Getting Started

Well, I've been trying to find a reason to put together one of these things, so here goes. I've been quite a car fanatic over the years, and I've often thought it would be great to have a little project car. Something that is old enough to not worry about a true foul-up on my part, but in decent enough shape to enjoy without having to single-handedly bring the economy back on its feet. Circumstance has put in our lap a 1982 SL380, with 61,000 on the odometer. The original owner was my wife's grandmother, who bought it new and cruised around Mercer Island for groceries or trips to the thrift store, and not much else. Eventually, it was replaced by a 1998 Beetle, so the mystique of the Benz gave way to the user-friendliness of the bud-vase ladened Bug. After Grandma's passing in 2003, it has bounced between a couple of family members, but really hasn't been used like I feel it wants to be. Thus, my wife and I drew the lucky straw and we're set to pick it up on Saturday.

Car blogs are not exactly unique, but I thought this would be a neat way to document my successes and failures with the car. My goals for this project are:
1) Leave it in better shape than I found it - I don't want to be the last owner of this thing, and would love to eventually pass it onto another family member who will enjoy and carry on our pride of ownership.
2) Learn to perform basic maintenance of wear items (brakes, fluids, belts, etc..) on a modern vehicle (thus saving thousands of dollars over the long haul. Someday soon, I'll blog about the last service on my regular driver, a 2001 325i).

Currently, our next steps are to attempt a successful emissions test (shooting for Thursday) so the title can be transferred to my wife and I. The second stall in our garage needs to be cleared before Saturday. I'm heading over to the space tomorrow to inflate the tires and drop a quart of 10w-40 (it looked low when I gave it my first once-over).