Progress!

After more and more delays, there is now progress. Tires arrived and went onto the rims with no problems. The BBS's were mostly balanced apart from one which required quite a large weight (80g). That will be a rear wheel for sure. Anyway, was pleasantly surprised to be able to even source the correct type bolts off the shelf of a tire seller in town. The BBS's require ball-type bolts with a 30mm long thread, while the Monoblocks used a 25mm bolt with a cone head. I was prepared for a long wait while sourcing the bolts but got very lucky.

The shop is now installing the new blower motor and hopefully the side panels after that.

New wheels are mounted. In response to claims that they are too narrow / too much offset in the back:
- I consider this a nice 80s retro look (or a classic car look if you prefer), and very gentlemanly in comparison to low offset wheels, or god forbid ones that bulge outwards.
- Remember, 205 is right there in the ballpark for a W126 stock tire. 225s or somesuch are an expensive cosmetic upgrade with tradeoffs in comfort. The diameter of my wheels is slightly too small as the stock size is 215/65 and I'm running 205/55. This results in an increased speedo error but I'm willing to live with it in order to save 50% in the price of tires at this time.