It sounds like what I call a Clint Eastwood car..."Do you feel lucky? Well do you...?"

If it's going to be your only car, I'd pass. If you have the time, ability and money to make it perform decently and safely...well, that's another issue.

If worse comes to worse, you could probably get more that $1000 for various parts.

 

"Do you feel lucky? Well do you...?"

Most of the time you just get shot.

There is no such thing as cheap Mercedes, but at $1000 you probably could get ahead by parting it.

 

I really don't want to sink thousands into it. but I also don't want to be working on it all the time.
Let me know what you think.

This is easy.... You just point out the key words..^^^...

All I could say is this....^^^.....

 

Buying an R129 with those many issues is not for the faint of heart and wallet. If you can't do alot of the work yourself simply pass as if you are paying someone to troubleshoot and repair in no time you will be in it for the price of a good one. IMO keep looking.

 

If you are DIY and can fund repairs,go for it!,a project car!,I did that to a$1500 W124 and drove it for over a year,sold it to help fund the purchase of the R129 I now have,made profit on the w124,loved it but the R129 is night and day compared! 1000 is the cheapest I've heard of lately,think someone here bought a 600SL for $500 a while back.

 

Worth way more than that as a parts car. All the above is true. Could be great project. Or a nightmare. Depending on your skill level and problem solving ability. Lucky for you, no pictures means it doesn't exist

 

Yes $1,000 is very cheap and it's a great buy. But plan on spending thousands more unless you are a DIY person.

 

No such thing as a cheap Benz! as we all know!

And as mentioned and to reiterate...a 1000 dollar car will cost you waaayyy over a grand to repair!
Heed the advice here and pass...unless you have the money in which event...why buy that car for a grand when for a bit more...you can get a better running R129.
If the seller thought fixing the car would be cheap...they would fix it and sell it for more money.
If you buy it...use it as a donor for parts on your next R129.

 

If you DIY, it is a bargain. I paid $1000 for my 95 SL320, but I am doing all the work...

I fixed my check engine light, seats, door panels, and next for me is paint(which I will paint my self).

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r129-sl-class/1812658-rookie-r129-owner.html

If you not DIY, It can be the most expensive Mercedes you will ever own...

All the best to you,

Martin

 

I'm with Martin... :thumbsup:

All I will say, if you can get a cheap car it can work, but only if the PPI shows it is essentially OK.

My C140 cost me virtually nothing, but even with 2 PPI's it still cost a decent amount to get it right..

 

$1,000 or cheaper for parts car... Yes....

IMHO even if you an DIY still cost you thousands.....

Look at the car problem that it has.....

Now look at Scott what he has done to his car.....

Now that minor repair...... Even if he were to do all his DIY, it still would cost him thousands for parts.....

I bought mine cheap and then put a lot of money in it. Just over $10k now. So if you can find one that is already fixed up, you will be in the same position. But if you have to sink more money into it, not a good deal.

Original Purch, taxes & fees 4,501.56
Performance/Rehab 2,954.26
Didn't Need 203.22
Top hydraulics & soft top 1,960.00
Looks 840.92

Total 10,459.96

 

Tony, it's been well worth it. The car is as much of a hobby as fun to drive.

I'm sort of looking forward to my daughter needing my other car (she's 15 now) so I can purchase another Mercedes. I think Tracy has talked me out of my fascination with the R107 after hearing about his rust problems. If I had to buy another Mercedes today, it might be a CL500 as I don't need another convertible.

 

Thanks for all the replies and insight. I'm still on the fence about buying this Benz, but leaning towards, NO PURCHASE. I have several other convertibles, seven convertibles to be exact. So, it's not like I really need this Benz, but I really have wanted another Benz for some time (sold my 380sl and 450slc) and used to find it fun working on them, but I'm getting to a stage in my life that major projects are no longer fun. If I get it, I will post some pictures, (if I can figure out how to post pictures on this site) Thanks again.

 

Post Pictures on this forum:

Click on Go Advanced.
Then scroll down and click on Manage Attachments.
Click on Browse in the pop up window and then browse to the file that is the picture you want to attach.

Carl

 

If these pictures post, these are pictures of the car I am looking to buy.

 

I will give u $500 for the front and rear bumpers right now, my car is my same color. Knowing that, part out the rest and make some money!

Email me and let's get this deal going.

 

I paid 3000 for my 93 about 6 months ago . I have spent close to 10 grand on it so far. Fixing some of those strange ailments these cars get. I also installed new carpet, seats, top, new hydraulic cylinders, and painted the car. That's where the most of the money went. But I say if you like the car and can fix things then go for it. If not give me the address of where yours is at and Ill give a $1000 for it .

 

Heck, I'm tempted to buy it so I can get the heated seat parts (pads, wiring, console wood, etc) to put in mine.

 

I think with any used car, particularily one as complex as an R129, the question isn't "is it worth this amount? but "what will is cost to repair based on its condition?

That is the cost of the vehicle.

 

Take a chance. There is lots of room for error.

 

I would buy it for a grand so I could have some spare parts. If u don't buy it how about telling us where it is and see who gets to it first. I kinda want the seats and engine block for my living room Ala top gear style.

 

If you have second thoughts then I would leave it alone. There will be others. Look at Craigslist ,Autotrader . May have to spend a few bucks more but may be worth waiting on. But
if you like working on cars ......................??

 

Should you buy it? Depends on how long you want the car to sit in your driveway, while you part it out.

Would pay a grand just to get the ezl

 

Last September when I bought my 92 and knew nothing about the SL I would not have even considered buying a car like this one. However, knowing what I have learnt about the SL from this forum since then and what I know I can fix on this car now, I definitely would go for it. Too bad I dont have the space for a forth car. It looks pretty good and the $1000 is really not a big risk. But it is a deal only if you can fix most of the issues yourself or if you plan to sale it back in parts. If you are not a DIY guy it would cost you an arm and a leg. For example just fixing the soft top could be a matter of $600 or $800 deal only if you did the job yourself and get the cylinders rebuilt and bought the pump used (assuming the pump need to be changed) or it could cost you anywhere between $2000 and $4000 if you get it fixed a a garage. One thing that would prevent me from buying it though would be if the car had transmission issue.

 

Well, I got off the fence and decided to buy the 500sl. I met with the seller with money in hand and guess what, the car would not start. I had driven this car several days ago and it on and off several times. I look at this lack of starting issue as an omen to not get involved with it. Seems like there is just to many issues. I think the owner has decided not to sell it at this point.

 

Could be just a weak battery with all those starting and not much driving. Test the battery voltage to verify that is the case and knock another couple of hundred off.

 

I'm sure you could make money parting it out, if you are so inclined. You could use the money you make to buy a better one. Then again, it's about as good as my $1300 300SL.

 

You can easily make 5k on parts alone,I did!

 

When did you part out an SL? You could have shared some parts.

On another note I'm sure some of you have properties and space to part a car out but in my case and I'm sure for a few other members this just isn't possible. I for one would surely get nasty looks from neighbors as well as a visit from Licenses and Inspections. Not a good idea to make your neighborhood look ghetto by having a half taken apart car in the driveway.

 

If it makes u feel any better it looks like the interior is in better condition then my 01 that I paid 7500 for.

 

It's probably not, the picture I posted didn't show the wear hole on the drives side seat. I'm still kind of in negotiation with the owner, he stated he got it started with starting fluid, but the price will have to be adjusted. My gut keeps telling me to run in the other direction, but my love of beautiful cars tells me to give it a chance. Time will tell.