I'm going to revive this thread for now. I'm actually the guy that sold this car to you back in 2014 - oh the nostalgia of my first ever car. Since then I occasionally check the registers to see if it's still around, and stumbled upon this thread. It's great to see the whip's still going strong (probably going stronger than ever).
I bought the car (after many rounds around the mall parking lot in my dad's mustard yellow 244) from a lady in Velsen-Noord when I was 17. I registered it in my dad's name (cheap insurance + I don't think I could legally own the car due to the fact I hadn't passed my driver's license yet). Anyway, I bought this on a rainy Saturday morning for the grand total of ?2000 of my hard-earned money, hoping to turn it into a sleeper one day (I aimed at a blue/white type of thing with gold coronas, similar to Bamse's). As Arno points out: for its age the car was in great shape. It had some minor rust, but other than that I don't recall any serious issues. Ah, I remember one day before Arno came to pick it up, the idle sensor thingie (?) broke, resulting in the car doing high revs even when idling. I was told it's a ?5 part.
The car definitely needed some maintenance when I got it, so I had the oil pump, head gasket, and some other things replaced. I vividly remember the time I was driving with my friends (of course after I obtained my license), pressed the brakes but nothing happened (the lady had never checked the brake fluid). I yanked the handbrake to come to a full standstill only 5 centimeters from a concrete wall. Other than that I didn't drive much, maybe 20km a week. The ride was quite smooth IIRC and loved the squeaky seat springs. The sound the doors make when they close is almost vault-like. So heavy and solid, love it.
After owning it for about 7-8 months, Dutch law was changed by the eco lobby. The idea was to bully all Mercedes 190D drivers into oblivion, and for some reason LPG (this car) + Diesel cars were put in the same (high) tax bracket. Also, the threshold for old-timers was raised from 35 years to 40 years. This meant that the monthly costs for this car rose from ?17 (insurance) + ?0 road tax (>35 years old, and thus exempted) to approx ?120. At the time I was still a student living at home and there was no way I could afford this in the long term, especially given the fact I hardly drove it.
Unfortunately I didn't have a barn or garage to store it for another few years, so I ended up selling it (I still have a picture of you and your girlfriend sitting in the car after we handled the paperwork). I absolutely hated selling this car, especially given the (mainly political) reason for it, but it's great to see it's still alive and kicking. You turned it into the Frankenstein that I would've built too, frankly. And by the looks of it, you did a much better job than I ever would've done, so thank you for that.
If you ever want to get rid of it, please let me know and I'll buy it back in an instant. I'll keep following this page and I'd love to see it one day (IIRC your in-laws live in G-town too, right?).
Enjoy the weekend!