2001 Mercedes-Benz Brabus SV12

Another random vehicle review tonight…..

2001 Mercedes-Benz Brabus SV12

One of my all-time favorites, this was easily the most expensive car I had owned at the time, pricing out at around $225,000 when new.  Brabus built exactly 11 of these for all of North America and this was the only one in 'Desert Sand'.  When I called them to ask a question about maintenance one time, they actually turned me over to the individual that hand-built the engine for it.

 

You see a lot of Mercedes with Brabus wheels on them but you will rarely see an actual Brabus factory-built car.  That's primarily because they're very expensive and are almost never on the open market.  It's also because Brabus likes to buy their cars back and re-sell them at their own discretion.  I actually got a call from them after I had already sold this one asking if I wanted to let it go.

This car started its life as a Mercedes S600, which is already one of the most luxurious cars in the world.  Brabus hadn't added a whole lot to the interior other than a killer audio/video system, but they had put their stamp on everything.  They replaced the leather with their own embossed with the "B" logo and had replaced a number of other items to make the car more unique.

Cosmetics aside, if you want to know how a $125K car becomes a $225K car, you're looking at it.  This is a hand-built, 6.7 liter twin turbocharged V12 that puts out over 600 horsepower and turns this very heavy car into a rocket.  It's not just the engine though.  Brabus completely rebuilds the suspension, brakes, exhaust, and virtually anything else that affects the cars performance.

I really loved driving this thing, but it also made me a bit nervous.  I basically had a house worth of money in the car and I wasn't completely comfortable with my insurance provider at the time.

I could have lived in the back seat!  Easily the most comfortable back seat to ride in I've ever seen.  It had everything including heated and cooled seats that massaged you as well, a TV with a DVD player, sunshades, etc..

The car started running rough at one point so I took it to my mechanic.  It just needed new plugs, but there were 24 of them and they cost about $50 each.  After the tune-up it ran great and never gave me any problems (thank God).

A sad bye-bye to the Brabus

I sold the car to a guy in Northern California that owned some restaurants.  It was a sad day as I watched this monster get loaded onto a transport and drive away.  I can't imagine I would ever own another Brabus car, but I appreciate the time I had with it.  I can't say it's worth the money though.  Today, you can buy an AMG S63 or S65 for less money but have a factory Mercedes that is at least as mean if not more so….and a factory warranty!

Before & After - Hall Bath

Before & After - Hall Bath

As I've mentioned on occasion, our current home was built in 1980, and while it's been kept up very well by the previous owners, there has been very little updating done over the years.  Nel and I tackle items from time to time when we are able to actually decide what we want to do with a room or whatever.  Other than flooring (which is sort of a 'whole house' commitment) we have finished with our hall bath.

BEFORE:

 

This is what the hall bath (or half bath, or whatever you want to call it) looked like when we moved in.  It was fine, but certainly dated.  We have four bathrooms in the house, but this is the one that visitors most likely will utilize so we wanted to spruce it up a bit.

She gets about as much paint on her as she does the walls, but she's an enthusiastic worker!

The first thing we did was sick Nel on it for fresh paint.  This is the 2nd home we've lived in together.  When we first got together we lived in my home that I had built new, so it needed absolutely nothing.  Besides, I'm not really sure she ever thought of it as "her" home.  This place is the first home she's owned herself, so she's always ready to hit some home improvement project or another.  She did a great job painting the cabinets, walls, ceiling, and everything else.

We followed the fresh paint up with new hardware and fixtures, new sconce lights, a new mirror (which required us to texture the wall where the old mirror had been) and a new toilet.  It really makes no sense not to change out old toilets.  New ones don't cost much and they're 10 times better than the older stuff - and bigger too.

 Mid-Project Pause:

This is where we ended up for a while.  The only thing we needed to address was the counter and sink area.  We assumed we would just wait until we put granite in the entire house, but we were walking through Home Depot one day and found a returned special order counter.  They will blow those things out cheap, and I knew we could cut it to fit, so we snatched it up.  My brother and I were doing the cutting in the garage one night and got all the way to the very last cut…..and then we made a minor error and ruined the counter - for our bathroom anyway (I still have the original piece if anyone wants it).  Fortunately, they had a second one in the same pattern with a cracked corner.  Since we were going to cut the edges anyway it didn't matter to me.  We bought it and made the cuts again…carefully!

