Best Smoker Barges 1-5 large [Vol 7]

[0a]

I love things that only cost £490. Definitely a smoker despite being under half of thread minimum. Only 107k miles as well. I've paid a restaurant bill more than this already this week! http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

[CharlesdeGaulle]

That's one for the Bargain Basement thread. Someone there will bite his hand off.

Edited by CharlesdeGaulle on Wednesday 19th November 22:06

[FrankUnderwood]

r129sl said:

Another one. Local to me. Low level trader, by the looks of things. Lovely colours. Small engine, zero spec, still looks nice. Presumably 2.5 bags would secure.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MERCEDES-300SL-107-000-M...

There must surely be a catch with these cars.. Horrible maintenance costs or something?

[rikGTR]

I might have a potential barge bargain- a 1999 S320 petrol in silver 86k miles, absolutely immaculate condition with full Mercedes service history and 12 months MOT. Its the LWB business edition too. A friend needs the space and hes going to give it to me for £900. Now i know its not the S500 but surely for £900 i cant go wrong can I? This has got to waft along like no other?!

[0a]

I like this as well at £1,250. I do want to try an old LS400 at some point: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

[cat220]

rikGTR said:

I might have a potential barge bargain- a 1999 S320 petrol in silver 86k miles, absolutely immaculate condition with full Mercedes service history and 12 months MOT. Its the LWB business edition too. A friend needs the space and hes going to give it to me for £900. Now i know its not the S500 but surely for £900 i cant go wrong can I? This has got to waft along like no other?!

Bite his hand off!

[minimoog]

r129sl said:

Another one. Local to me. Low level trader, by the looks of things. Lovely colours. Small engine, zero spec, still looks nice. Presumably 2.5 bags would secure.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MERCEDES-300SL-107-000-M...

All of 5 miles away. Pity I pick my new barge up on Friday!

[harry kular]

rikGTR said:

I might have a potential barge bargain- a 1999 S320 petrol in silver 86k miles, absolutely immaculate condition with full Mercedes service history and 12 months MOT. Its the LWB business edition too. A friend needs the space and hes going to give it to me for £900. Now i know its not the S500 but surely for £900 i cant go wrong can I? This has got to waft along like no other?!

Great barging! Congratulations!

[CharlesdeGaulle]

FrankUnderwood said:

r129sl said:

Another one. Local to me. Low level trader, by the looks of things. Lovely colours. Small engine, zero spec, still looks nice. Presumably 2.5 bags would secure.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MERCEDES-300SL-107-000-M...

There must surely be a catch with these cars.. Horrible maintenance costs or something?

I don't think costs are too horrific, and like many Mercs of the era you can run them cheaply in the short term, but eventually you or the new owner will have to cough up to keep/get them at their best.

You do need access to a decent indy to avoid paying hefty dealer charges, and some parts are certainly pricey (Air Con for example can be an expensive fix, and the roof needs to work properly and reliably or that can add up too). r129sl has shown before how to procure parts at sensible prices.

They are terrific cars, and real bargains. I think they have a way to go before becoming desirable classics, and are only now beginning to emerge from the 'tatty shed' period, hence the price, but for the cognoscenti now is definitely the time to buy.

[0a]

rikGTR said:

I might have a potential barge bargain- a 1999 S320 petrol in silver 86k miles, absolutely immaculate condition with full Mercedes service history and 12 months MOT. Its the LWB business edition too. A friend needs the space and hes going to give it to me for £900. Now i know its not the S500 but surely for £900 i cant go wrong can I? This has got to waft along like no other?!

Blimey, that looks nice. At £900 and if he's really a friend (ie just wants the space and rid rather than selling a lemon) you should bite his hand off!

PS try doing some editing (line breaks?) to get the full three images - the interior ones look great!

[mccrackenj]

r129sl said:

Another one. Local to me. Low level trader, by the looks of things. Lovely colours. Small engine, zero spec, still looks nice. Presumably 2.5 bags would secure.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MERCEDES-300SL-107-000-M...

Surprising as it sounds, I don't think I've ever seen a Smoke Silver R129 on this thread. Plenty of rarer colours like Bornite, but not Smoke?

In other news, the C126 finally passed MOT last week, so now it can legally sit in the driveway for 99% of its time and travel the 6 miles return to work once a week. But it's tomorrow!

There's a lovely looking pale met green early 500SL on Ebay at the minute for very little £. Probably a dog but I'd love it just for the colour.

Edited by mccrackenj on Wednesday 19th November 22:05

[0a]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

FrankUnderwood said:

r129sl said:

Another one. Local to me. Low level trader, by the looks of things. Lovely colours. Small engine, zero spec, still looks nice. Presumably 2.5 bags would secure.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MERCEDES-300SL-107-000-M...

There must surely be a catch with these cars.. Horrible maintenance costs or something?

I don't think costs are too horrific, and like many Mercs of the era you can run them cheaply in the short term, but eventually you or the new owner will have to cough up to keep/get them at their best.

You do need access to a decent indy to avoid paying hefty dealer charges, and some parts are certainly pricey (Air Con for example can be an expensive fix, and the roof needs to work properly and reliably or that can add up too). r129sl has shown before how to procure parts at sensible prices.

They are terrific cars, and real bargains. I think they have a way to go before becoming desirable classics, and are only now beginning to emerge from the 'tatty shed' period, hence the price, but for the cognoscenti now is definitely the time to buy.

