Euro Trip 2005 Report

[gerryvz]

Right now it's 3:45 PM here in Belgium. I am just finishing after some hours at the wrecking yard. TONS of pictures to come.....

A few items of note:

° Marc van de Velde DOES have a pair of PLASTIC 500E front fenders. I saw them, picked them up, and photographed them for you all to see. They were never mounted on a car -- brand new. YES these were produced by the factory but were never put on any production cars, though one or two may have slipped out. This could explain the car here on this forum with the plastic fenders.

° Van de Velde also has used 500E fenders

° I snagged 4-5 warning triangles, for people on this forum who want them. YOU will be responsible for ordering the top clips (a cheap part) from your dealers though.

° I am seeing about getting a Euro LH unit today.

° The one 500E that Marc currently has on his lot was rolled 10 times and is in sad shape. I took some photos of it for you all to see and will post when I can. The "adjustable" EZL unit is in the car but I'm not going to hassle with snagging it.

° I will be visiting Talbir in the UK tomorrow (Friday) and he is going to take me to Mercman, the wrecking yard in the UK, on Saturday. Plus I get to see & photograph his awesome collection of cars.

More later, just thought I'd give a quick update on stuff....

Cheers,
Gerry
(from Lokeren, near Ghent, BELGIUM.)

[ZorroAMG]

Thanks for the update, happy hunting and stay safe :)

[omegabenz]

Gerry, if you are going to a wrecking yard in the UK. I am looking for a RHD, left side (passengers) w202 mirror with wide angle lens on it.

Preferably 744 silver if possible. When are you coming back to the US?

[run.exe]

I'm (still) looking for an AMG speedometer (in MPH, preferably)...

; )

[rammbs]

gerry, neeeeeeed pics !

[captruff]

Gerry:

If possible, can you retrieve the necessary mounting hardware for the spare gas can? The used can I purchased early this year did not come with said hardware.

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

[195910]

does the scrap yard in belgium have a website ?

if not , could you please post their address . i might go there next summer.

thanks

[gerryvz]

Hi Guys and Girls,

OK, they didn't have an LH unit, I checked. I did see a 500E EGAS unit, but no LH unit unfortunately. I did get a 140 toolkit + 2 plastic spare wheel inserts into which the toolkit sits. One toolkit (which I have already in the states) will be for me along with the insert, and the other will be available for someone who wants it. Talbir detailed this mod in an earlier post, so if you saw that you know what it is. It is highly desirable.

I did get the 4-5 triangles both of the "old" (white with exclamation point) and "new" orange and red (as I have currently in my car) style. These will be sold for my cost plus shipping to whomever wants one. As I said, no clips - you will have to order that part from your dealer.

7 AM Belgian time on Friday morning I head for London from Belgium -- that's 10 PM your time on the west coast Thursday night. I expect to have a stunning time with Talbir, and will take tons of phots of his stash of cars and all. We talked on the phone and he is every bit the MB expert that one would expect him to be -- meeting him will be a highlight of my trip. I will meet LiquidIron on Sunday afternoon and will see all of the stunning stuff he is up to. Haven't yet connected with Robin500E but am still hoping to so that I can meet him as well.

My little SLK is getting full to the tills with parts. Gonna be a big box that I ship home... hopefully I can get more stuff from MercMan in the UK when I'm there.

Cheers for now!

Gerry
(from Brussels, BELGIUM, 2:55 AM Friday morning)

[mri1sf]

I would like one of the old triangles. Any chance you could find a set of euro headlights and wipers.

[run.exe]

I hope it doesn't RAIN while you're out and about, Gerry, and that you are documenting your Great Escape (v2.0) with HUNDREDS of photos!!!

Have a blast... and say hello to our mutual friends, please!

[mvaneersel]

Gerry,

Might be interested in the 140 toolkit and insert, please pm me with further info. Shipping would be to 22901.

Thanks!
Michel van Eersel

[gerryvz]

It's Sunday night and the last few days were a 100% blurrr... I popped over to England from Belgium on the Eurostar (Channel Tunnel) train, parking my SLK in Brussels for the duration, and spent a couple of days with Talbir.

