Shop in So. Miami

[550Maranello]

Chaps, finally in Miami, still quite a few boxes, but surviving.

I visited some shops in the Miami area but was unimpressed. Then, waiting at a traffic light comes an impeccable 300SEL 6.3, green with white roof, what a car. I followed the guy and blinked my lights, he stopped and came out of the car. He is a respectufull lawyer who served as the Director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys in Washington, D.C., under Attorney General Ashcroft. He takes his car to Blitzen Benz a block from South Miami Hospital.

I stopped by the shop and found plenty of vintage Mercedes cars, some in need of full restoration. It looked a little bit messy but the owners, two Armenian brothers, seemed knowledgeable. I made an appointment for an oil change and to check a dieseling noise that my car's transmission makes going in reverse.

We'll see what happens next Thursday.

Cheers,

Orazio

 

[gerryvz]

Orazio,

Indeed finding a good (knowledgeable) and trustworthy shop is one of the most difficult things to do when you move to a new place. Good luck in that endeavor. You may well end up kissing quite a few frogs before you find your stellar Benz indy "prince."

When I moved to Houston 3 years ago I went through a couple of shops before I found a good one. However, in having my cars worked on, it started really irking me that they were charging me full retail price for parts, which my shop in Portland NEVER did. I don't mind paying a bit of markup for the shop, but they're making good money in the labor and there's no reason to charge a good, returning customer full price on parts.

A couple of experiences to that effect made me decide to just go from "part time" working on my cars to nearly "full time" whereby I'm really doing 90+% of the maintenance. In fact I haven't had any of my cars in for repairs for more than a year and a half ... save for an alignment of my 560SEC at the MB dealer right after it got a new set of tires earlier this year. I have found that the amount of money I am saving in parts alone makes the time investment of self-wrenching very valuable.

Let us know how things end up.

Cheers,
Gerry

P.S. Awesome story about the 6.3. Wonderful cars. As a former long-term owner of one with only 58K original miles on it, I wish for everyone on this board to be able to get a ride in or to drive a 6.3 sometime in their life. Very addicting cars in the same vein of the 500E, though obviously seriously lower-tech and much more raw (=fun) around the edges. Though the M119 and newer AMG motors are quite fun ... there's nothing like having 6.3 liters of big-block, unsmogged displacement under your ass !!!

 

[550Maranello]

Gerry,

Finally, I had the oil and filter changed at Blitzen Benz. The owner recommended Pentosin oil - Made in Germany - the one he stocks in his shop. I have never heard of it but then I am no expert. Price was $9 per quart, filter $15 and labor $74.90, hourly rate is $103. Total price was 176.70 which included $11.56 in tax, seems stiff to me. I think I will get a pair of ramps and do it myself the next time.

Regards,

Orazio

 

[gerryvz]

Indeed Pentosin is a pretty major German player in all types of automotive lubricants and fluids. However, their oil is not $9 a quart good. Not when you can get good quality dino oil at the gas station or at the auto parts store for $17-20 a gallon, or $70 for 5 gallons. And filters - you can mail order good Hengst or Mann filters for around $10 apiece. Sounds like you kissed a frog and it may not have turned into a prince. Did they seem knowledgeable and/or enthusiastic about your car? Did they know what it was? That to me is always an interesting indicator of things.

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[550Maranello]

Gerry, thanks for the great info. They were very enthusiastic about my car and said that it was one of the best MBs ever built. They did not find anything wrong with the transmission and mentioned that the rear suspension was a little bit low but fine for now.

Kind regards,

Orazio

 

[gerryvz]

The rear suspension adjustment is an easy fix (within the range of an inch, give or take) with the SLS adjustment. Should be a half-hour of labor, max.

That's a good sign that they knew what the car was and were enthusiastic about it. Generally when that's the case they'll take extra special care of it when working on it.

Keep looking for shops. With all of the MBs in Florida and Miami there has to be a couple of stellar shops. It's worth your time to "interview" shops by visiting them. Keep us informed of your progress. I think $100 an hour for labor is about average these days. My shop in Portland charged $80 for many years but may have raised it in the past few years. In California generally labor is more expensive.