Today... Suuuuuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkkked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been shopping for a nice clean, Mercedes 300te wagon... for about 3 or 4 months now.
One popped up on Craigslist last night... A Mercedes mechanic was selling his... I raced over to his shop first thing this morning, in my Miata, which I only drive on sunny days --- usually it's in the garage, and being it's kind of a "girlie car" I don't drive it much at all.

On the way over to Bellevue, to check out the wagon, I got pulled over by the Bellevue cops... "WHERE IS YOUR FRONT LICENSE PLATE"???

...Uh, I dunno... Hmm, must have fallen off or maybe I left it in my garage?

Can I see your license, registration and insurance card...? Uhmmmm... hmmm had my registration here a while ago... can't seem to find it... Uhmmm... don't have my insurance card either, officer!

I had left the card and registration in my garage, because I had removed my glove box to install a new heater core a few weeks ago, and didn't put the glove box back yet.

I had also slapped the plate from my truck on the Miata becuase the Miata tabs had expired... Cop said "Hey this plate (the license on the back of the Miata -- which was actually my Truck License)---doesn't match up with your car"!!! I said yeah, well actually that is from my truck! (Now I was actually sweating!!!) SH#T!!!!

He goes back to his squad car, and another squad car shows up...

After I swear, about 20 minutes he comes back to me "No insurance card $400.00" --- "Tampering with License, and I forget what the hell else he said... oh yeah, no front plate, or registration" $504.00... Total $904.00!!!

He even physically removes my license plate off my car and keeps it...( Now I don't have a license plate for my truck!) I almost got hauled off for using my truck license on my Miata... The cop actually called in a "backup" and they had a loooong conference on wheteher or not to haul me in!
I, somehow or other was given the opportunity to "just go back to Seattle" and get my tabs taken care of... (After getting the ticket)... The cop was a real hard-ass too...

Well, that really shook me up... but the Mercedes wagon was located about 2 miles from there, so I asked the officer if I could go to look at the car... He scowled and said sure, just be forewarned if you get pulled over again you'll be fined again!

So, I drove over and looked at the wagon... It was just what I've been looking for... I drove it around for a while, and thouroughly quizzed the mechanic about it until I could see he was getting a little impatient. I didn't even "dicker" on the price...

...So I drove (the wagon - since IT was licensed properly), to the bank, got a cashiers' check, paid the guy, did the paperwork, and told him I'd leave my Miata there, and drive the wagon home and get my Miata in a day or two... He said fine.

The Wagon was running awesome... everything worked (all the little wierd electrical devices and all that even worked)...

...So I am on a busy Hi-Way (405)...heading back to my home in Seattle - (in the Wagon), and the car just DIES like it ran out of gas... I coast off to the shoulder of the road... and after cranking it for a couple minutes it starts up again... I go about 5 miles and it dies again!

...So I call "Frank" the mechanic who I bought it from... He says..."Oh, that must be the gas pump relay...They tend to short out sometimes, it never did it for me though... Let the car cool down, (the relay will cool also), then drive it back to the shop here and I'll get a new relay because I am 95% certain that is the problem!"
I VERY nervously drive it back to the shop in rush hour traffic. When I get there the shop is now closed... so I drop the keys in the key drop with a note "Fix this car, or the deal is off - Thank you"!

I can't drive my Miata back until I get the license stuff straightened out, so I call my son, but can't get ahold of him, so I call a friend to come rescue me.

So... my friend eventually gets there and I go home, and in the driveway, is a HUGE puddle of oil!!! I jump out of the my friends' car and inspect the puddle...It must have been 3 quarts!!!
This is where I had parked my OTHER recent purchase... a 300SE coupe... My son had it somewhere, and I needed to contact him ASAP to tell him it was hemoraging oil!!!

My 18 year old has it (the other Benz) over at his friend's house... I frantically try calling him over and over again... no answer... Finally I text message him "Call your Dad ASAP"!!! --Park the Car it is out of oil!!!

He calls... Paul where are you? DON"T DRIVE F#CKING THE CAR... I race over in my Truck, (half way there, I remember has no license plate, since the cop took it off my Miata earlier, so now I'm all paranoid about getting pulled over again and having to explain the situation to another cop) to this friend's house where the car is... huge puddle of oil under it... I crawl under with my flashlight... a small crack in the front of the oil pan... (He bumped one of those curb things in a parking lot)... He said when it happened he got out and took a look, but didn't see anything unusual at the time...

I check the oil dipstick... it is DRY... I replace 6 quarts...I leave my truck there & drive home (5 miles) the 300SE... now I am looking at having the oil pan replaced.
If my son had driven it any further, the engine would have melted down.

Overall, a pretty stressful day...

Tomorrow I'll see what the mechanic has to say about the wagon, and have to also shop around for a place to get the oil pan repaired or replaced.

I DID however, get some new business today, and finished up a prewire...

It's past my bedtime, but I'm still too tense from all of the above to go to bed.

Still not sure how I escaped going to jail for the swapped license plates, because the one cop that pulled me over was really ticked off, like it was a huge deal, but his "backup" partner who showed up was a little mellower, and I think that he saved me from going to jail. (never been to jail, never want to either)...

Tommorrow is a new day. Man, today sucked! But it could have been worse:

My kid could have kept driving the car and burnt it up...

I could have gone to the pokey.

The Wagon will be repaired.

I can make payments on the ticket!

Goodnight.

Edit: FYI I am not talking about much money at all for either of the Mercedes... They were both older models... A lot less (combined) than a new van. I'm not trying to make anyone think I am anywhere near a high roller!!!

Might even drive the Wagon to CEDIA for the hell of it! 8>)