Aside from the roof, how different are they from W124s? I understand the car is partly based on one. Ie you should expect suspension, wings and so on, but overall the parts are not too bad - but to get a 'perfect' example all need changing!

[r129sl]

Nothing expensive on that one. It doesn't have air con (despite the BS in the advert) and it's packing the almost ubiquitous 3.0litre, 12valve six which was used in just about everything from 1985 to 1996, and it is probably Merc's most reliable engine. Likewise the 722.3 transmission. They're about £200 a piece on Ebay so even if the engine blows up it's not going to kill you. The suspension is pure 124 so it is cheap and easy. The tyres are 225/55 VR 16s, maybe £90 a corner. If the hood works, it's good to go (given it is pictured topless, soft top up and then hard top on it's a knocking bet the hood works). If you don't want to go fast, it's probably a good car to last from here to eternity.

There are some bits of broken trim which would piss me off, but a fortnight of poking around on Ebay for 30mins each morning (that would be cutting down, I know) then an hour with a screwdriver would probably sort that out. I'd want to put a better-looking wireless in it, too.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

0a said:

Aside from the roof, how different are they from W124s? I understand the car is partly based on one. Ie you should expect suspension, wings and so on, but overall the parts are not too bad - but to get a 'perfect' example all need changing!

Very similar, and lots of shared parts I think. I believe the 129 is on a shortened 124 chassis.

Interestingly, my SL doesn't have any rust at all, but it was a HK import so maybe it had an easier climatic life.

You're right about changing bits to get them perfect, and you have to remember that they're 20+ years old so things will need refreshing. However, one of the nice things about these old Mercs is that you can run them on a budget if you want. If you pick one up really cheaply, you could almost see it as a disposable item in true banger-nomics fashion!

[cat220]

All this r129 chat is unsettling me! Thought I'd put the thought of buying one to bed for a while but I've now just spent the last hour looking at the classifieds! Man maths is in top gear!

[rikGTR]

M

0a said:

Blimey, that looks nice. At £900 and if he's really a friend (ie just wants the space and rid rather than selling a lemon) you should bite his hand off!

PS try doing some editing (line breaks?) to get the full three images - the interior ones look great!

Thanks for the info re the pics.. Not posted pics before!

It's definately not a lemon, I've known him for a long time and the car is 100% it looks brand new! Only new battery required. Collecting Monday. Can't wait!

[r129sl]

mccrackenj said:

r129sl said:

Another one. Local to me. Low level trader, by the looks of things. Lovely colours. Small engine, zero spec, still looks nice. Presumably 2.5 bags would secure.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MERCEDES-300SL-107-000-M...

Surprising as it sounds, I don't think I've ever seen a Smoke Silver R129 on this thread. Plenty of rarer colours like Bornite, but not Smoke?

In other news, the C126 finally passed MOT last week, so now it can legally sit in the driveway for 99% of its time and travel the 6 miles return to work once a week. But it's tomorrow!

There's a lovely looking pale met green early 500SL on Ebay at the minute for very little £. Probably a dog but I'd love it just for the colour.

Edited by mccrackenj on Wednesday 19th November 22:05

Hey, great news on the 500 SEC. I thought it would never happen!

Did you clock this 124 the other day? Right up your street, I thought: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MERCEDES-BENZ-200-SALOON...

And you jest about smoke silver 129s in this thread?

[0a]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Very similar, and lots of shared parts I think. I believe the 129 is on a shortened 124 chassis.

Interestingly, my SL doesn't have any rust at all, but it was a HK import so maybe it had an easier climatic life.

You're right about changing bits to get them perfect, and you have to remember that they're 20+ years old so things will need refreshing. However, one of the nice things about these old Mercs is that you can run them on a budget if you want. If you pick one up really cheaply, you could almost see it as a disposable item in true banger-nomics fashion!

I'm definitely going to buy one at some point, probably a 500 just for a change from a straight 6 in the W124 (though the W124 needs finishing first).

I've met quite a few senior people recently in the W124 and it always gets good comments and is a conversation starter. The suspension refresh knocked 120k off it - it seems so much newer and composed.

I still need to sort the aerial, then some kind of transmission/engine refurb (to be decided) followed by paint. Though I still like the way it looks now from a distance... from this morning, the suspension has definitely settled from how it was:

[CharlesdeGaulle]

0a said:

... probably a 500 just for a change ...

... Is the right answer!

The 500 is fantastic. I love the 320 6-cyl in the 124, but I'm pleased I went for the 500 in the 129.

[0a]

rikGTR said:

M

0a said:

Blimey, that looks nice. At £900 and if he's really a friend (ie just wants the space and rid rather than selling a lemon) you should bite his hand off!

PS try doing some editing (line breaks?) to get the full three images - the interior ones look great!

Thanks for the info re the pics.. Not posted pics before!

It's definately not a lemon, I've known him for a long time and the car is 100% it looks brand new! Only new battery required. Collecting Monday. Can't wait!

Congratulations! It looks like a really nice car, and the W140 is looking better and better looking to my eyes.

R129 has some experience with the W140 that suggests it's a better cruiser (unsurprisingly!) than a sports car - I would have thought the 320 would be quite sufficient power wise for such a role, and quiet and relatively economical compared to the V8s.