Michael Minges
I enjoy talking with people and interviewing them, too. I learned the art and science of interviewing the second time that I was in the Army. I was a drug and alcohol counselor for three and a half years and went through the Behavioral Science Specialist school years ago at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX. Counseling was a great experience.
Waiting for the person to be interviewed can be rewarding, too. Nowadays, sometimes I’ll sit in the Tuscany bar and just scan the room while I wait. Over one or seven pitchers of the brewer’s craft, men will ponder and debate if there’s golf after death. The Star Trek fans worry if society will frown if they marry outside their solar system. Then the interviewee will show up and snap me back into focus.
If the interviewee doesn’t show or comes late, that’s okay, too. It gives me more time to review questions that I’d like to ask them but questions I like to ask myself as well. For instance, who’s my favorite automotive writer? I get Brock Yates and Leon Mandel often. David E. Davis gets mentioned too, but for me, Warren Weith was always the best. Who’s yours and why?
People want to know where to find special interest cars. Okay, I’ll spill the beans on where I look for them. Mercedes has designated chassis nomenclature for each car since the production run varies on every model, and my car’s designation is “R107.” It was made for 17 years. There’s plenty of them, but it’s a two-edged sword—just like buying or selling a fiberglass sailboat. They don’t wear out, so there’s tons of them. This is good when you want to buy but a pain when you’re ready to sell.
I’ll use the R107 as an example. In the Mercedes-Benz Club of America’s official magazine, The Star, the January-February 2015 issue did a great article on the history of the R107—all 17 years of the production run. Naturally, the first place to start looking for an R107 will be the ads in the back of The Star. These cars will represent “das Beste vom Besten” (the best of the best). Of course, the prices will reflect the source. Two other great sources are the Palm Springs craigslist.com and bringatrailer.com websites. It always makes me smile when people living in Goodyear think they’re rich. The “snowbirds” in Palm Springs, instead of cubby holing Toyotas and Kias over the summer, keep Porsches, Bentleys, and so on. Go to the Palm Springs craigslist.com, then click on “cars and trucks” for sale. In the search box type “Mercedes SL.” It’s ‘umbling, believe me.
A better place to test the marketing waters is bringatrailer.com. It’s an online auction site for the sale of cars most people never heard of and fewer people have owned. Up in the right corner, there’s a search box. Type in “R107.” Be prepared. Have a couple slices of cold pizza and a six-pack handy. It makes for a great evening. What will pop up is all of the R107s sold on their site. They have charts averaging the prices along with other information. It makes for good reading, even though the carbohydrate intake is devastating.
Good hunting!