More progress to report
I'd noticed the water pump had a slight amount of play in it - no leaks, no unpleasant noises, just a bit of up and down movement on the shaft, so I thought it wise to replace it at leisure rather than replace it in desperation. I used an INA Schaeffler one as it didn't seem wise to go cheap.
Not too bad a job actually. The drain down point at the bottom of the radiator was easy to get at and the bung undid without any problems, all the nuts and bolts holding the water pump on just undid like they were only put on yesterday, and the internal waterways were spotless with zero signs of corrosion and muck. It all seems too easy - I'm not used to this sort of thing happening

- There's a water pump under there somewhere - own work
Another job was replacing the power steering fluid and fluid filter. You
can remove one of the power steering pipes and pump all the fluid out and replace it...... but the more enlightened
bodger home mechanic sucks all the old fluid out of the reservoir and drops in some new, then runs the car for a minute whilst doing a bit of steering, then sucks out the fluid and repeats the process until you've gone through about 2 or so litres of PS fluid. No leaks, no mess, no fuss. Perhaps I should have dribbled some PS fluid all over the place just 'for old time's sake' as it all seemed to go remarkably well

- Power steering reservoir with new fluid, and new water pump behind - own work
Now for a more grubby job that surely must throw up some issues. I wanted to fit a new replacement steering damper to see if it improved the steering along with the new PS fluid. I put the car up on some shallow ramps to see what I could
curse at find. Oh !..... I can get to each nut and bolt of the steering damper from each side of the car without fully having to get under the car and without removing any under body gubbins..... and each nut and bolt undid easily and nothing was seized.... and the old damper easily came out.... and the new one easily went in.
Clearly I'm operating in an alternate universe. Car things
never go this easily

- Old steering damper, not too bad condition.. New damper box. - own work
So now for the bit where it all goes wrong and messy. Replacing the hydraulic fluid that runs the roof mechanism and roll over bar.

- Hydraulic pump for the roof - own work
As the hydraulic fluid that runs the roof mechanism has never been replaced (to my knowledge), I thought it best to do so as the old stuff was 27 years old

The pump is located in the boot, under the spare tyre, under a plastic cover, and the last person to look at it was probably Dieter oder Hans when they fitted it in the factory

You get a choice of two pipes to remove from the pump - one supplies the high pressure feed line, and one is the return line. I want the low pressure return line so I can feed it into a bottle and collect it before it goes to the reservoir. Eeny meeny miny moe.
Well would you look at that ! I only got the right one

Numerous cycles of roof up - roof down whilst keeping the reservoir topped up and I purged 2 litres of fresh hydraulic fluid through the system and barely spilled a drop. I've heard of other people removing the wrong pipe.... you can imagine the carnage
Whilst rummaging around in the boot I decided to replace the spare tyre - it was the
original Pirrelli as fitted at the factory and it'd never touched the road, in fact the wheel still had the manufacturer sticker on it. The tyre - though still pumped up and round, was rather sticky on one side and I daren't risk it. I believe in some countries you're not allowed unmatched tyres across the same axle and as it has nearly new Continental's all 'round I decided to fit a (barely) used one as a spare. I don't plan on rotating the tyres to make use of the spare one as the wheel is in mint condition, so the spare really is for 'get you home' purposes only.
I'd call that little bout of fettling a success.

Other jobs to do at some point - replace the brake fluid with Mercedes' own Dot4+ spec stuff, and track down an oil leak from the back of the engine. I'm hoping it's not a head gasket issue - it'd be
unlikely due to the low mileage and the fact the car has been properly maintained over the years. The pile of bills and receipts that came with it showed it as having main dealer servicing every year even when it'd only covered a thousand or so miles each year

. It'll be a job for the endoscope to go exploring the nether regions of the back of the engine to see what's up.
Oh - and an update on MPG for her. Somehwere around 29 MPG on the Germany trip. Not too bad
