If you really enjoy the car, and $4000 buys you another 5 years or so, that less than a thousand a year to drive a car you enjoy. If the car truly is sound and dependable, spending 4000 to bring it up to a really nice level would be worth it to me. Also, do to age and mileage, preventative maintenance becomes very important. If if things "look" ok, once they have a certain number of years and miles on them, best to just change them, especially if safety related. Bonus too, you will have confidence in the car, and it won't leave you stranded somewhere. Order up your parts in advance, and make small weekend projects of it, so you're always on top of it.
Nice car, a lady in my area had one that was in excellent condition! Ed 300E On 8 August 2010 11:27, OK Don <okd...@gmail.com> wrote: > You will be plopping down that $4,000 either way - do you want to keep > spending it on the car you know, or on a different one? My experience is > that when I buy a $4,000 car, I put in another $1,000 to $2,000 getting it > up to snuff. > I traded off a great SDL because the paint was in really bad shape, but > otherwise it was very sound car. I just couldn't bring myself to spend > $2,000 or more on a decent paint job that only made it look better. My wife > hated having it in the drive as it was. > Your experience with the bearing is one reason we have more than one car > for > me to drive - there's no pressure to get it fixed today - I have the luxury > of ordering parts from Rusty -- > > On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 12:40 AM, Kathmandu <kathma...@cableone.net> wrote: > > > I have a 1989 Mercedes 300 SE with 175,000 miles on it. I put the last > > 40,000 on it and it has been a really dependable car even though I have > done > > a good bit of work on it. Thing is, the car is 20+ years old and it needs > a > > paint job and the seats are cracked pretty bad. I had a front wheel > bearing > > go out on it this week and spent the entire day today trying to get the > > right bearing turning a 1.5 hour job into an all day affair because all > the > > car part stores in my area have the wrong bearings and seals listed on > their > > computers. (This isn't surprising but it is an example of owning a > > relatively rare car ) Thing is, do I put any more money into it? It > > doesn't have a speck of rust on it but it has enough hail craters to make > it > > resemble a golf ball yet I still get compliments on it. Just today a > black > > lady said she really liked my car even though she was driving a $40,000 > SUV. > > Upholstery shop wants $800+ to redo the seats, needs exhaust from the cat > > converter back, hail dents, oil leak and the rear springs are sagging. > Do > > I put $4000 into a $2000 car to have a $2500 car or plop down $4000 on > > another, newer car? > > > > -- > OK Don > Panic! (the national past time). > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
