Old Car Love

Have you ever been in the right place at the right time?

It's a wonderful feeling.

Many years ago, my husband and I were running errands on a Saturday morning in his 1967 VW Bug-Lacy.

Yes, that was her name.

And she had less than 50,000 original miles.

She looked like this.

We stopped to get gas, and in front of us was the cutest elderly couple.

She was trying to pump gas and seemed to be having a little difficulty.

My husband got out and helped them.

He started asking about the car they were driving.

A 1968 Mercedes Benz 250S.

She was the original owner.

Creampuff.

We gave them my business card and told them if they ever wanted to sell the car, to call us.

She informed us that she would never sell the car while she was alive.

Several months later, I recieved a phone call from her daughter.

Mrs. Ingram had passed away.

She explained that she was going through her mother's things when she came across my card.

I was told to contact their mechanic at his shop to see and drive Creampuff if I was interested.

Mack owns the shop and knew this couple for years.

His mechanics grew teary eyed at her funeral!

He serviced Creampuff for close to 20 years.

Long story short, Creampuff became part of our the family.

Driving an old car is so special.

You definitely wouldn't try to pass anything going uphill with her, but she was what a touring car was all about.

That car literally purred as you drove her.

Wonderful.

We sold her years later to a gentleman that restored her. He was very excited.

We knew she'd gone to a good home.

All this leads me to our latest MB acquisition.

I'd called Mack back in June to tell him we wanted to find another older, vintage Mercedes.

He was shocked! A neighbor of his had just told him he wanted to sell his Mercedes.

He couldn't believe the timing of my phone call.

His children weren't interested, they wanted new trucks.

Their loss, my gain.

The car had sat in their garage for the last 6 years, so Mack had to go through everything, at the owner's expense.

The list of the repairs and fine tuning was long.

He was also the original owner.

Of a 1978 450sl.
That's the same year I got married!!

With 58,680 Original Miles.

That's right, just broken in.

I finally brought her home....

Yesterday!

4 months of waiting patiently.

So, after cleaning and waxing and polishing...

may I present

Buttercup!!

She's sporting the hardtop right now, but as soon as we get back from Boston (visiting Andrea and Mark), we'll be able to put the top down!

She has a brown canvas convertible top!!

There is a whole lot of chrome.

I love chrome.

You really don't see much of it around these days.

That's really too bad.

She has spiffy new wheels, I just love these.

She handles well on the road, and I am definitely not afraid to pass going uphill.

I think I may need to go for another spin.

Old car love.

Nothing compares to it.

ann marie

P.S.-The photos of Lacy and Creampuff are from the internet. My photos are on our old desktop.