Finally !!!!!!!!!!
I've been working on this deal for some time now.
If memory serves me right, the PO and I started a back & forth right around the holidays. His original asking was more than I wanted to pay at the time, but I told him to call me when he was ready to entertain my offer.
Fast forward a month or so and we agreed on a price.
I also got the info on the shop that performed the work., and I was fortunate enough to speak with the owner of Autowerkes in Sarasota,Fla, Rex Pippin.
What a great guy !, gave me almost 2 hrs of his day to the dismay of his staff to say the least. He had somewhat fond memories of the job and the guy who owned it. He still works on the occasional 036 he stated, but considering what was done to mine, he said I'll be more than happy so long as I wasn't expecting it to become a collectible.
Beasically, this car is in turn-key condition. Minty exterior/interior. AC upgrades, recent brake work ( 500e brakes F&R ) , new PS pump, Mobil 1, new rad hoses, coolant flush, brake fluid flush,etc.
Let me interject that my budget for a 500e was $9-9500 and there wasn't one that was in good enough shape out there. Most were cosmetically fine, but all had over 140K, original chain,old harness, little to no maintenance records, sagging SLS, deferred maintenance,etc. So in essence , they all needed more than just TLC, and I just didn't want that right now... I have my 95 993 P car thats already burning a hole in my wallet and I have yet to drive it 1 mile .
The story is as follows ...late original owner ( RIP ) needed to spend a lot of money fast as he was in the throes of a nasty divorce...so Rex was given a carte-blanche , no holds barred approval on converting this 93 400e into a full-blown 036 soup to nuts., with the exception of the 722 unit.
They met back in 2000 when the owner bought a winter home in Florida as he was from Detroit. Being a car nut, he stumbled into Autowerkes which was just down the road from his place. Well, one thing led to another and instead of the original plan of just installing NOS....this conversion was born.
Pdf files of the itemized invoices were emailed and its mind-boggling the $$$ that was spent !.gif "OMG :omg:")
In fact, at the time of the planning stages, Rex was asked to help broker the sale of Paul Newman's own 94 e500, yes , the one and only ! and told the original owner of my car that it would be about the same money give or take a few thousand....but alas, that wasnt the kind of fun he was looking for, so the project commenced.
As an aside, Autowerkes is totally old-skewl ! Old German steel only. His head tech races a vintage 930 Porsche in Daytona as well as several old BMW M cars. I checked out the shops credentials with some online sources as well as German car forums and it was all thumbs up. Ahh the magic of the interwebs is oh so delightful.
It took 6 months including the bodywork and paint !
The m119 serial # was matched to that of a 92 500e that was stolen in Ft Lauderdale by 2 teens and was wrecked just outside of Tampa. The car was destroyed and the 2 were killed instantly!
Just over 44K on the motor as it came w/ the odometer cabled to the longblock., as well as the invoice from a European salvage yard.
The 400e had 41K on it in 2002 when the job started.
The 5.0 oil pan was pulled and replaced w/ a new one. New chain,chain guide,vc gaskets,sensors, and other essentials were replaced since it was an engine stand job.
Wet leak down result was an amazing 3% avg....wow ! Rex said he was blown away at how clean everything looked. No carbon buildup anywhere. Rod bearings looked new almost.
New upper and lower harness were installed since the old ones were cut away. During the final phases the owner sourced a Renntech chip and 500e exhaust as well as some Brabus 17x8.5 alloys.
Front and rear 500e fenders were ordered new from the stealership and a 500e rear end was sourced as well. The car comes w/ a new un-installed passenger side rocker panel, but for some reason the driver side went AWOL. Hopefully I can get that one from Jono on this board.
The only thing they never solved was the abs. The 500e uses 4 sensors while the 400 used only 1 at the diff and the ridiculous labor to trace the loom to tap into was just not in the cards...so the car has no ABS for now. I can live w/ that. I'm almost 48, my first 20 yrs of driving was sans ABS and SRS and I think I did OK.
The 400e tranny was serviced, and knock on wood, it seems to be in great shape w/ positive shifts even at WOT. 1st gear vb starts FTMFW !
...and no ASR makes for a ridiculous amount of tire shredding according to the PO and the truck driver who loaded her up.
As much as I would've love to have driven the car from Oklahoma back here to NY it just wasn't in the cards time-wise, and why expose it to all the salt and grime ?
So hopefully in 6-7 days I'll have it in my garage. Can't wait. Kinda cool to have this labor of love... hybrid freak of nature ...call it what you want kind of a W124. It sure has some history to it and its comforting to know it was loved by all its owners, evidenced by the comprehensive service records I got with it.
Sorry for the long drawn out post, but I think the car in a way , deserves a record of some sort .
Thanks for your time.
PS- Planned short term mods >> maybe some 18in Monoblocks, H&R/bilstein kit , Porsche 993TT big red calipers on Stoptech brackets ,
Long term...with the help of my guy at 666 Fabrications a set of long tube headers.I want that CLK Black series growl .
ADMIN EDIT: Photos of this car available at these 2 threads:
https://www.500eboard.co/forums/thr...-500e-white-cream-116kmi-8-495-bronx-ny.2128/
https://www.500eboard.co/forums/threads/owner-swordfish.1112/
I've been working on this deal for some time now.
