Give the kid the S500. There is nothing so entertaining as tooling around in a R107. Wind in the hair, sun, bugs in the teeth.
If you do get it for under $5k, that is a pretty good score. It sounds like it was well loved. The "lack" of power is an illusion. The 450SL is slow out the gate, and maybe the 560 has some more giddy up, upgraded transmission and diff. The 380 will seem just as fast, as long as you think it is. Just my $0.02 On Nov 20, 2013, at 4:39 AM, Dan Penoff wrote: > Thanks for the comments, Jaime. > > The car is a two owner car, starting out in Southern CA with the original > owner and moving to TX about 15 years ago with the present owner. The current > owner drove it as a weekend car, putting a small amount (about 40k) of the > 160k that's on it. > > About 10 years ago they had the car repainted the same color by the local MB > body shop along with having the top replaced with the OE material. They also > had the top end of the engine done around the same time. > > It's had about 10k put on it in the last ten years. The car is garaged at > all times. Full service records, too. > > The owner is in poor health and the family is looking to liquidate all of his > "toys", this being one of them. They have been trying to sell the car for a > while but had unrealistic expectations of what it is worth. As a result, they > are about ready to toss in the towel on it. > > I may be able to get it for under $4k, which could make it worthwhile one it > has been inspected and gets a clean bill of health. > > I know the 380 is far from a rocket ship, but I don't care about that and > would rather have the fuel economy over power. Since (I think) the 380 is > devalued compared to the 450 and 560, I see this working in my favor for > getting the same chassis car with the lower displacement engine. > > 450SLs are a dime a dozen around here, but most are thrashed and from the > 1985 range with the underwood cats with all the related issues. > > I'm not looking for resale value, so that doesn't play into the equation. If > I can pull this off the youngest son will end up with the car - unless I like > it better, then he gets the S500... > >> On Nov 19, 2013, at 9:05 PM, Jaime Kopchinski <jaime...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Hi Dan, >> There are lots of deals out there with R107s (I just bought a 450SL today, >> in fact). You have to be careful with resale value of a high mileage car. >> With your talent of being able to improve these cars both cosmetically and >> mechanically, you're probably best off finding a car in need of some TLC >> with lower mileage. Then when you're "done" with it, it'll be worth quite >> a bit more than a higher mileage car in the same condition. Same effort, >> and possibly nearly the same upfront costs. There are so many of these >> cars out there, and so many with low mileage, that a high mileage car just >> can't compete on the same price scale. >> >> Now, all this really depends on what you can buy this car for. If you're >> talking under $5000 and the interior is nice, then I might think >> differently. A pile of service records from new will help the resale value >> quite a bit, too. >> >> As far as 380SLs... they're not very powerful, as you know, but the quick >> sifting 4 speed transmission make them nicer to drive that 450SLs, in my >> opinion. You also get all the benefits of next generation climate control, >> cruise control, etc. Overall, a much more modern car than the 450SL. But >> I guess its also worth noting that the 560SL is another generation newer >> still in many ways. And, in comparison to a 380 or 450, is unbelievably >> powerful. >> >> Good luck! >> Jaime >> >> >> >>> On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 12:43 PM, Dan Penoff <d...@penoff.com> wrote: >>> >>> Might have a chance to get a 1984 380SL from the second owner. 160k, 10k >>> in the last ten years, top end done at 150k along with a full repaint in >>> original color. Soft top replaced when car was repainted. Has the hard top, >>> too, of course. >>> >>> More details as I get them. >>> >>> Comments, opinions, pitfalls to avoid? >>> >>> I don't know how close I am to pulling this off, but I am going to try... >>> >>> Dan >>> >>> Sent from my iPad >>> _______________________________________ >>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>> >>> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >>> >>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> >> >> >> -- >> Jaime Kopchinski >> http://www.jaimekop.com/ >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
