I drove it to Cedar Falls, IA that evening. I rented a car, drove to Omaha and the dealership was very accommodating, picking me up in Council Bluffs for a late evening car pickup. This particular car is a one previous owner 2001 SLK 230, barrillo red. I bought the car over the phone and never saw anything but pictures before I picked it up.
The search took me two months and I finally found what I was looking for at Mercedes Benz Omaha. What are you thinking when you order a 2 seater sports car with an automatic transmission? I find that mystifying. I've discovered that only about 10 percent of these have manual transmissions. The R170 version of the SLK was only made from 1998 through 2004, averaging about 10,000 US versions each year. I live in the Rockies and the mountain folk aversion to rwd vehicles is near legendary so my search took me well out of my area.
The experience put me in the market for a replacement.
