Removing the bumper guards

Long ago, a friend of mine was visiting from Switzerland, who is also an MB fanatic. He noted that the bumper guards were not included originally, and added for North American spec cars. That meant that I could take them off without altering my "collector" status. Here's a couple from the early days with the bumper guards (and whitewalls):

Additionally, some of the rubber trim was deteriorating to the point where it was ready to fall off, so I got out the ratchet and took them off.

I like the cleaner, original look. I used some stainless steel carriage bolts to fill the holes left behind. I polished the crap out of them, so they are pretty shiny. I had planned on getting some chrome ones on eBay, but haven't got around to it, as they look pretty good as is.

Paintless dent repair

Lately, we've been taking the roadster down to Point Roberts on the weekends. You park on the lawn, and also enjoy afternoon refreshments on the deck a few steps away. So inevitably, I would spend hours looking at the imperfections in the paint on my car.

Hard to see from this pic, but the driver's door had 3-4 small door dings, and one very noticeable one, under the door handle.

 You can certainly see the big one on this photo, but you'd need to be in person to see the other ones.

The passenger side was less obvious, but you can see one high up above the crease in the door. There were a few smaller ones, and one up on the front fender.

I went to a local shop called Dent King, and I am thrilled with the outcome! The technician uses long steel rods and goes in through the drain holes in the door to work out the door dings from the inside.

I wish I had done this 15 years ago. Here's some pics from this past weekend.

Repairing driver's seat position adjustment

Here's one from long ago. I remember I'd hop into the car, and sometimes when I would accelerate quickly (ok, as quickly as a 40-year old car can), my seat would suddenly jump back to the furthest position on the rails! Not great for me, as it would make the clutch and brake a stretch to reach. So I removed the seat, and here's what I found:

Teeth have worn through the square slots for adjustment

I don't have a clue how the original owner could have worn right through the square slots... maybe the kids would get in and slide the seat back and forth? Anyhow, I removed the adjustment lever, then took it to a local welding shop and had them fill the spaces in again.

The parcel shelf doggy protector

Long ago, I used to take my buddy's dog for rides in the roadster with a blue fleece blanket laid down on the parcel shelf to protect from sand, dirt and fur.

Fast forward another 1/2 dozen years, and now I've got two dogs of my own. Trust me when I say that both cannot fit in the SL comfortably. But unfortunately, we're down to only one now, so I thought I would make something a little more aesthetically pleasing than a blue blanket.

I found some outdoor cotton canvas that I thought would wear pretty well, and traced out a pattern from the wooden parcel inserts.

The cardboard pattern

Base panel

Sewn together with back panel and rare earth magnets

The protector stays in place by folding over the tonneau cover opening and a dozen rare earth magnets affix it to the metal. The original owner had drilled holes in a few places for seatbelts to hold his infant children (whom I have met) in place. I re-used one hole to mount an eye-bolt which tethers my dog in place.

What I found out after, is that the surface is too smooth to hold her in place on corners and during braking. So I have since cut a piece of entryway carpeted mat to fit. Not as nice to look at, but makes sure that the original carpeting stays in good shape.

Vinyl repair - driver's footwell area

There's a patch of vinyl down by the driver's footwell on the side of the transmission hump. It had a couple of spots that had long since cracked and broken off. It was designed to keep the driver's shoe from wearing down the carpeting, but since mine had exposed vinyl edges, my foot would catch on it.

I had bought some vinyl repair for two tiny tears in the seat. The kit allows you to mix pretty much any colour you can think of. So I thought that I might as well tackle this repair as well.

State of the vinyl area when I acquired the car 15+ years ago

With backing material for the vinyl patch

With vinyl patch applied

While not pretty to look at up close, most would never see it, but now there's no challenge with my foot getting caught on the exposed vinyl edges.

Bluetooth sound!

A few years after I purchased the car, MP3 players were starting to become mainstream, and because this car has "collector" status, I'm not allowed to install a new stereo system. It would have to be a Becker, and look essentially authentic. I did most of this work 12 years ago, but just added bluetooth last summer.

To get sound without installing a real stereo, I put a 2-channel amp under the driver's seat. You probably can't see the detail, but there's a 12V socket assembly on the side, and then a bluetooth receiver that is stuck to the side of the centre console.

The speakers are not permanently mounted, as I used an existing screw hole on the passenger side to affix the right speaker, and then made a bracket for the left one that simply slides overtop of the vinyl panel and tucks snugly out of the way.

I also put a small, powered subwoofer under the parcel deck. Yes, I did drill some holes in the plywood, but of course, the carpet covers it back up.

New rubber for the clutch and brake pedals

Both the clutch and brake pedal rubber covers were pretty worn (sorry, no previous pics), but they were so thin, that you could see the metal pedal poking through on the clutch. So $12 later, and I had a new set. Not so easy to put on, as they are an exceptionally snug fit - which I suppose is a good thing. I put them in a bowl of very hot water first, so hot that the rubber was hard to handle. But it allowed them to flex enough to get on. Some expletives and skinned fingers/thumbs later, and they are both on.