[SaleenS7]

So how much did you buy your W126 for?

My dad bought me my 86' 420 SEL (My first car)It was supposed to be a graduation present but he gave it as a christimas present instead. I noticed my dad payed about $6,500 and well worth it too. Last owner=old man, lol. The car is mint in all aspects. I haven't modified it yet but planning to give it new rims, euros, maybe lower the car an inch or so, tint the windows, maybe a nice small spoiler that I've seen on other 126's. If anyone else has any ideas I'd greatly appreciate it. I'll post a picture of her as soon as I finish taking all the pictures.

So how much did you buy your W126 for? And explain what you've done to it.[]

 

[TheRazz]

I traded my 1997 Kawi Police bike for my 1984 280SEL AMG. Even swap. Loved the bike, but needed a kid carryer.. Motorcycles arent knowen for their kid carrying ability, especaly a one seater bike.

 

[jhodg5ck]

Which one... My SEL, 5K, My 90 SEC, 4K, my 91 9K, my other 90 10K. Both 90's have been sold.

Spolier is Most tacky IMHO. Money could be better spent on something useful like a 560 intake...

If I got into explaining Everything I've done to my 126's I'd be here all bloody night;-)

Enjoy the 420!

Jonathan

 

[dtkw]

My family bought the 560SEL new and it was 60 something K. Can't remember exactly 60 what.

 

[liquidtiger720]

bought the 91 560sec with 49k on the miles before we drove it up to s.f. from LA for $8,000. The previous owner bought the car brand new for something around ~$86,000 before taxes and what not (at least thats what the window sticker says).


oh yea, and I think we paid around 10k for the 81 380sel. at the moment that car has 102k miles, but needs a lot of love.

 

[~BenzBoy~420-SEL~]

- 1986 420-SEL
- 108,511 miles
- One owner, all service records and books from new.
- June 26, 1986 - $50,950.00 (new)
- May 30, 2004 - $6,247.51

-Mark
----------------------
86' 420SEL 112,438 mi.

 

[MRTIKKET]

1982 300SD nautical blue purchased new 30k sold in 1991

1989 300SE pearl black purchased new 60k still perfect driven daily 109k on the clock

1985 500SEC signal red purchased used for 4k, put in $5500.00 in mechanical repair mostly preventative maintainance so, and $4500 in rims/tires still needs paint and interior.

1991 560SEC black bought last week for 1k

1989 SEC widebody bought last week Every available AMG optionoriginal owner 37,000klm paid to much to say.

 

[H-TownBenzoboy]

MRTIKKET - 4/27/2005 11:45 PM

1982 300SD nautical blue purchased new 30k sold in 1991

You must have gotten a good deal on that SD. Back in 1981, our 300SD was sold for about $36,000. Did your SD not have a lot of options on it?
Though in 1988, we got it for about $16,000 with 78,000 miles on it.
-Joe

 

[MRTIKKET]

H-TownBenzoboy - 4/28/2005 1:48 AM

MRTIKKET - 4/27/2005 11:45 PM

1982 300SD nautical blue purchased new 30k sold in 1991

You must have gotten a good deal on that SD. Back in 1981, our 300SD was sold for about $36,000. Did your SD not have a lot of options on it?
Though in 1988, we got it for about $16,000 with 78,000 miles on it.
-Joe

Actually maybe 40k, it was a long time ago. I do remember a funny part of the purchase. I thought it was too much money and was leaning towards a 300d. We got a call at 1am on New Year's Day. I thought it was a crank call. Turns out we were the grand prize winner in our national church New Year's Party raffle. The church was calling the winners live from New York. After telling us we had won, they asked us if we'd like to donate the 10k prize money back to the church. I just laughed and said "Send me the check". I considered it found money, and put it towards the SD. I don't recall any options, standard was pretty loaded. Great car!

Knew I still had the bill of sale! $39,795.

 

[djalexander79]

Purchaced mine for $3,600.00 back in May of last year, with 156,000m. Best 3600 I have ever spent.

 

[560_SEC]

Bought my 1991 560 SEC (Euro) for 3K Euros...

150K Km... but no service history...

The guy selling it originally wanted 10K for it...

I balked at that proce... and forgot about it...

