It finally happened. My hood star got ripped off.

[Chris W.]

I'm pissed. 10 years I've had my 124 diesel. Thru thick and thin, I'm up to 431K. Yesterday I parked at my office and a colleague and I went into DC for a long day of meetings. Come back to the office about 7 PM and parking lot is empty, and my star is gone. This is not a sketchy parking lot, it's a nice office building in a decent location. Ugh....

Chris W.

[uberwasser]

Bummer. Sorry to hear it.

[Lycoming-8]

I think this is the ultimate fate for every Benz owner. Early in the ownership of our 220D, we had the star stolen, but they broke it in the process, making it useless to them as well as me. A number of years later the star was stolen off of one of the 123 parts cars. Grrrrrrrrrrr

I recently took one off of a parts car purchased earlier in the year. Now I can't put enough pull on the spring to get the keeper back on for storage. Is there a special tool for this?

[Hit Man X]

300SEL was stolen about a six weeks ago, 560's three weeks... punkass kids at the junior high up the street. Ran some errands at 2pm, back at 5pm and no hood star. Figured the first occured at the supermarket. Also stole my neighbor's star off his 560 and his car is about 30-40' up his driveway. Bold. I have the last laugh, it is on camera.

Luckily the SD and SDL are at the back of the driveway behind a gate.



I hated people before and do just a bit more now.

[charmalu]

I feel bad for you guys that lost one. Sucks these vermin break them off.

When the Hippy Peace movement was in full swing, these were being broke off faster than they could be replaced.
Hey...Peace Bro V

Wire 220V to it, and that will singe their Whiskers. LOL....Naw..I wouldn`t do that.

I haven`t lost one........................YET!!!! Have had a MB since 97.
Maybe I should keep my mouth shut before I loose one.

I have the W115 Star and Radiator Cap style on our 123`s and the 126.
It adds a touch of Class
Last time I checked, a replacement star was around $115. The Radiator Cap is NLA. I grab every one I come across in the yards, not many show up any more.

Best one I scored on, my Wife said look here, and one was laying on the ground complete with the attachment spring clip. guess some one pulled it and then dropped it. It was like brand new.


Charlie...Peace Bro V

[sokoloff]

Originally Posted by Chris W.

I'm pissed. 10 years I've had my 124 diesel. Thru thick and thin, I'm up to 431K. Yesterday I parked at my office and a colleague and I went into DC for a long day of meetings. Come back to the office about 7 PM and parking lot is empty, and my star is gone. This is not a sketchy parking lot, it's a nice office building in a decent location. Ugh....

Chris W.

Probably just the democrats getting all the free stuff they can before they have to leave in January.

[charmalu]

Originally Posted by sokoloff

Probably just the democrats getting all the free stuff they can before they have to leave in January.

Now that is a good one. LOL...


Charlie

[pgringo]

if you're bored, a regular trophy top fits perfectly as a silly replacement for less than $2 each. you can pick your favorite sport/activity.

[llensart]

Originally Posted by sokoloff

Probably just the democrats getting all the free stuff they can before they have to leave in January.

That was funny , Glad i'm a Socialist

[jbach36]

See if there were any cameras around that can catch them. I hate people who destroy property that's not theirs.

Fortunately, replacements are not expensive.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

I've lost my share of stars over the years. Pre W123 stars are larger, but easier to steal. Some aftermarket replacements are crap. I got one for a friend's '72 W115 and the chrome faded and blistered within a few years until the star finally crumbled!
When I needed one for my '82 240D, I got it from my local Mercedes dealer. It came with the faux radiator-cap but was made in Turkey. So far after several years, it's been holding up well.
When my Benzes were my main transport, and I had to park in some questionable neighborhood, I sometimes pulled the clip and locked the whole star/cap assy inside the car. Easier than trying to unhook the spring.
Aside from high voltage and other violent remedies, perhaps someone clever could rig it to the car-horn, with an automatic reset so it shuts off after a few minutes.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[w123fanman]

Some of the replacements are more expensive, like on the 116 cars, like $70 retail. I actually broke the star off of my dad's 240 when I was little because it was covered in ice and I wanted to clean it off, instead it was brittle from the cold and snapped. While it was lent out to an employee who eventually overheated the engine, his mechanic replaced it for free saying no Mercedes should be missing it's star

[otto huber]

Just had my hood star broken off this afternoon in the Trader Joe's parking lot. The worst part is that they chipped the paint on the hood when they snapped the star back. They left the star on the hood, so it was just someone who wanted to be an *********.

[pberku]

Many years ago my wife came home with her 1984 300d Mercedes and the star was missing, stolen.

At the time I didn't know any better, and I thought that those things are worth at least $500.00, so I called 911 and reported the theft. I subsequently learned that a new star from the dealer was only $25.00, and that they even install it for you. So I got another one.

The amazing part to the story however is that a few days later, a detective cals me to advise that they caught a teenager with about 10 of those stars in his possession, and that if I wanted! I can pick one up, however he also said that most of them appear to be broken. Apperantly they were being sold for key chains.

The funny part is that my boss at the time had his house broken into about 6 months earlier, with about $8,000 worth of electronics and model trains stolen. He was upset that the police spend time and found my Mercedes star in a few days, but his exensive equipment was still missing after 6 months.

( BTW, they never caught the burglar)

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Every time I see one of these threads, I am reminded of a TV program many years ago showing an anti-theft 'flamethrower' device installed under a BMW in South Africa!

Happy Motoring, Mark