What a great guy! I had a very nice time meeting him and his family, including his very gracious and beautiful wife. Talbir put me up for a night and I got to see his "collection" of red-hot machines & their custom mods up-close and personal. On Saturday we drove in his Porsche 911 Turbo (nee' 930) an hour or so to Mercman, which is the largest MB-specific wrecking yard in the UK. I got a few bits there, including some burl walnut pieces for my 560SEC and a BRAND NEW 1992 LH UNIT.... YESSSSS. And I got it for a decent price -- below half what it costs from MB new.

Talbir scored an AMG instrument gauge cluster for a W126 for a good price. My little SLK is now getting pretty crammed to the gills with parts....

After getting back to Brussels today, I hot-footed it about three hours drive to visit the (yes, THE) M119 Performance Deity, himself, Mr. Liquid Iron who lives in the Ruhr Valley not too far from the Netherlands border. I spent a few enjoyable hours with Mr. Iron, who showed me his 500E project car (which I took a lot of photos of), detailing the various mods he's got in progress (no cosmetic stuff here - we're talking some serious mechanical engineering). I also saw the collection of other "hardware" he has spirited away.

LiquidIron is a super-interesting guy, he's one of those guys who has about 5 HARD-CORE projects going on simultaneously and seems to find time between job and family to handle them. I don't know how he does it. He and his wife were immensely hospitable to me and I am very grateful for the time they provided me.

From there I travelled about 4 hours this evening to Stuttgart. I have an appointment at the MB Archive here at 10 AM Monday morning. This is to do some "factory" research on the development of the car and to get pertinent data that hopefully has yet to be published or discovered.

From there it's off to Munich to visit friends, and leaving Thursday night for the Alpentour down in the Italian/Swiss/Austrian alps in the SL.

LOTS of photos, but I forgot my USB cable and won't have access to one for another day or two, so I can't yet upload highlights. Suffice to say that tons of cool "Talbir" and "Liquid" photos are coming, not to mention wrecking yards in two countries and various other items of interest.

Well, that's about all for now. Had some good Belgian & English beer and looking forward now to some yummy Bavarian beer for most of the rest of the trip.

I got all of your requests via PM and will sort it all out when I get back. I think I'll have enough triangles for those who want them, and the W140 toolkit sounds like it is spoken for as well.

Cheers,
Gerry

[gerryvz]

Here are some photos from the trip along with captions to document the action. Just got home about 9 PM tonight (Thursday). Very long trip. Nearly perfect weather the whole time -- I got quite a sunburn which is now turning into a bit of a tan.

Cheers,
Gerry

Here we go, from the beginning....

View of the SLK (a 200 Kompressor, in black this year) in the Frankfurt Airport rental car parking garage


After loading the car, I make the change from comfy in-flight Birkenstocks to serious autobahn driving-shoes



At the Nürburgring, a statue of Rudolf Caracciola


A map of the Nürburgring


A sign for one of the tourist attractions at the Nürburgring


Two views of the racing 190 on display at the Nürburgring museum

[gerryvz]

"Sheer Driving Pleasure"


Ready to rock and roll ....


The aftermath of a three-day weekend racing event at the 'Ring. There were dozens of fields that looked like this.


A mound of trash -- probably 1% of what I saw -- after said 'Ring racing event. There were Gypsies picking through these trash bags looking for good stuff and cans to recycle. I tried hard not to capture any of them so as not to embarrass them.


Another one of these famous "GVZ" signs, near Trier in western Germany...

[gerryvz]

Parked at the gate of the US military cemetery in Luxembourg -- the second-largest US military cemetery in Europe behind the one at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. General George S. Patton is buried at this cemetery in Luxembourg.


Views of the graves of the thousands of gallant US soldiers from all walks of life, who died 60+ years ago to help give us and the world the freedom it enjoys today. As the cemetery had closed about an hour before I showed up, I could only take these photos from outside the gates and along the road. Each and every one of these men are heroes.





Entrance to the German military cemetery located about 1 kilometer from the American cemetery in Luxembourg. This cemetery was open and I was able to visit to pay my respects to these brave men who died fighting for their country and its cause (at the time). Again, each and every one of these men should be considered heroes.