Real Racing 3 - Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Almost two years ago (from the time of this posting) I picked up a vintage Mercedes. For details on that, check out the story here, there and that.

For a while, I was rather proud of the fact I was able to pick up an old favorite of mine and had the unique opportunity to enjoy it in both the real and virtual worlds, as I wrote about that here and again.

The trouble was, I never did finish off the story of what happened to it, did I?

Well, let's just say the reality of what I had and what I wanted was going to be a very expensive venture that I probably would have never recouped all of my spending into it.

Exterior wise, the car was in presentable but rough condition. All of the major trim pieces were still on the car and the only one that was missing was kept safely inside the glove box. The rust repair and repaint would have been a fairly manageable financially, but that front bumper cover (including the shipping, if one was even located) was going to be a major spending point.

In my hands, it would never be the car as pictured above.

The interior wasn't too bad either, but there were a few issues that would have to been dealt with.

The cracked dash-pad and broken springs in the driver's seat were the worst, a really good detailing to the rest was the easiest. All the trim was there, which was the best of all things.

The 2.3 litre, 4 cylinder engine ran rather decently, with only minor ticking while idling. The ticking would go away after putting the transmission into gear and the car still produced above average power, despite it's age and mileage. However, a drive-train rebuild was something I had on my list of things to be done, by me or whoever took over the project.

The first wake-up call to what I had gotten myself into began with the trunk lock mechanism.

The doors and trunk on the 190E are controlled by vacuum locking system, which worked just fine (much to my surprise). Despite hearing the clicks of the parts in motion, the trunk wouldn't open. After consulting the owner's manual (original factory issued too!) and a few attempts with the key, I opened it to discover a simple plastic rod had broken in half, between the mechanical lock and vacuum actuator.

Sadly, the plastic rod couldn't be glued nor taped, so I started an internet search for a replacement. Hours upon hours delivered some bad news, I had to by the lock and rod as a complete unit, no separate options for just the rod itself.

Due to living in Canada, a lot of online retailers claimed an inability to ship here, so off to the local Mercedes-Benz dealer for what I needed. I came across the fact (thanks to watching an episode of Jay Leno's Garage) that I could get new parts for old Mercedes from the factory.

To make a long story a bit shorter, I was $300.00 (before taxes and other addons) lighter in the wallet to have the pleasure of an opening trunk lid. So, based on the cost of, what I considered to be a minor part, this project would be far to much for my bank account to handle.

In the end, the 190E was put up for sale and after a few weeks and many visits from some "tire kickers," I came across a guy who had the some passion for the car as I once had, but more time and cash to finally get it done up right.

I closed the chapter on the Real World Mercedes 190E when I watched the new owner drive my ambitious dream away.

In Real Racing 3, the Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II has finally arrived and of course, I just had to play it. Partly as a comparison of what I experienced in other games and relive a dream of what could have been....