Last year I wrote 2 posts about my love of old cars. I wrote about the car I owned, a 1960's Beetle ( September 2017 ) which I drove to and from work in the township of Diepsloot in South Africa. Next I wrote about the Volvo Amazons my family drove in Zimbabwe and Kenya when I was growing up. ( October 2017 )
Now it's time to tell you about Blue Bird, the fabulous car I bought on EBAY without first going to inspect her.
This is how the story goes ...
I needed a car for work and I wanted one with personality. In my days spent trawling the internet for cars on Autotrader and Gumtree I had been looking at Nissan Figaros because they have such a retro look. So far I had been unable to find any in my budget and switched to EBAY to continue my search. I was browsing affordable Figaro's that were located all the way up in Scotland but was seriously worried about the level of rust they would have.
Bored I decided to look instead at another of my dream cars, old Mercedes. Most were way over my budget, a pristine one going for well over 20K. I never expect to see any I can afford but that doesn't stop me looking.
And hence I stumbled across a very attractive and possibly affordable silver blue Mercedes SL 280.
( see above)
I had been swooning over Mercedes Pagodas for years and loved the old fashioned glamour they portray. ( Above - Me at Goodwood Revival posing with a Pagoda.)
The Mercedes for sale was not a Pagoda, but she was the closest to a Pagoda that I could afford.
Blue Bird was attracting so many bids that I decided she must be a sound investment. No-one would be bidding on her if she was a rust bucket. Surely everyone else had been to visit her and assessed her engine and bodywork.
The competitive side of me kicked in and I used a bidding app that out bids every last bid up to my upper limit. The deadline was nearly a week away. I put in my budget, activated the bidding app and forgot about it. I didn't for a minute believe I would ever win. It would surely go for way over my upper limit. But who dares wins. Might as well give it a shot.
It's worth pointing out here that I had never done anything like this before. Bidding on a car, let alone bidding on a car I hadn't even inspected!!
I remember saying a little prayer beforehand...
Me "Should I bid on it?"
God "Why not! If you have the faith to keep her running & pay for the petrol, then give it a go."
And so it was something of a shock when I received an email a week later declaring that I had been successful in my bid! AHHHHHHHH!!!!! That wasn't supposed to happen.
Now I was committed and there was no backing out of it. The car was located down in Dorset. I phoned my Dad and told him I had purchased an amazing car and needed a lift to go and pick her up. He was very suspicious of my judgement and probably quite annoyed. But it was too late. The car was mine and now I was going to pick it up.
(Blue Bird at Loseley)
So it was that I returned home with Blue Bird. Dad seemed placated because she was just so spectacular and even he could appreciate and recognise masterful German engineering when he saw it. The engine was solid and the rust minimal.
( Blue Bird in Shere)
She purred like a big cat and when I did a little research I found out that this particular style of Mercedes was named in German 'The Panther Wagon!' Oh dear, what had I done? Was this the beginning of a mid-life crisis? ....
But any reserve was overcome by my excitement and being the quiet person that I am I hadn't told anyone else about her. Not even Matthew who knew about my appreciation of old Mercedes. He had been with me in Arundel on New Years Eve when I first spotted a gorgeous black Mercedes SL 280 and was love struck.
But he had no idea that I now owned one.
So it was that when he came to visit me from Canterbury, I hid Blue Bird down a side street and walked to the train station to meet him. It was hard to keep the smile off my face and act like it was just a normal day and just an innocent walk from the train station.
I walked him along the river and then took a turn up a side street where Blue Bird was parked. I walked past her and with my best acting skills said, "Wow, someone has a nice car parked there." I stopped and took a long look, walking around her in appreciation. He joined me as I stood looking at her, admiring her as if she belonged to someone else.
"Let's see if the doors open I said..." at which point he must have thought I was having a minor mental breakdown. I am the last person to break into someone else's car.
The game was up, I couldn't contain my excitement any longer. "IT"S MINE. LETS GO FOR A DRIVE!"
And the rest is history. I kept Blue Bird for about 4 years, driving her all around the country and even over the Channel into France. She was a big hit everywhere she went. We drove down to Cornwall and went camping in her. There was no problem carrying loads of equipment in her massive boot which gave us so much room for camping gear. I can see why she was the chosen car for gangsters, you could easily fit a body in the boot!
(Blue Bird goes camping in Cornwall)
Blue Bird wasn't just a holiday car, she was my everyday car and caused many eyebrows to raise when I rocked up at work meetings in her.
Of course she did break down, there were tears and embarrassing scenes pushing her off the road. She was built like a tank, made of heavy metal and very hard to push especially uphill!! The worst breakdown was in rush hour traffic when my sweet assistant Martin had to grab a few friends to help him and I roll her up a slope and into the University Research Park carpark amidst stressed, tired commuters.
I have fond memories of driving passengers around with the roof down on sunny summer days. I took my friends from Afghanistan to a barbecue in her and we squeezed 3 adults and 2 kids into her. They loved the short illegal ride( no proper back seats or safety belts) and said it reminded them of driving around the streets of Kabul!
(Ruby Sue in Blue Bird )
In the end I did let her go. She really was designed to cruise on long straight roads and not for pottering around town. I knew I did not have the money to keep her going in the style she needed. I had no garage to keep her dry and the rust would increase with every year on our salted winter roads. I knew she needed a new owner with deeper pockets.
It was a joy to sell her to a gentleman who took her back to France to cruise on the extensive well maintained French roads. I was checking her MOT history a few weeks ago and was delighted to see that she is still on the roads and hasn't had any advisories on any of her MOT checks since she was sold.
And here is the great news... I MADE A PROFIT OF £1000 ON SELLING HER ! She is the first car I have ever owned that went up in value.
I miss my Blue Bird and smile whenever I see another old Mercedes on the road. I'm glad I took the risk and had some fun with her.
