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Help!! Good deal?

979 views 17 replies 7 participants last post by  MrBits 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi i am new here, just wanted to get some feedback on the car contained in the following link before i make my move, its a 1984 500SEC euro model i believe due to head light design.. located in Calgary, AB Canada with 190xxxkm's on the clock. I have spoken to the owner and seen and driven the car, only things now working is the radio(not an issue for me) and the cold a/c(I personally don't need it), heater works fine however, other than that the engine started first try in -20c and everything else works. Please tell me what you think.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Mercedes Benz - Calgary Mercedes-Benz Cars For Sale - Kijiji Calgary



http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/ahmednasif/Mercedes500SEC01j.jpg

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/ahmednasif/Mercedes500SEC2.jpg

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/ahmednasif/Mercedes500SEC3.jpg
 
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#2 ·
Welcome to the forum.
Please complete your profile with the car mod and location, by clicking 'User CP' on the top tool bar, to make it easier for members to offer advice.

There are some differences between the Euro grey import, and the US spec cars.

MB Coupes has a very good Buyer's Guide, and hiring a MB mechanic for a PPI (pre purchase inspection) may be the best money you can spend.
Get as much service history / work done on the car as possible.

The forum archive has a wealth of information available at your finger tips.
Please make sure to carefully read the 'Welcome to the Forum' tutorial sticky on top.
It will show how to run a forum search (needs words of more than 3 letters), etc., and save valuable time.

Also, the service manual sticky lists all the pdf files. If you post with the request for a specific file(s), someone will post it for you.
Cheers
 
#4 · (Edited)
well, id say no. there are a plethora of reasons why id say that, vision what you want the car to be for you, there is a dollar amount you can put to that, then see what figure you get? then see if that's the car you really want.there are lots of these cars( rust free ) for that amount. is the car licensed? dose it have to be safety'ed? air con. could be 2000 (you do need air in these cars) & its my experience, that the 1200/yr upkeep is a reliable figure,for a good example! there is the self leveling suspension,& my favorite the timing chain. plus rust is never a good buy.( plus we don't have the luxury of multiple wreckers.) so parts are dealer only.
 
#13 ·
truisms

there are lots of these cars( rust free ) for that amount.
In CA (Calif.) sure... but Canada CA? ...for under $3K ?? Those must be excellent low-mile deals too - cuz they surely sit in garages most the year, or perhaps you don't salt the roads eh? No studded tires allowed where I'm at. :mad:

Seriously tho, while it looks pretty good in the distance photos, rust-wise I'd have to wonder about what's underneath those chrome trims that are only on the rear wheel wells. MORE important - you don't mention maintenance/history coming with this car. Not knowing what/if things have been done already, can cost you right outta the gate for preventative measures, not to mention what is or will soon be needed.

I can speak with a degree of authority on this, having bought an SEC with 200K miles on it for $2K. In the 8 months since purchasing, I've plowed $6K more into the car (less $1,500 for wheels/tires & associated costs). That total equates to $2,650 in labor & $3,335 in parts. Careful shopping online SAVED me @ $2K in parts - covering most the labor costs. That's what I tell myself anyway :rolleyes:- along with imagining what dealer invoices would look like :eek:
Doing the math - there's a great indicator of how wrenching on the car yourself is the only way to keep costs down in the realm of sane! But much of the work I recently had done - I would not want performed by novices. Read too many stories of unwitting mechanics who screwed-up these cars worse than when they came in!

I estimate it will take another $4K (tranny ++ ???), to restore the car's DD integrity to reach 300K miles. THIS is the reason you'll often read "there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes".
Do I love owning this car? :D:D:D If $12K = 100K miles / 5K miles driven annually, barring gas hikes the T-C-O seems incredible to me, when i consider what I'm driving.

Best suggestion is to find a good MBZ-wise mechanic - and get a full pre-purchase inspection to try & ID near-future costs. Particularly when the maint-history is not documented. Good Luck!
 
#6 ·
thanks for the replys, i have been looking in on getting this model for quite some time and the ones listed here in canada range from $2700 then go up to $10000, then up to $32000, far as air conditioning goes, the reason i say it's not priority for me to have it working because it's snowy and cold 9 month a year, as for the rust i am planning to invest in a full paint job soon as i get it. Let me know what you think, thanks for your thoughts.


Sorry but what are NA spec bumpers??
 
#8 ·
Thanks for that, im not sure about the bumpers but i know that the north american head lights have a 2 piece design (appears to be 2 pieces anyway they look smaller) with a thin glass rim surrounding them, this car has the bigger one piece ones that i belive to be euro?
 
