As some of you might remember, I bought my car sight unseen. The seller had cleverly placed the owners manual on top of the storage box, hiding the missing wooden roll-top cover. Quite a good trick I must admit, since it didn't look overly obvious that something was even being hidden.I've wanted to get a replacement for a while now. The wooden roll-top is available new from the dealer for $600. But there are also many second hand complete boxes available for anything between $50 to $300 on Ebay.
I often find decent looking boxes but with the end piece/locking mechanism either broken or loose. This is because the slants become tight in the box and the constant opening and closing over stresses the backing material and glue, eventually tearing the end piece off.
After trawling Ebay for months, I finally managed to grab an almost perfect condition matching burl walnut (but burgundy covered) box. All I had to do was transfer the wooden roll-top part over to my palomino covered box.
Super easy job to do. Remove the box from the console by removing the two screws at the front (inside the box) and pull up and out from the front. Then on the box itself, remove a bunch of screws, including the locking mechanism. Then slide the roll-top cover out of the box through the front and installation is in reverse. Small t
hing, but does wonders to the interior of the 560SEL.If anyone needs a burgundy covered roll-top box without the wooden part, I've got one spare now.
When I removed the box from my car to do the repair, I found a little Easter egg underneath it. I found 4 items.
1) An unused small pack of matches from a "Jupiter Crab Co." bar in West Palm Beach, Florida.2) A petrol receipt from the "Airport Shell", Sarasota, Florida for 4.335 gallons of fuel paid by a Curtis/Ann Lindsay on the 24th of June 2009 at 22:06. What kind of person does a 4 gallon fuel stop in a 5.6L V8 Benz?
3) An ATM receipt for "Insufficient Funds" from SunTrust bank in Osprey, Florida on the 24th of June 2009 at 22:57.
4) Another ATM receipt from SunTrust bank, but this time in Nokomis. Flordia. Withdrawal of $40.00 leaving a balance of $12.51 on the 25th of June 2009 at 09:30. Someone was really broke!
Putting the addresses into Google Maps reveals what looks like a short trip from the Airport to an ATM on Wednesday night. Then another stop at an ATM the following morning a few miles further south. What a curious life.