but when you put

[24:04] it in perspective, I'm I'm done

[24:07] complaining and I'm so sorry that I

[24:08] complained in the past over, you know,

[24:10] things like that that, you know, really

[24:11] didn't matter or problems that I could

[24:13] definitely solve like it was the end of

[24:15] the world. It just made no sense. But

[24:17] one other thing I have to do is get this

[24:19] car usable again for something other

[24:21] than just trips around the block. Get

[24:23] these 17-year-old tires off of there,

[24:25] service this thing up, get it working

[24:26] again to where I actually start using

[24:28] it. I quit driving it after my

[24:30] grandmother died 6 years ago. She got

[24:31] this car brand new, gave it to me when I

[24:33] was a teenager, and so there's a big

[24:35] sentimental attachment to it, but also a

[24:37] bit of sadness that came with driving

[24:38] this thing because she had passed away.

[24:40] We had so many moments driving this car

[24:41] together and everything else. So, I

[24:43] think I'm past that point now where I

[24:45] don't have to mourn her every time I

[24:47] drive it like in a sad way, and I can

[24:49] remember it in a happy way, be nostalgic

[24:51] about it. And yeah, the Gullwing needs

[24:53] to get fixed, but this needs to be

[24:55] something that is a priority as well. It

[24:57] starts every single time. It doesn't

[24:59] complain about its years of storage and

[25:01] I need to reward it with some changes

[25:03] and sort of like my Nissan GT-R, I kind

[25:05] of need to unpimp it as well. These

[25:07] period AMG wheels, they're certainly

[25:08] cool, but I think it needs to go back to

[25:09] the bundt. The AMG lip back to stock and

[25:12] just make this thing look like the

[25:13] classy elegant car that it showed up as

[25:16] in 1985 and not some hot boy racer which

[25:19] I'm I'm quite past that point at least

[25:21] in my age now. Any who, I hope your rod

[25:23] bearings stay in one piece and thank you

[25:25] so much for watching.

[25:29] >> [music]

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