My first Benz. Arguably this one should be in the "company car" section of the site, but being as I put $5k of my own money into it, and being as it was so special, it's deserving of its own page. After 7 years of being employed by Pennwalt, I was itchy. I was a corporate orphan - being in Canada as a one man band with no support. One of my customers asked me to go work for him. I said "you can't afford me". He said "here's the card of my Mercedes dealer - go pick out what you want". And there sat the prettiest little black on black pocket rocket I had ever seen. A rare car - a Mercedes hot rod, based on the 190 series chassis, but with a heart transplant by Cosworth. A DOHC 2.3 l 4 valve with a slick 5 speed, leather, a factory aero kit, and a Becker sound system.

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This car could move. And it felt like it was carved from a piece of billet steel. It just looked sooo right. But with a $65000 price tag (in 1987 dollars) it wasn't cheap. "Give me $5k to buy down the lease he said". "Done" I replied. And just like that I quit my job. 90 days later I had learnt my lesson: driving the niftiest car in the world didn't matter if you hated what you did for a living. I dropped the keys off on a Friday night and went back to Pennwalt. But boy, did I ever enjoy driving this little rocket for those 90 days. You really can feel the difference with Benz quality. I'd love to own one again, and will if I can ever find the space to put it.