Then saw the guy by chance in the supermarket car park 18 months later...

I asked him about the car, and he said he hadn't managed to find a buyer... and as such, it had been sat in his garage for 6 months with Flat battery etc...

So I took a gamble and offered him 3K there and then...

He didn't like it... but as I explained to him... if he was to leave it another 6 months... he'd never find a buyer...

So he agreed... and although I have no service records... since I've had her she's been well checked by 3 separate Mercedes specialists... and the consensus opinion is that she's sound...

I'd normally say stear well clear of anything without service history... but at the same time... if you find a good'un... don't be militant about it...

You can sometimes tell more about the state of the car from talking to the previous owner, than you can from the service log...

Car came from Italy... and I've no doubt almost all original owners cared for their cars... god knows, they would have paid enough for them...

After that, I've no doubt she was 'clocked'... at which point the service log would have disappeared to cover any mileage discrepancies...

So even if I add another 100K to her (which is generous)... she's at 250K Km... and I know the guy I bought it from... (the 2nd owner) didn't thrash it...

He didn't go over-board on maintenance... but he did do the minimum...

It's now up to me to do the preventative work... which I'm glad to be doing... so at least I know it'll be done right...

So with all the work I've done... timing chain, flex disks... all fluids chaged (gearbox,diff etc) I reckon my total cost to have her where she is now... is about 5-6K Euros...

But as we all know... these cars really aren't about money...

It's about class... and taste...

And that... my friends... is priceless...

 

[blue420sel]

hand me downs or purchases from an older owner are great. these cars are becoming harder to find. the ones i usually see in my area are about to hit "parts car" status soon. i believe my dad told methey bought the 420sel for arounf $40 grand back in 1986.

 

[NewMBie]

What is the point? I know I paid way toooo much for mine. Also, a W126 means different things to different people. All I need was a car that allows me to drive the most mileages and cost the least amount of money, with excellent safety.

I paid $5000 for my 1991 560 SEL with 102K miles last year. However, I have put in additional $1900 to get it up to a daily drive. These include tires, oil, state inspection, etc.

 

[mercbuff]

bought new towards the end of 1989....price was somewhere between $45,000 and $51,000 (can't remember now) from Continental Cars of Austin Texas....the main Benz dealer in town.

 

[86560MBSEC]

bought my 86 560sec for 2k, no service records but was owned by a guy that ran a mercedes shop, he was getting a new sl and didn't have the garage space for the sec, have had it a year and have only put 300 into a new rotor cap and ignition wires. runs like a champ and fixes itself everynow and then []

Jared

 

[SaleenS7]

So far we've probably spent about 2 k for upgrading things like shocks, tires, idle control and a few other small things. It has all of it's service records from 86 till present.

*Oh and where do you get a 560 SEL intake at?(except buying from the internet) On average, how much are they? Do you need to adjust anything in the engine to make it fit? And lastly, with so much air coming into the engine, don't you need a good exhaust to take all that air out? Alot of mistake people make are putting extra air intakes in but the extra air has nowhere to go. I don't know if it's the same for the 420 SEL.*

 

[jhodg5ck]

You are running the same exhaust as a 560 so you should be OK, although all US exhaust systems are Horrible pieces of twisted engineering... The dual snorkel intake was listed in the WIS as being installed specificly for performance enhancement. You can get them quite readily on the net. I would also give your EHA a flat or two richer once/if you get it installed.

Jonathan

 

[SaleenS7]

Somewhere down the line I'm definately getting a dual air intake from a 560. At least it will improve gas mileage a little bit with the extra air and all. So it will basically pay for itself after a while.

BTW, What's an EHA?

 

[Hattaresguy]

About $2,500 for my SDL in January of 04. I figured it would need some work but I just didn't realize quite how much! $10k worth of parts later and it is still sucking them down, but I am running out of stuff to replace. After I perfect it and redo the body and wood ect I will probably have just under $20k into it.

But what else could I buy for $20k? I guess I could buy a nice W140 or XJ8 but I'd rather have a W126.

 

[RNMB]

You can take mine for $6k even.
<a href="http://www.doubletech.net/1234/MB300SEL/">1990 300SEL</a>