On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 02:56:00 +0000, larry wrote:

Brian Whatcott wrote in
:

On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:20:06 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

..
BTW, just last night my daughter called that she was at an accident
scene, where she struck a Mercedes with her Mitsu Eclipse.
He got a ticket, and was towed away with a broken front suspension -
maybe a snapped ball joint. She drove home with a cosmetic-type
scratch on her bumper.
Now you can make all kinds of statements about this incident, but the
only thing I'll say is this:
Larry, when plying around in your fry-oil fueled Merc, keep an eye out
for those little ****boxes. They'll take you down man, they'll take
you down.

--Vic

Which reminds me: my kid was given a Mercedes and had me help him tow
it back from Dallas, until after a hundred miles or so, a suspension
joint gave way, and a wheel went to a curious angle. We consigned it
to a salvage yard, at that point....

Brian Whatcott Altus OK


Ah, too bad. The ball joint simply needed a simple replacement. The
parts are cheap and it's not an expensive job. Mercedes cars are made
to repair, not scrap. Germans wouldn't have it any other way. I've
replaced mine....BEFORE they got so loose they fell apart.

Since the only car I ever had a ball joint break was VW squareback
with fairly low miles, I might agree the Germans make 'em to break.
I was lucky to being going past an empty bus stop at night, which
the car pulled itself into with a cock-eyed wheel. I did fix that
car, and continued to fix it, and fix it, and fix it.
To be fair, I think my daughter hit the Merc - a new big sedan -
directly on his turned wheel as he turned in front of her. She went
into him in ABS mode, and her airbag didn't even go off. Off course
maybe her ****box airbag doesn't even work.
I guess the reason I even mentioned this in a thread where somebody
asked about pounding on a particular cat, was to point out that
conventional wisdom isn't always correct, and digging in for actual
experience, and even gaining that experience yourself if need be, will
get you closer to the truth that is your truth. That's what makes
newsgroups and inet forums so valuable.
The car comment was a tangential and maybe clumsy analogy to searching
for the "right" boat, which in the end is a "personal" decision.
Now having said that, I hereby snip and discount all of Larry's
mythology about 1.6 million mile Mercs, and will continue to drive
Chevys.
Cause I know 'em and like 'em.

--Vic