Boxy Brown

Being an auto blog I obviously need to introduce my awesome rides.  Boxy would be the first of the Mercedes that really got me into these old heaps of metal.  It all began one day back in December 2008....

I was visiting my family in New England as I usually do for the holidays and was simply driving a nice scenic road in my Dodge Stealth (RIP!).  At this point, I was putting on about 15,000 miles a year on my car and hauling lots of stuff back and forth being in school.  The Stealth was just not a practical car though I loved it much and it was a lot of fun.  On this cold winter day, parked outside of a  very old (1700-1800s) antique and crafts store was a lonely looking turd of a 300SD.  It had massively faded paint, a bit of rust behind one of the rear wheels, and used to be dark brown with palomino interior.  The very next day I gave the guy a call and he met me outside the store, putting on the sales pitch.  He started the car and as soon as I heard the diesel clacking away in 15 degrees, I knew this car was for me.  I bought it the very next day for less than $1000.
   Driving home was an extremely scary adventure.  Since the DMV did not require inspections, I literally walked in the DMV with nothing and walked out with plates and an empty wallet.  My father drove with me to pick up the car and unfortunately by the time I got the plates on, it was rush hour.  It took me all of about 100 feet to realize only one front caliper was working.  I DID make it home about an hour later and after numerous angry rush hour motorists expressed their distaste for my slow, smoking brown slug.  The transmission flared VERY badly in the 1-2 shift and 3-4 shifts, and slipped pretty badly as well. 
   It sat in the driveway for a couple months while I was in school, since I didn't have a chance to work on it while living 250 miles away.  I saved up and bought all the parts I needed, most notably an entire braking system from the booster to the tires.  Early in the summer I put it all together, cleaned out the ALDA line, replaced the B2 piston/bushing in the trans, cleaned the valvebody, cleaned the fuel tank, replaced normal stuff like glow plugs, filters, etc.  By July I had a daily driver!  Not too bad for a diesel noob like me, I learned a LOT from Boxy. 
   Boxy had some other "mods" too, obviously the EGR valve was immediately blocked off, I switched to LED lighting on the inside, and put in a kickin' stereo system.  To accomodate 6x9's in the back, I fabricated a new rear deck and upholstered it in matching vinyl (well, the best I could to a fading pinkamino interior). 
  I should explain the name...Boxy brown is a character from Aqua Teen Hunger Force (yeah yeah, I know...)

I see the resemblance quite clearly myself.....


Anyways, Boxy served me well for over a year and only failed to start once outside the office in -6*F because the battery couldn't put out enough juice to crank it.  I put on about 15,000 boomin' miles until rust got the best of him.  When I bought the car I didn't realize the rust was that bad....turns out there was a ton of hidden rot at all of the jack points and the salt ate away at the trunk floor to the point where you could see straight through it!  Despite having a healthy engine and transmission, Boxy was dying quickly and succumbing to the rust.

So come almost exactly a year later, a fellow on one of the forums I frequent offers a Texas 300SD shell (no trans/engine, no interior) for next to nothing.  The saga continues....