Gorgeous "granny mobile" 68k miles for sale!!

[Bfam4t6]

I am selling a 1976 450 SEL for an asking price of $6,500

The car is gold with a medium brown interior (a shade darker than palomino)

The Great

-68k original miles
-No known mechanical issues
-Gold BBS rims (recently refinished)
-Virgin spare tire
-Original Mercedes tool bundle
-Original Manuals
-Original Becker Mexican radio
-Original First Aid kit
-Essentially a one owner car (see below)
-Everything works save for the power antenna which is stuck up
-The A/C works and has been converted to R143
-Survived a 200 mile drive from Wichita to Kansas City with no issues

The Good

-The interior is nearly flawless
-The leather is almost perfect...now rips or tears whatsoever
-The front seats have been restuffed with Mercedes stuffing/pads, but the rear leather
hasn't been and thus sags a bit
-The dash is in almost perfect with one small split starting to develop
-The instrument cluster looks like new
-Michelin tires with 70%+ tread life left
-The wood trim is almost perfect save for two small and hardly noticeable veneer cracks just
left of the steering wheel
-Chrome and polished aluminum all looks good save for one dime sized dent in rear bumper
-Timing chain work was done several thousand miles ago


The Bad

-Needs to be repainted
-Two small rust bubbles near drivers rear fender
-Benign surface rust developing around chipped paint surrounding sunroof
-Non-Mercedes floor mats
-One small rock chip in windshield
-The hood mat is a little beat up and starting to peel away in places


This car is essentially a one owner car. An old lady owned the car from new to 2001. In 2001 she gifted the car to her mechanic. The mechanic owns an import auto shop, but specializes in BMW. Thus he never really loved and appreciated this vehicle and it has mostly sat for the past few years. He lowered the springs and I believe it was he who added the BBS rims. I know from viewing the titles that he only drove the car 1,200 miles since 2001. It was ALWAYS garaged until 2001 at which point the mechanic frequently let it sit outside....thus the failing paint and beginning to crack dash. I have a folder full of records for the car showing all the receipts for the work done at this particular shop. They only go back to 50,000 miles or so, yet in 17,000 miles this lady spent nearly $10,000 on the car.

I will post pictures when I get a chance. Currently it is dark and thunderstorming. This is truly a beautiful car....if there was any way in hell I could afford to keep this gorgeous machine and treat it like the true gem that it is I surely would. I love the lines of a w116, and this one looks particularly sharp with it's front fog lights, lowered stance, and matching gold BBS wheels. However, I need to be able to pay for school in the fall and I already have a reliable 1997 Saab 900s that gets around 30 MPG. It's ugly as sh*t compared to an elegant Benz, but it gets the job done.

Again I'm asking $6,500. It's not a museum piece, but it's no daily driver either. I think if somebody paid $6,500 and invested all the money needed to restore this car fully that his or her total would amount to a fair museum piece value. I would like to sell this car to a current 116 owner, or at least a Mercedes enthusiast. I feel this it's a real diamond in the rough that deserves to be pampered. Any questions ask away. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

[Bfam4t6]

A few cell phone pics to start things off.

Also, I was wrong about the cracks in the wood...one is left of the steering wheel, and there are two more on the wood surrounding the radio and climate control. All three are hardly noticeable and only affect the finish....not the wood itself.

[Bfam4t6]

[Bfam4t6]

[79Mercy]

IMHO, 6500 is a bit much for a car with poor paint. If you had it painted you could possibly alot closer to 10K for it. Nice car though.

[Bfam4t6]

Fair enough. I'm only asking $6,500. In my opinion the car is worth that much, but the buyer makes the market. I've tried looking for similar cars for sale to compare prices with, but a nice w116 is hard to come by. What do you think that car is worth as is?

[79Mercy]

Well it does have very low mileage so I guess that would make up for the poor paint. Maybe 5000-5500, I don't know it's worth what someone will pay you.

[Bfam4t6]

I plan on giving the car a tune-up in the next week or so.....spark plugs, wires, fluids, filters, and whatever else I have time for.

The rest of you guys feel free to chime in. Ask specific questions or critique what you already see. You don't even have to be a potential buyer to help me get a feel for what buyers would want or expect.

[500ezin]

I would say it is worth around that price just with the miles and condition. I would say a price that would be more realistic would be about $4500-$5500. Its a shame about the paint because if the paint was in good-decent shape it would def. fetch way more than that. It is def. a clean looking car and could make a very nice car just with some TLC. Good luck with the sale, maybe you should keep it and sell the 126 i really like it! the gold with bbs wheels is nice how did he lower it?

[riisitas]

Nice vehicle. I think it's priced right maybe a little high. Not only does it need paint it alos needs to have the rust taken care of. There's always more rust lurking than what you can see.