[W126 Coupe] (no subject)

[Joshua Holley]

Hello again,
I forgot to mention one very important fact of my situation. I have been
blessed with a grandfather who, aside from being a talented civil engineer,
is a very experienced and gifted mechanic. The man was the U.S. forest
service engineer of the year, has built himself an airplane virtually from
scratch, has restored an MG from the 1980's, has also been successful in
restoring the truck he drove to high school in the 1950's, and is currently
in the final stages of designing and producing a cowl (airplane equivalent
of a hood) for a prototype engine. As I currently reside with him, I have
both his knowledge and his expansive (two garages and a hanger
full) collection of tools at my disposal.

Although he was weary of my purchase at first, he has warmed up to the car
and the idea of restoring such a fine machine. He has generally worked with
American vehicles, but after taking a good look at what the Mercedes has to
offer, he has become enthralled with its engineering. I have just purchased
the W-126 factory service manual, and have begun pouring over the vast
volume of information. Although this is certainly an ambitious, and
inevitably expensive, project I am confident that I will be successful. My
grandfather's knowledge in both machine milling/fabrication and mechanical
engineering also changes the circumstances of my situation, as it has become
possible for me to fabricate, under his tutelage, some of the parts
necessary to restore the car, mechanically and aesthetically, which i would
otherwise have to purchase at high cost. And, as i have more or less grown
up around this living encyclopedia of engineering knowledge I have acquired
an informal, but very functional, skill-set that makes such a daunting
task do-able. Also, since I have a decent income for someone my age, a full
ride academic scholarship, and almost no expenses aside from gas and the
occassional date,  there's a good chance that I can finish this project
before I don my cap and gown.

Now that I have the full service manual, I have access to the knowledge
necessary to get this done and will be less dependant on the mailing list as
a whole, but I am sure that the knowledge of those who have been here before
will come in handy down the road. I plan to keep you all updated on my
progress, though I am sure it will be slow, and thanks for the seat removal
help and the sheepish encouragement.

---Joshua
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