MERCEDES-BENZ T2/L Box Body / Estate L 508 DG 3.8 (309.411, 309.412, 309.413) 85 HP Diesel
Classic, Vintage, Historic, Mercedes 508D, 1985, Green, Deisel 3.8 Engine, Motorcaravan, Motorhome
Alexia started up! First time! After 5 years in dry storage…. What a Beauty she is! 😉
Im selling____ MAYBE____selling, My 38 year old classic, almost of historical age motorhome. In just 2 years it will be MOT and tax exempt, as she reaches the grand old age of 40!
This is my story with it so far… I write alot, becuase this is important to me, and it has not been an easy 6 years of owning it, and heres why… its not from lack of trying that for sure.
Ive owned this vehicle for 6 years, and in that time I have had it stored on various locations, where there were mechanics, each mechanic turns out to tell me different things, with the work that needs doing.
I bought it from a friend who lived in it for 13 years, he emmigrated and kept it in dry storage for 5 years, then came back to the UK to sell it to me. I took it on, just as the bastard LEZ zone was introduced in London, where I lived at the time, so I kept it in the same place the previous owner had stored it for a while, and decided to move away from London, I moved the truck to Devon way before I moved out of London!
I moved it to Devon to store it on a farm near where my family live, and to where the family mechanic also has his workshop, on the same farm. Great right? A mechanic in the same place as where you have safe storage?… Perefect… or so it would seem…
The family mechanic in Devon over time, was working on the list of the MOT work, from the MOT I had taken it to in 2016. He fixed a few things, but the farmer where his workshop is, and my truck was also stored, decided he wanted it gone, even as the mechanic was currently working on it, I was up north, near Hebden Bridge as this was going on with the mecahnic and farm storage, busy getting the wheel hubs, brake shoes and tyres and other parts from another scrapped Mercedes 508, that the mechanic had just told me I needed, only 2-3 weeks before.
The farmer had said they didnt want it at the farm stored anymore, and the mechanic refused to do anymore work on it, even though I was literally on my way back to Devon with my landrover filled to the brim with car parts! That the mechanic had told me I needed. ffs.
It turned out, that the mechanic was trying to bully me, put me in a corner and thinking that I would have no choice but to sell it to him at whatever amount he offered, as it couldnt be stored at the farm anymore, and it wasnt road safe to drive to take it away to anywhere, and with only 24 hours to move it, or…. sell it to him! This was after I had just given the mechanic £500 quid the week before! I still dont know to this day, EXACTLY what he did with that £500. I will list everything I know he did in the rest of my advert. Some of my videos he is talking, and mentions some, but not all of the work he did.
So that day, from 8am to 12pm… I rang round like a lunatic for hours, while sitting in the truck at the farm, as the farmer was threatening to drag it down the road with his tractor, I thought he wont do that while Im sat inside it! Surely! 😉 After those 4 stressful hours of manic calls (and the mechanic driving past, stopping and asking “are you ok?” after he had that morning offered me pennies to “take it off my hands”) I had finally got a new mechanic set up, just 12 miles away from the old farm I was at, but the new mechanic couldnt start the work for about 4 weeks, so he gave me the name and number of another farm just 3 miles from his workshop who also did storage, and they knew each other, were friends, as said he often stored vehicles with them, while waiting for the space at his workshop.
The date the new mechanic had said he was going to start the work was 26th of Sepetmeber 2020, which came and went, and after about 2 months the new farm storage asked me what was going on, I had lots of communication from them, but none from the new mechanic, he had gone silent, not answering messages or returning my calls, etc. And so it carried on…
All of this was going on when the world went mad, starting in the spring of 2020 and everything closed down.
Because the world went mad, both the new storage and new mechanic were also on hold. So finally when things started getting moving again, in early summer of 2021 I went to see the mechanic, with a wadge of cash, I said can I give you some money to get this started now please. He siad ‘No, it doesnt work like that, you need to get the parts” I said ok, so then give me a list… I waited, I asked and I waited, eventaully I got a list from the mechanic, after 3 more months… and by then the wadge of cash I had, as it does, had been and gone. And it was the end of the season, the summer work was starting to dry up, and I broke my finger at the last friggin event of the season, which totally f**ked up making anymore money, plus, the world went a bit more mad, and it closed and opened its doors again, like a mental cartoon character…
And so we come to Autumn 2022, I get in touch, go to see the mechanic, again, get a fresh list, I copy what he had written in his note book, from whenever he wrote it, now the days, months and years are starting to blur, and I start looking for parts… again. I had heard nothing from the mechanic, no word from Summer 2021 to Autumn 2022, at one point I was worried the truck may not even exist anymore, as I had heard nothing… I had been looking after a family member who got very sick from September 2022 to End of November 2022, and I have had no chance to earn any cash while looking after them, and just before xmas of 2022, Im told the mechanic has had enough and wants it gone.
So its January 2023, 6.5 years since I bought this truck and I feel I have no choice but to sell her, as I have just spent the last week, looking for parts, firstly city west motors, Mercedes Commercial suppliers, WOULDNT give me any part numbers, ONLY for parts they say are no longer available. They have quoted me, but wont supply the numbers.
So I start looking, I dont know what Im looking at on the screen, as Im not a mechanic! With the few part numbers Ive been given. Yesterday I ring Snows of Exeter, and I speak to a lovely guy, who said he is younger than the truck! 😉 Who spent half an hour with me, and gave me all of the part numbers, SO KIND! I start looking some more, but again I dont know what Im looking at…
I dont know how long I have with the mechanic now, as the truck is in his yard, and he wants the space. Totally understand. I get it. But I am now in the same situation I have been in 3 times now, move it, or loose it… it drives fine, but the brakes are spongey. 2 weeks ago the mechanic said I want it gone! I said OK I will come to Devon tomorrow (I live in Brsitol) and see what I can do, the same day he says… ITS OK, NOT THAT SOON. FFS.
So I have come to Devon, staying at my Dads, just incase I cant get the parts, and I need to move it QUICKLY, or sell it…
The mechanic is saying if the parts arrive he can get the brakes done at least, but I still have no timeline of when he wants it gone 🙁 and I still need help getting the parts… I have spent 2 days here in Devon parts hunting, and each day is time taken away from doing my work, and actually earning some MONEY, so I could afford to buy the parts direct from Mercedes… Im only hunting elsewhere online for parts, so I can try and find more affordable parts!
I will list the parts I have already bought, the parts I am told that I need, and the past MOT sheet for you all to read next:
More info coming up… Im off to meet with the mechanic now… See what he says….