#11 ·
The car has NA (North American) spec bumpers. They stick out farther off of the car while euro spec bumpers "hug" the lines of the car. Euro bumpers flow smoothly with the car instead of having the obstructing lines that NA spec bumpers have.
The car pictures has Euro spec headlights. Basically, they don't suck compared to the sealed beam NA spec headlights.

From what I can see, that's a very nice looking car. See if you can get the VIN # from the seller and run it through here: Mercedes-Benz Club Russia | Mercedes-Benz / VIN to see if your car was originally imported as a NA spec or later imported privately (grey market) and is euro spec.

Nice find.
 
#12 ·
i have noticed a difference in bumpers through out the SEC's i've been looking at, thanks for explaining that, i contacted the seller about the Vin# and i am waiting on him for a reply, i will update after running it through the website you provided. should clear things up. thanks again great help.
 
#14 ·
I'm noticing that the lower door molding on the driver's door appears to be a shade off from the rest of the plastic molding on the car. That would suggest it's been replaced at some point, which could mean a severe hidden rust problem, or that the car was in an accident of some sort.

Another thing that jumps out is that there appears to be some zip ties holding something together on the (very expensive) front bumper...

Depending on what your plans are for the car, if you can get the price down it might not be a bad deal if your intent is just to drive it for a few years as a $2000 car.

I buy MB's to drive. A lot of people on the forum buy them to restore to like new condition. I drive 40-50K miles a year and new or newer cars don't make a lot of sense to me. They're worthless in a matter of 2 or 3 years, I'd still be making payments.

Having said that, I'm very careful about maintaining them, and I keep them clean.

With good maintenance these cars hold up very well and last a long time. If it has not been neglected at all, plan on big repair bills, even if you do plan to do the work. If the car has been ignored for long, it'll be happy to remind it's owner regularly.

Without any service history (if that's the case) figure $5-6K in service for things like suspension repairs (SCARY $$$$$), the timing chain, transmission service, etc, and any rust repair it may need. That brings your total investment north of $7-8K. For that amount of money, you could have bought a really nice example with NO rust and needing only minimal cosmetic repairs associated with wear, rather than abuse or neglect.
 
#18 ·
That brings your total investment north of $7-8K. For that amount of money, you could have bought a really nice example with NO rust and needing only minimal cosmetic repairs...
Very likely so... OR you could spend more & still get hit with a nasty surprise! Witness a member selling his car on here for $5500 - and 2 months later, parting-it due to a hole in the block :eek:

Sure a low-mile example with the proper paperwork can be well worth a premium. Otherwise, rust notwithstanding, to me there's value in knowing for a FACT what's been done on the car & the qualifications of the place doing it. :)
 
#15 ·
thanks alot for advice, i wouldn't be looking at this one if there was other rust-free one available :p. i will search around for a good mechanic and have him take a look at the car before hand, i am waiting on the seller to give me the Vin# so i can run a report on it which should provide some of the history information i require before purchasing the car. Also judging by the millage (which is in km's btw), it doesn't seem like the car drove much at all considering its age of course and doing the math reveals that the car only did aprox. 7307km's a year, which isn't much compared to other American cars i own such as 2003 ford explorer with 198xxxkm's which hasn't given me much trouble despite its mileage. so seeing that the Mercedes is 19 years older with less mileage shows the car wasn't driven much at all. thanks again for all comments, i appreciate it.
 
#16 ·
Make sure the odometer works :) I don't know about the 126 odometers, but I know the 123 odometers like to just stop.

Drive it a few kms and make sure it can go past a '9' at the end. That's when they seem to stick, when the odo has to roll over more than just 1 number at a time.

If it's in fact accurate, that's good for you.

If you like to work on cars, you'll always have something to keep you busy.
 
#17 · (Edited)
That may be lighting but i will defiantly look into it when i go take a second look at the car, same with the zip ties, i believe they are holding part of the bumper up, but i can't be sure, i will see what the story behind that is too. Thanks for noticing. My plan for the car isn't anywhere near restoring it, not right away if ever anyway. My top priority is to fix the rust problem and paint the whole car. Other than that if the car is driving with no problems as it appears to be driving perfectly to me. but just to be sure i will take it to a Mercedes mechanic and have him look at it to using his knowledge to determine the condition.

akimball442; thanks for the tip, i will do that.


Found another one listed for $5000 with 218000km's its a 1982 380SEC
check it out,

Classic Car - Edmonton Collector Cars For Sale - Kijiji Edmonton

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/ahmednasif/1123.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/ahmednasif/545984.jpg
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http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa34/ahmednasif/yu.jpg



ps: a full set of both wheels is included with it, i am not sure why he choose the wheel set up he has going on... who knows.

what do you guys think is this a better deal than the 1985 500SEC i posted before?
 
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