Old Counter...

...New Counter

This is what we ended up with.  I think it looks pretty good.  It will be better once we get some dark wood floors in, but functionally the bathroom is finished and much better.  New toilet, faucet, lights, plugs, and I even replaced the vent.  I went ahead and replaced the shutoff valves and supply lines with the newer models that are less prone to leaking.

AFTER

1990 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible

God, I am so bad at this blogging thing.  I can't seem to motivate myself to write about anything interesting.  When I go a few weeks without a post I revert to a 'Random Vehicle Review' to try to break the lazy cycle.  We'll see.

Tonight, my random generator has selected……

1990 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible

I've actually owned two very similar 1990 Vette Convertibles over the years, but this was the first.  We actually own a very nice '86 Convertible now.  I bought this one at an auction, and I must have been feeling frisky that day because it was the third car I bought.  It had over 130K miles, which scares off most people, but it was in decent shape and, quite frankly, didn't cost very much at all.

The paint was in pretty good shape, as were the top and wheels.  The interior was the weakest part of the car, but it wasn't horrible.  It ran pretty good and everything worked as well.  This was the first year for the new rounded dashes on the C4, but the next to last for the squared exterior body.

One thing that was never improved on the C4 was making these things easier to get in and out of.  It is a real chore.  The seat is below the large rise on the door mounting.  You basically have to "fall" into the car and hoist yourself out.  The sport seat on this one wasn't quite wide enough for my posterior either.

The manual top was very easy to put up and take down (once you learned where all the releases were located).  The car sounded great as well.  The engine was strong and had a nice growl to it. 

As it turned out, I was right in thinking this car was well bought.  I sold it to a guy in Seattle eventually and actually made money for a change.  These C4s are neat cars with a lot of horsepower.  They certainly aren't as good as the newer Corvettes, but I actually think these are more fun to drive.  With the price of 3rd generation models heading north, good C4s are probably a bargain at the moment as well.  You can still get one for very little money, they're dependable and easy to keep on the road, and they're probably going to start appreciating soon. 

  

2000 Chevrolet Suburban LT 4X4

Random vehicle blog…………………tonight the wheel has selected…

2000 Chevrolet Suburban LT 4X4

When Chevrolet redesigned the Suburban for 2000, I was already looking for a new SUV.  I wanted a big one and had come close to getting a Ford Excursion (something I would do repeatedly later).  I already had a Chevy Tahoe however, so I waited until the new Suburban was released in late '99.  I decided that I had to have one so I ordered one to be built exactly as I wanted.

I took delivery of it on Valentine's day of 2000.  The sticker price was about $43,000, which, at the time, was a lot of money for an SUV (seems like that's base model money these days).  I ordered the 4X4 LT package with every option available except a sunroof. 

I custom ordered the truck with a two-tone charcoal leather interior.  It had a third row seat which could fold up or come out altogether, and back seats that folded down to make a HUGE, flat rear cargo area (or puppy play pen).  It also had about every amenity you could imagine.

It had heated memory seats, an outstanding multi-zone climate control system, and also included OnStar.  With the built in GPS system, the OnStar people could direct me to any location, unlock my doors, diagnose engine problems, and even call an ambulance if my air bags deployed.  I, however, used the service more often to find and make reservations at restaurants and movies than anything else.

The biggest difference between this truck and the Tahoe, other than the extra length, was the ride quality.  The Tahoe wasn't bad, but this truck rode great.  It was smooth and quiet and a real joy to drive.

I avoided repeating my mistake with the Tahoe by ordering this truck in my old favorite, black.  It didn't fit in my garage at the time, but it was never too difficult to cool down in the summer.  Chevrolet really did do a great job engineering this vehicle.

It had a few odd rattles, all of which were fixed once I got it to the shop, but no real problems to speak of.

It was a good looking and functional truck that served me well for exactly one year.  I sold it to a man in Oklahoma City the day after Valentine's Day of 2001.  My biggest regret was that I didn't wait six months to buy it when the dealers started dropping the prices. 

Romeo was sad to see it go, but he liked the next truck just as much (he wasn't too picky).