First Look At The Car

Here I'm finally posting pics of the car, along with a little history.

We acquired the car in Feb 2003. At the time we also had an even older white W123 200(E) Mercedes and were excited to look for our second benz. Now the story of that car warrants a different blog in itself.

We were debating what kind of benz we wanted--our original intention was getting another large car like a W124 or W126 but decided on a smaller 190E, largely because of the budget constraints: both the W124 and W126 were at least Php400k at the time, while the 190Es were trading at around the Php300k range. We also settled on the smaller car because of the sporty look and heritage (see previous post).

We scoured the classifieds and buy and sells for likely candidates and went through at many cars in varying conditions. Our search led us through the quiet streets and garages of exclusive subdivisions. Most of the 190Es we saw were in pretty sorry shape, neglected by their owners, as many of the houses we visited had garages full of several other european and import cars.


Our search ended in Quezon City at the house of a man named Dominic Allan, who tuned cars as a hobby. We were surprised to find a "Yellow" benz, which was an unorthodox color for any car, but was impressed that the yellow of Dominic's 190E was also the same yellow of the popular Mercedes R170 SLKs being sold at the time. Dominic was quite a collector since he also had a cherry red BMW E30 in his garage.

In the end, we were able to acquire the 190E for Php265k, which was quite a steal given the condition. Dominic seemed sorry to part with the car, but admitted that he simply needed the money, otherwise he would not have sold it.

Since acquiring it, the car has gone through a lot, 2 major accidents, 2 repaints, and an automatic transmission overhaul. After its last major accident just in 2006, involving a frontal collision which crumpled the front hood and grille, the car has been in garage, and has slowly deteriorated. We have attempted to sell the car repeatedly but buyers have not been eager, usually because of the "Yellow" paint, but also because of the sheer number of repairs that have to be undertaken.

I'll get into the current individual kinks of the car in a future update but meanwhile, here are more views of the car:

1. Side View. From this view, looks flawless.


2. Front View. Look closely and you'll spot the dent on the front grille (courtesy of its second major accident).


3. Rear View. Look closely and you'll spot the slight camber misalignment on the rear left wheel (courtesy of its first major accident).


4. Interior View. Some noticeable wear on the seats, and see the chipping on the finishing of the wood panelling on the transmission shift area.



Next I'll go into the 2 major accidents that happened to the car, as well as the checklist of things I'd like to fix.