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Posts in "500Benzlife"

Monday, August 8th, 2016

It's been a while, hasn't it, which is fine. Just means it's going to take us a while to catch up.

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Tuesday, May 6th, 2014

TLDR: I sold the pano roof last week, drove various places with the top down, and also found time to go drive things in the Nevada desert with Toyota.

Now let's look at some pictures!

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Driving Impressions  

Tuesday, December 17th, 2013

Not just any turkey, mind you—we're talking Popeyes' Cajun Turkey, the one that adds some "Louisiana flare" to your Thanksgiving table.

Except it's our holiday table that needs the "flare," so when I tracked down this turkey at Popeyes of Burbank and learned it was basically the last one left in LA County, I had no choice but to summon the 500 Benz, stuff its cover in the boot and head north.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  

Thursday, October 24th, 2013

Being close to the Pacific Coast Highway is one of the best things about living in LA, and since the 500 Benz is doing a whole lot of this these days, I concluded late Tuesday afternoon that it was time for the two of us (that would be me and the Benz; mrs500benz is so not into it) to execute a PCH-centric driving loop.

So I put the top down and headed west, and yes, I know I owe you a "Things That Happened in June, July, August, September and October" post, but let's take this one step at a time and just talk PCH protocol for now.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Road Trips  

Monday, June 24th, 2013

It's a well-known fact, Benzitos, that I basically didn't post anything during April or May.

But imma make it up to you: got 30 photos here from those pre-topless months, in chronological order, that are guaranteed to bring you mostly up to date.

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Saturday, June 15th, 2013

What's the proper way to celebrate a year of 500 Benz ownership? Well, let me tell you: it starts with having a couple new parts installed, continues with an early dinner at Malibu Seafood, and obviously ends with a drive up some canyon road—preferably one with a little rocky mountain action at the top.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Driving Impressions  

Friday, March 15th, 2013

Okay, so I had to bring back the DeAndre Jordan dunkface today, because his reaction to that dunk—let's call it a "Something amazing just happened and I don't know what else to do" grimace—is precisely my reaction every time I flat-foot a fantastic engine.

It's my version of Jeremy Clarkson's trademark "POWERRRRRR!" battle cry, and I a professional driver briefly entered that zone early this morning when a closed course suddenly presented itself.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Driving Impressions  Videos  

Thursday, March 14th, 2013

Got not one, but two black German drop-tops in the stable this week, I am pleased to report—and naturally, this '50s Edition Beetle with 170 horsepower costs about twice as much as the 500 Benz.

In other news, the latter is about to receive its first real mechanical repair since I bought it nine months ago.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Maintenance  

Monday, February 4th, 2013

The 500Benz.com team is off to Puerto Rico tonight for a press event, which meant that the 500 Benz needed a place to lay its head in our absence.

I prefer the LAX Hilton because it offers plenty of door-ding-proof underground spaces for about $9 a day, and I found a real winner this time.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  

Sunday, February 3rd, 2013

Palos Verdes Drive is one of the more beauteous roads on the planet, in 500Benz.com's humble opinion, so when mercedesmark and I found ourselves motoring upon it en route to Los Verdes Golf Course today, I naturally pulled over and strapped on the GoPro.

If you can get past the oppressive wind noise, I think you'll agree that this is one of the finest 500Benzlife videos yet.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Golf Reviews  Videos  

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

Got back out on the mean streets this morning for my weekly 10am basketball game, and I decided to mount my new GoPro HD Hero2 to the rear deck for the occasion.

Verdict: a lot of random stuff can happen in 25 minutes of LA driving...sorry about the fingerprint smudge in the lower left corner...and this is a pretty neat piece of equipment.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Videos  

Thursday, January 31st, 2013

Two red circles to talk about here before I collapse from exhaustion due to strenuous automotive journalism:

1) It was 77 degrees today.

2) Whenever I see a roughly 2000-2006 Mercedes 500 of any sort, my mind inevitably wanders to the conundrum that is the M113 V8.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Spotted in the Wild  

Friday, January 25th, 2013

Every R129 Mercedes-Benz SL500 came with a great-looking removable hardtop from the factory, but the hardtop is pretty much pointless in this climate unless the soft-top is broken and you don't feel like having it fixed.

That's why this is one of the two photos in existence of the 500 Benz with its hardtop installed—because I took it off almost immediately...which meant I had to find a place to put it.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  

Monday, January 21st, 2013

So the check-engine light is still on, but the blinking fuel lights haven't returned since I reconnected that loose hose, which leads me to believe that I fixed the problem and just need my mechanic to reset the system.

Therefore, I didn't take the 500 Benz to the shop this morning after all; I went golfing instead.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Golf Reviews  

Sunday, January 20th, 2013

As noted, the plan yesterday was to go sailing with my friend Captain Nick, a man of mystery who grew up with me in the woods of Maine and now makes his home here in L.A.

The sailing part went off without a hitch, but the 500 Benz decided to throw a CEL (check-engine light) en route from Hollywood to Captain Nick's fine vessel in Marina Del Rey—so let's take a deep dive into both topics.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Maintenance  Videos  

Saturday, January 19th, 2013

Say what you will about L.A., but it can sure serve up some quality January weather.

I apologize for the terrible iPhone photo, which I took on my way through DTLA yesterday with the top down; here's a better one...

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posted in: 500Benzlife  

Thursday, January 17th, 2013

So a little outfit known as the Motor Press Guild hosts an annual track-day event at which journalists are let loose on a road course in the most interesting new metal of the year, three laps at a time.

It's one of the best things about my job, and this year I brought the 500 Benz.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013

As a prelude to the 500E post, here's the 500 Benz's M119 V8 starting up after sitting overnight, a.k.a. two hot minutes of hand-built German engineering porn.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Videos  

Sunday, January 6th, 2013

If I were writing a new car review—which I will assuredly be doing for the 500 Benz at some point, by the way—I would probably call this 7.9-cubic-foot trunk "paltry" or some such epithet.

But I'm not sure how much more depth you really need than just enough to accommodate an enormous Vito's Pizza box.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  

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