Thank You
After what seems like a long search, I picked up my G Wagen on Tuesday; I think I was more excited about collecting it than I was about Christmas lunch!
A big THANK YOU to Spider (Joe), Fixwin38 (Peter) and Pistonhead (Rakesh), all who have offered excellent advice and support through the search and buying process.
I spent yesterday cutting some rubber mats to fit and finding other excuses to spend time in and around the G. I'm also in the honeymoon stage where I'll create any excuse to get out and drive it; so far it has exceeded my expectations and promises to be exactly what I was hoping ownership would be like.
I have a couple of jobs I'd like to do:
1) improve the headlights. Modern cars have spoiled me and whilst I don't expect the G to have HIDs, seeing more than 20 feet in front of the SWB whist the the V8 pushes me down the road would be ideal!
2) fit good winter tyres. I have these and now just need to fit them! Roll on the snow!
As said before, I get the feeling, I'll be finding a lot of reasons to spend time tweaking and fiddling about with my G.
Lastly, thanks to all those involved with this excellent resource - it helped the search and research process no end.
Great new !!! Enjoy your new toy, V8 is the way forward anydays :-)
A little picture of the Christmas present would be nice ....
Happy New Year
Fred
hi simon. i pm'd you earlier...
good luck with your new toy ! i hope you have years of fun with it
NOW TELL US EXACTLY WHAT IT IS YOU HAVE GOT !
i'm with fred on about pics please.
and a happ new year to you !
Nice motor,
The V8 is deffinatly cool, had a petrol and diesel version.
Nice Colour combo as well.
Very nice.
The clear headlights fitted as standard from 2001 onwards give a bit better light.
I'll get part number if you want.
loving that colour, you lucky barsteward, im glad to see someone else apprecaites tyre shine like i do.
What he said.
I'm with him on this one
wooow !!
thats a magnificent piece of machinery !
was that advertised at wheelhouse ? looks really really nice.
now here's the wish list...
1- oval fog lights
2- clear headlights
3-2012 rear lights
4- 202 style chrome front grill
you can get all these parts from guido at industrytools24 and anyother parts you would need in the future. guido's a great help and offers good discounts too.
rgds hus
I have to desagree with you Huss, I know lots of peoples cant help but to start changing everything on there cars but that looks very original and would keep it as it is .... It is a very rare original late rhd 500 and should stay that way.
dont get so upset fred !
its only a wish list. not a compulsory list for a new years resolution.
[ simon did pm me ask on these lines , so i just thought i would......]
happy new year !
Huss, it takes a lot more than that to upset me ..... Happy new year :-)
Aero,
What a fab car, great color, looks good condition on inside, although, when one has a 500, one should push the boat out and get the V8 carpet mats :) (G Wagen has a load - saw them last week), just does not look right with the rubber ones. Don't worry they always wash out well (the carpet ones) and I would say a brush guard, just to finish it off looking good. (Well in my opinion!)
Great find and looking forward to seeing it in the 'metal' soon!
Spider1V
It looks like he has the rear mats under the rubber, maybe the fronts are missing!
i can see the front ones too, under the ruber.
Thanks for all the positive comments and yes, I certainly feel like a 'luck barsteward' ;)
Reference the cosmetic upgrades, I don't have any concerns about making some minor changes, as long as they are easily reversable and I ensure I keep the original parts. I am certainly tempted by the simplicity of the 3- bar grill and better headlights.
As for the mats, the car came with a set of the V8 ones in the interior colour (front and rears). The fronts are in my garage but I left the rears in due to the middle section protection. The rubber ones were cheap (£14.99) and from Halfords; as I'm currently spending a fair bit of time jumping into the car with muddy boots, they seemed like a good winter option. It is good to know G-Wagen UK have new V8 sets because Mercedes are only able to supply black Mercedes logo ones (not grey).
Was hoping to get to Merc World today but duty calls, so will have to put faces to names another day.
Ps - Mark, would love the part number if you have it to hand.
Hi Aero
Welcome to the very exclusive G500 RHD SWB owners club! I love my 2000 version - the honeymoon still hasn't worn off!
Headlights: whilst they can never be as good as HIDs, a decent set of upgraded H4 bulbs makes a big difference. I'm currently using Ring's latest - the Ring Xenon Ultima. I find that they give better light than my 2008 ML (non HID).
I've fitted General Grabber ATs (255/55x18) to my 500 and am very happy with them - good compromise for on/off road and excellent on the snow and ice we have here in north west Scotland.
Enjoy!
Hi Aero,
Very nice! On the winter tyres front, if you're not going to offroad, go for the real ones - not ATs. I have BFGs fitted to mine and can't say they come close to real snow tyres when it comes to grip as they are a very hard compound which doesn't bode well when it gets really cold (although they are M+S rated). Just on a side note, you may want to go down to Halfords again and get one of those rear load mats - I see you've got small kids and if you're having to shlepp trolley in and out with dirty wheels, this will save you a bundle of elbow grease to get the salt stains out.
Enjoy it: now just put the heater on full blast and open the window when you go through tunnels!
Ph
you know i'm only joking fred....
your right in saying that this is an exclusive G, and keeping it factory is very very wise....
but i am with simon on this one. i would give it the 2012 upgrade !!! it would look super cool !
it very easily be put back to the original spec if needed.
btw , how did the meet go today ?
The G is currently on average summer/touring tyres. I've bought some Nokians and when the summer tyres are in need of a replacement, I'll stick some good all-seasons on it. If I use it for touring in the winter, I've got a set of Spikes Spiders for mountain duty. I figure with snow tyres and the spikes, it will be unstoppable.
good, a video will be up tonight, a bit different to my usual ones. sure you will understand.
"Just on a side note, you may want to go down to Halfords again and get one of those rear load mats"
Phil, I had a nice, thick, Range Rover rubber mat, which I was able to trim to fit the rear. Even managed to trim the LR text off! ;)
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Thanks Fred and Hus.
I've resisted posing pictures because I have read something like, 'yeah, we've seen what a G wagen looks like before' on this forum ;)
However, because you've asked, here is a few quick photos of my 2001 SWB G500: -