De'ja' Vu all Over Again!

Sooo, I'm browsing FB Marketplace (because it's actually working correctly) as I tend to do during the Covid lock-down and I come across THIS...

99 R170 Mercedes SLK230 6-speed with 176K! The ad had been up for about 15 minutes before responses started flooding in! I was second in line. The SLK was his recently departed fathers', and the son was looking to sell as he didn't have a need for it. I told him how serious I was and that I'd take the ride down to take a look.  Being an upstanding guy, he indicated that it would need a new clutch (more on that later) and front wheel. He also indicated that the person in front of me wanted, so he was giving that person the chance to totally muck it up it, and wouldn't you know it-she did!

 The reason why it's a total muck on her part-guess I should have led with this- it was only $1000 dolla! BUT WAIT-THERE"S MORE! She offered $800, to which he'd accepted. I told him, "If it falls through, I've got that $800"! Sure enough, I'm traveling 2.5 hours south to the Sarasota area to pick up my new car.

 I drove up and was so happy to see the pics didn't do it justice! Updated projector lamps, AMG replicas, and a WORKING hardtop! That clutch though....

Welp, it wasn't the clutch that was out-it just needed a flush, or new clutch master cylinder. He told me when a mechanic inspected it , it would need a new clutch and he'd do it for $1K. I knew was was getting scammed and "Righteous Mike" made his way to the surface, knowing the implications of doing so, blurted, "That mec was scamming you, That's a $200 fix, AT MOST"! He looked with shock, laughed and thought about it for a minute and said, "No no-this is YOUR CAR, now"! "Your honesty alone is making me happy I'm selling it to you" That was cool!

Currently. I have a 98 SLK in the garage with 47K on the odometer-like a REAL 47K, but certain exterior parts are no where nearly as nice as the 99', so, barring color differences, i'm swapping. Interior in these things suck, but the 99 is in decent shape (Seats are aftermarket)...

Right-front wheel is destroyed and I'm sourcing AMG replicas to replace, but that will only put me at $1K. That's another $1K for a possible Challenge!

Nice find and great story. Really love the look of those seats and the wheels are sharp.

How would you describe these cars with respect to performance? Seems like they are hauling quite a bit of weight with retractable hard top but it's a supercharged small displacement motor right? So presumably has quite a nice torque curve.

Nice score! These with a manual is super rare, no?

Somebody brought one of these to the challenge last year-maybe it was Florida Man?

In reply to trumant (Forum Supporter) :

Yeah, the seats are pretty nice-I'll end up repairing them since there are so many cheap, DIY ways to do so. WIth regards to performance, larger throttle body, relocating the MAF sensor improves throttle response, a smaller pulley, 15-20% injector increase and 17psi on the supercharger (ECU control limit) yields decent results (240-50hp @ crank???)., but I'm thinking of a turbo for the M111 engine!

That engine has people seeing 450+hp built; 360hp untouched!

In reply to CrustyRedXpress (Forum Supporter) :

Yes, the manuals are pretty rare, being capped at 15% of imported cars, so I was pretty psyched! I cannot recall who'd brought one to the Challenge, but I do know it sparked my interest! Further research on that engine has kept me interested!

That's amazing and I'm truly impressed by how well you bought this car. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

WOOOOW! - Thank you, Mazdeuce! High praise, indeed! My Colonel of an Uncle (God rest his soul) is still in my ear, "Persistence, Mike, persistence" and I'm damned near 50, haha!

99 means you slide into the Radwood category too!

Radwood, you say? I must read up on this,"Radwood" you speak of!

Upon further reading, I'm thinking Radwood would be nice, but I'm going to build to original Challenge rules and let the chips fall where they may.  My reasoning is, I'm looking to add current tech to the SLK. possibly twin-charging, as I'd really like to see what I can do, tech-wise, with such a tight budget.

 I've already ordered the replacement wheel, as well as the possible ECU I'm thinking of using (RusEFI) if needed, so I guess this will need to be moved to the "Builds" section.