New(ish) member based on Somerset/Devon Border

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Somerset Jim
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Joined: 13.04.2020
Location: Somerset
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Hi all

I joined earlier in the year and then we came out of lockdown and I completely forgot to put anything on here  

I first bought a 300GES 3 years ago and loved it. I took it off road on a few occasions in Devon with friends and some organised charity events which were great fun.

The 300 GES left us in Jan 2019 and I don't often have regrets but the biggest one to date is letting that car go. The children both loved it and even my other half was even warming to it. So at this point I said to myself that I would keep an eye out for a 500 from the late 90's since this gave the best reliability while also having some mod cons as well as some poke to keep me amused.
 

Having kept an eye out I had pretty much given up on a decent one coming up for sale in RHD without massive miles and then while on Facebook one evening an amazing car came up for sale. It was a one owner from new, garaged all its life and with only 73k miles from new with full history. I spoke to the seller who was a conduit for the owner in a round about way and having been sent multiple photos during lockdown I bit the bullet and bought the car and had it transported back to my house in April of this year. It was so hard not to take the car out but instead of driving it I treated the very minor surface rust on the chassis and then set about under sealing the whole of the underneath. Once this was completed then I shampooed the interior, which incidentally had been changed to material from leather as per the original owners request, and then cleaned the exterior of the car. The results were amazing and I'm certain that I shall not be letting this one go!

After a couple more weeks I was speaking to a chap about boat transport (boating being another vice) and it turned out that this chap had a g wagen and he was getting rid of his old alloys which I duly bought. He kindly dropped them off at my house on his way to a job and we had a natter for some time mostly about g wagens and boating experiences. 
 

I'm now on the look out for another early W463 that can be used more often without worrying about piling on the miles to the 500. Ideally a 300 GEL or GES as before, so hopefully something in decent nick will present itself sometime soon.

if anyone is in the south west and fancies meeting up then get in touch

Jdring
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Joined: 12.04.2004
Location: South of Oxford, UK. 87' 230GE SWB Manual, 89' 230GE SWB Auto, 2012 G350Bluetec LWB
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Re: New(ish) member based on Somerset/Devon Boarder

I need more power, jim, she canna take it...

So you got the 500.  Sounds like a keeper. I'll let you know when down your way.

 

Somerset Jim
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Re: New(ish) member based on Somerset/Devon Boarder

Would be great to meet any other fellow G enthusiasts. 

Here are a few of the current 500 too. It's a different beast to the 300 but I do still miss the 300 for its character and being a SWB it was very handy off-road!

markhowes
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Re: New(ish) member based on Somerset/Devon Boarder

Lovely colour - and oh so shiny!

 

Nick123
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Re: New(ish) member based on Somerset/Devon Boarder
Great to see you enjoying them!
prwales
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Re: New(ish) member based on Somerset/Devon Boarder

Agree about the colour its fabulous, only question I'd put out is about the electrics on the late 90's - early noughties cars, don't they all come with a question mark from the ill fated Chrysler merger, poor quality & dubious relability. Whereas the older cars are built from granite. 

Somerset Jim
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Re: New(ish) member based on Somerset/Devon Boarder

I did wonder about the electrics however this has the same switch gear as the early 90's models so I'm inclined to think it was one of the last breed of simple machines  

Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong of course.

prwales
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Re: New(ish) member based on Somerset/Devon Boarder

Sounds like you have a good one

Somerset Jim
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Re: New(ish) member based on Somerset/Devon Boarder

Thanks!