If memory serves me right, the PO and I started a back & forth right around the holidays. His original asking was more than I wanted to pay at the time, but I told him to call me when he was ready to entertain my offer.
Fast forward a month or so and we agreed on a price.
I also got the info on the shop that performed the work., and I was fortunate enough to speak with the owner of Autowerkes in Sarasota,Fla, Rex Pippin.
What a great guy !, gave me almost 2 hrs of his day to the dismay of his staff to say the least. He had somewhat fond memories of the job and the guy who owned it. He still works on the occasional 036 he stated, but considering what was done to mine, he said I'll be more than happy so long as I wasn't expecting it to become a collectible.
Beasically, this car is in turn-key condition. Minty exterior/interior. AC upgrades, recent brake work ( 500e brakes F&R ) , new PS pump, Mobil 1, new rad hoses, coolant flush, brake fluid flush,etc.
Let me interject that my budget for a 500e was $9-9500 and there wasn't one that was in good enough shape out there. Most were cosmetically fine, but all had over 140K, original chain,old harness, little to no maintenance records, sagging SLS, deferred maintenance,etc. So in essence , they all needed more than just TLC, and I just didn't want that right now... I have my 95 993 P car thats already burning a hole in my wallet and I have yet to drive it 1 mile .
The story is as follows ...late original owner ( RIP ) needed to spend a lot of money fast as he was in the throes of a nasty divorce...so Rex was given a carte-blanche , no holds barred approval on converting this 93 400e into a full-blown 036 soup to nuts., with the exception of the 722 unit.
They met back in 2000 when the owner bought a winter home in Florida as he was from Detroit. Being a car nut, he stumbled into Autowerkes which was just down the road from his place. Well, one thing led to another and instead of the original plan of just installing NOS....this conversion was born.
Pdf files of the itemized invoices were emailed and its mind-boggling the $$$ that was spent !
In fact, at the time of the planning stages, Rex was asked to help broker the sale of Paul Newman's own 94 e500, yes , the one and only ! and told the original owner of my car that it would be about the same money give or take a few thousand....but alas, that wasnt the kind of fun he was looking for, so the project commenced.
As an aside, Autowerkes is totally old-skewl ! Old German steel only. His head tech races a vintage 930 Porsche in Daytona as well as several old BMW M cars. I checked out the shops credentials with some online sources as well as German car forums and it was all thumbs up. Ahh the magic of the interwebs is oh so delightful.
It took 6 months including the bodywork and paint !
The m119 serial # was matched to that of a 92 500e that was stolen in Ft Lauderdale by 2 teens and was wrecked just outside of Tampa. The car was destroyed and the 2 were killed instantly!
Just over 44K on the motor as it came w/ the odometer cabled to the longblock., as well as the invoice from a European salvage yard.
The 400e had 41K on it in 2002 when the job started.
The 5.0 oil pan was pulled and replaced w/ a new one. New chain,chain guide,vc gaskets,sensors, and other essentials were replaced since it was an engine stand job.
Wet leak down result was an amazing 3% avg....wow ! Rex said he was blown away at how clean everything looked. No carbon buildup anywhere. Rod bearings looked new almost.
New upper and lower harness were installed since the old ones were cut away. During the final phases the owner sourced a Renntech chip and 500e exhaust as well as some Brabus 17x8.5 alloys.
Front and rear 500e fenders were ordered new from the stealership and a 500e rear end was sourced as well. The car comes w/ a new un-installed passenger side rocker panel, but for some reason the driver side went AWOL. Hopefully I can get that one from Jono on this board.
The only thing they never solved was the abs. The 500e uses 4 sensors while the 400 used only 1 at the diff and the ridiculous labor to trace the loom to tap into was just not in the cards...so the car has no ABS for now. I can live w/ that. I'm almost 48, my first 20 yrs of driving was sans ABS and SRS and I think I did OK.
The 400e tranny was serviced, and knock on wood, it seems to be in great shape w/ positive shifts even at WOT. 1st gear vb starts FTMFW !
...and no ASR makes for a ridiculous amount of tire shredding according to the PO and the truck driver who loaded her up.As much as I would've love to have driven the car from Oklahoma back here to NY it just wasn't in the cards time-wise, and why expose it to all the salt and grime ?
So hopefully in 6-7 days I'll have it in my garage. Can't wait. Kinda cool to have this labor of love... hybrid freak of nature ...call it what you want kind of a W124. It sure has some history to it and its comforting to know it was loved by all its owners, evidenced by the comprehensive service records I got with it.
Sorry for the long drawn out post, but I think the car in a way , deserves a record of some sort .
Thanks for your time.
PS- Planned short term mods >> maybe some 18in Monoblocks, H&R/bilstein kit , Porsche 993TT big red calipers on Stoptech brackets ,
Long term...with the help of my guy at 666 Fabrications a set of long tube headers.I want that CLK Black series growl .
ADMIN EDIT: Photos of this car available at these 2 threads:
https://www.500eboard.co/forums/thr...-500e-white-cream-116kmi-8-495-bronx-ny.2128/
https://www.500eboard.co/forums/threads/owner-swordfish.1112/
Last edited by a moderator:
and practices medicine !
