Of course they're like children, I have a hard time picking one but it's this 1979 Mercedes-Benz 300SD. I've owned it twice going back 13 years and I love it. I love looking at it, working on it, driving it, everything. The W116 chassis, (1973-80), was exceptionally overbuilt even compared to the other sturdy cars they produced in those days. I'm not sure what the business model was for selling a car that potentially never wears out?
I could write a novel about this car and my experience owning it, (twice), but the short version is that I bought it sight unseen in NorCal back in 2012 from a craigslist ad. I like the colors and it was cheap. I had some fly-by-night dude from Uship with a car trailer bring it down and it's been a love affair ever since. I made the mistake of selling it once in about 2017 but got it back in 2022. I have no idea what the actual mileage on it is because the odometer was broken for an unknown period of time but it's a lot. Maybe 300k+. I've done a lot of maintenance on it and continue to, which is why it's on my mind at the moment.
Here is how it looked back when I first owned it:
And here is yesterday, getting some surgery. The rear axle boots completely dried out and tore during my non-ownership when the car was in Joshua Tree, which is hot desert.
I lucked out and scored some good used ones at the junkyard recently, so they will be replaced as well as the center driveshaft bearing, (a very MB thing). I'm going to clean out the differential carrier and install new oil as well as do brakes all around including new fluid and service the A/C, chase down any oil leaks, etc. Normal old car stuff. I had to remove the diff cover to release axle clips and was surprised at how dirty it was, I've changed the oil when I owned it but maybe it went a long time with old stuff at some point. Fired up the parts washer:
