 Lynn Peters · Nick Nixon · Ken Watson |
 1951 Mercedes |
 Nick Nixon |
"That was a damn fine car. Paid $200.00 for it. It would do 82 mph forever with 5 passengers and a trunk full of luggage and guns. With one passenger and no freight: the same 82 mph. It had, if my memory serves, synchromesh in all gears. Had a 4-cyl engine. On each side of the engine, there was a 1' square heater, linked to the radiator. Produced enough heat that at 0°F you could work up a sweat. There was a complete bypass cutoff, so in the tropics or hot days, you could use them as auxiliary radiators. Never had overheating problems. You could also lube the entire car from the driver's seat [If you kept the lube container filled]. It had them damn little 'finger' turn signals, but a friend had wired up the range lights on the fender and the tail lights so they acted as turn signals too. Made it US legal. Brought it back and my sister and I completely rebuilt the inside, had it repainted burgundy with black fenders and running boards. My brother-in-law had rebuilt the engine and all we had to do was bolt down the carb correctly to finish the job. Then we went to the store. My bother couldn't wait. Tried to start the car while we were gone, carb spread gas everywhere, something sparked: bye bye engine. Long after I sold it, I found out that all the models of this car apparently had been shipped to Thailand, along with most of the spare parts. If I'd held on, could have rebuilt it. Oh well. My brother rejoined the Navy the next morning and shipped out. Took me about 5 years to forgive him. Ain't life just grand?" |
