It's a little hard to tell from the pictures until you see the close-ups below but ole Bennie was in serious need of a paint job.  The folks at Vogely & Todd in Nashville did a superb job in his restoration.  As it turned out, Bennie had been painted a couple of times over the years.  His old paint job was a little darker and we considered going with a darker blue.  However, on the advice of the professionals at Vogely & Todd, we decided to restore him to his original Mercedes color.  As they pointed out, if you're serious about a restoration you need to restore the car to its original condition.  As you can see, we're glad we took their advice.

Before	After
Front-Driver's side	The difference is amazing.  Bennie looks brand new!
Front-Passenger's side - notice the crumpled fender and the hood dent	The fender we bought from the wrecked car in Memphis worked out great.
Rear-Passenger's side	Bennie with his personalized plate
	The "TURBODIESEL" emblem on the trunk lid has been replaced with "BIODIESEL."
Rear-Driver's side	It's hard to tell from the picture but even the wheels were repainted.
Close up of the old paint.	This shot compared to the "before" shot gives you a better idea of just what a fantastic job Vogely & Todd did.
Close-up of the crumpled fender and the dent in the hood	Replaced with a fender we bought for $100 from a wrecked Mercedes in Memphis.
The front grill in need of a little help	This grill we found at the junk yard, cleaned it up and replaced the Mercedes badge just under the emblem.
	We're only partially through the interior restoration.  We'll post pictures when we're finished.  As you can see, the interior is in pretty good shape.  We don't have too much to fix.
Interior-front
	"After" picture coming soon
Interior-back

We can't thank Vogely & Todd enough for their painstaking work in the restoration of this car.  They took their time and meticulously restored every inch.  But, that's what they do for each of their customers.  That's why they have the reputation as the best paint and body shop in the area and the reason Phil Valentine has been using them for over 20 years.