ONE YEAR TODAY.
STILL DRIVING THE 250SE SUNDAYS THE WAY STEVE DROVE IT.
IF YOU GOT PHOTOS OF HIM AT THE OLD MEETS MUM WANTS TO SEE EM.
BOONIE.
Boonie.
I was at the funeral with you. I sat at the back. I don't think I said anything to you that day that meant anything. So I'll say it now - your uncle was the reason I knew how to fix half the cars I've ever owned. He didn't teach by telling. He'd sit in the shed with you and you'd watch him do a thing once, and you'd never have to ask again.
His '69 280SL is at my place in Campbelltown. Costa rang me three weeks after the funeral and said "Billy you keep the key, drive it once a month, don't sell it, we'll work out what to do." That was a year ago. I have driven it once a month. It is in the front bay under the dust cover. When the family decides, I'll do whatever they want.
The car is fine. It will be fine for as long as you need.
Vasilios.
1989. I'd had the 380SEL three months. The aircon stopped on a Wednesday. I rang Steve because that's what you did, you rang Steve. He drove out to Banksia Park that night. He looked at it for ten minutes. He said "your expansion valve is gone, the dealer wants $800, get one from the breaker in Marrickville for $40, I'll do it on Saturday."
Saturday he was there at 8am. He brought a thermos. He fixed the aircon. mrs Berny made him a salad sandwich. He stayed for two hours after the work was done just talking. He didn't take any money. He said "you'll get me back, Bern. You'll be the one teaching some kid the same thing in twenty years."
I've thought about that line my whole life.
Steve woulda known what to say today and I don't. Boonie I'm sorry. mumma_jo I'm sorry. The man was something else.
I'll dig for photos. I've got the 89 meet at La Perouse somewhere on negatives. Will scan tomrrow.
we miss him.
Onkel Steve. Ein Mensch.
In 2012 he came to my place in Darlinghurst to inspect the 5.0 Coupe before I committed to the purchase. He spent four hours with the car. He found two things the seller had not disclosed. He saved me $14,000. He would not accept dinner. He took a small coffee on the kerb and he left.
The Mercedes Classic Drivers Australia book of memorials would not normally include a member of M.A.L.A.K.A.S. We have voted at the May meeting to make an exception. Steve will be entered in the 2019 book with the simple notation "Onkel Steve, Sydney, 1949 - 2018. Ein Mensch."
Mit aufrichtigem Beileid an die Familie und an Boonie.
Steve was at every meet from 2008. Every one. Bondi 2009 in the rain - he was there. Phillip Island 2011 - he was there. Symbio 2013 when the bushfires came in - he was there. The W126 I wouldn't have without him, he found it at a private sale in 2014, he rang me at six in the morning to say "get up to Glebe by nine, the bloke is going to sell it to someone else if you're not there." He didn't make a cent from any of it.
I have photos from 2008-2017. I'll go through tonight and put up what I have.
mumma_jo, Boonie - the brothers are thinking of you.
Bro.
mumma_jo I'm sorry. Boonie I'm sorry.
Steve was the only person in my entire life who could ever tell me to shut up and I'd actually shut up. He told me once at a meet in 2017 that I was talking too much about prices and not enough about cars. I was 16. I was a kid trying to sound like a man. Nobody else had ever said it to me. He said it once and quiet, and I changed how I talked. I think about that meet a lot.
im not good at this. I don't know what else to say. I'll be at the M.A.L.A.K.A.S. meet next Sunday if anyone wants to talk about Steve over a coffee. I'll listen. Respectfully.
Steve helped me find chassis 108.057 in 2012. He came out to Doonside. He drank tea. He said the car was solid and the paint was original except the boot lid. He was right. Twelve years later the boot lid is still the only repaint. He never charged me. He told me to come to the next meet and bring a plate.
I drank tea with him three more times before he went away. Each time he was kind.
I am sorry Boonie. I am sorry mumma.
Viktor.
We loved him.
The cafe is closed Wednesday for the day in his memory. Every year on the date.
The W124 wagon was Steve's find in 2013. He saw it parked outside a doctor's surgery in Strathfield and left a note on the windscreen. The owner rang him a week later. He set up the sale. He told the bloke to ask $4,200 and not a dollar less. The bloke asked $4,200. I paid $4,200. Eleven years and the car is still here.
I would not own this car if Steve had not left that note.
To the family - my respect, and to Boonie - thank you for starting the thread.
I met Steve once. Phillip Island 2011. I had flown back to Australia for the week to see my brother in Adelaide and I drove across for the meet. Steve was the first person who came up to me. He saw the Stuttgart number plate on my hire car and he said "you a long way from home". I said "I came back for this." He understood.
He drove the 250SE down from Sydney with his wife. The car was perfect. He let me sit in it.
I am very sorry. Ein guter Mann.
This forum exists because Steve asked me to build it.
September 2008 we were at the old shop. Steve had a notebook with rules written in it. He paid for the first two years of hosting from his own pocket and he never told anyone. I am telling you now because he is not here to be embarassed by it.
SMP §3.1 - the membership eligibility clause - was written word for word by Steve. He gave me a page. He said "Lefteri put this in, don't change the language, and don't put my name on it." He did not want credit. He never did.
The thread is sticky. The thread will remain sticky for as long as classicmercforum exists. There will be no further moderation - the members are conducting themselves with the dignity Steve would of asked for.
Lefteris.
I have only just seen this thread because I am in Paris.
In February 2014 I joined this forum from France. I posted hello, nothing more. I recieved a private message three days later from a member named Uncle_Steve. He wrote in English with great care. He attached a complete 250SE European-market wiring diagram from his own collection, scanned, with annotations in Greek on the parts he thought I should know about. I had not asked for it. He had read my introduction post and decided I would need it one day.
Eight months later I needed it. I still have the file. I still have the message. I will keep both.
Boonie - I never met your uncle. I would like you to know that he reached across the world to a stranger and gave him a wiring diagram because he thought it would help. That is who he was, from very far away.
Repose en paix, Onkel Steve.
One more thing I'll say and then I'll stop.
Mrs Berny made the koulourakia for the funeral last year. Two batches. The big tray. She didn't know Steve well, she only met him at the meets at our place a handful of times, but she got up at 4am the day before the service and made the koulourakia. She said "your friend needs them, Bern."
She has asked me to say to mumma_jo and to Boonie that she still thinks about Steve when she puts the kettle on, because he liked his tea exactly the way she made it, and she has not made it any other way since.
That's from her, not me. I'm useless at this stuff.
Sorry mate.
thanks. all of you.
read every reply twice. mum did too. she wanted me to say thanks to Mrs Berny especially.
taking the car to Newcastle this weekend. first time since the funeral. Steve said drive it not garage it so im driving it. Billy has my number but it wont go wrong.
photos when im back.
Boonie.
good boy boonie. drive safe.
thank you all. steve loved you all.