sl r129 anyone taken the risk on a 3/4k car

sl r129 anyone taken the risk on a 3/4k car

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lostkiwi

4,584 posts

123 months

Sunday 30th August 2015
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Update...
Been out this morning and had the air filters off. The throttle body loom has had a repair at some point so needs replacing...especially since a brown earth wire is showing cracked insulation.
Oh well, I did budget for it so will do it as soon as I can source a loom.

jke11y

3,181 posts

236 months

Sunday 30th August 2015
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Have you checked if the wheels are genuine? I just can't see someone spending the same on a set of wheels as he car is worth.

I'm getting mine back down to London this week following selling my R107. I have missed the 129 a lot.

lostkiwi

4,584 posts

123 months

Sunday 30th August 2015
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jke11y said:
Have you checked if the wheels are genuine? I just can't see someone spending the same on a set of wheels as he car is worth.

I'm getting mine back down to London this week following selling my R107. I have missed the 129 a lot.
The wheels were put on some time back before the previous owner bought it but yeah I'm pretty sure they aren't genuine (no Brabus plate on one of the webs).

Does anyone know if the engine harness from a 1990 V8 will fit my 93 one?

biggster5000

9 posts

112 months

Wednesday 13th January 2016
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Hello all - My dad and I have just put down a deposit on a 1994 SL 500 that we have agreed to purchase for 4.5k. My dad has seen it and is very keen! He paid a deposit to secure the car. I'm going to see it with him on Saturday morning and, all being well, will pay the money and drive away in it.

I have read r129sl's unbelievably complete buyers guide, but the following phrase scares me greatly:

"The £4,000 SL is a money pit which will never be right. You are much better off buying a car at twice the price that has been maintained without regard to cost."

However - there are some success stories on this thread which do reassure me somewhat. I'm very excited, but at the same time nervously thinking of ways that this could be a scam and how we could be getting ripped off. So far, totalcarcheck.co.uk says it's clean, VIN matches logbook, VIN decoder looks fine here

Incidentally, I used another couple of VIN decoder sites and paniced when they said it was a 2002 model! I figured it was assuming it was a US car, hence wrongly decoding it.

Wish us luck - once we own it, I plan to start a Reader's Cars thread. Having read that forum obsessively over the past couple of years, I figure I should put something up there biggrin

Cheers

PositronicRay

26,958 posts

182 months

Wednesday 13th January 2016
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They can be money pits, go in with your eyes open.

mickyveloce

1,035 posts

235 months

Wednesday 13th January 2016
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Good luck with your new car. A cheap SL can throw up some big bills, and, because of their engineering integrity even tired cars can drive OK to the 129 novice.

That having been said, the absence of depreciation allows for investment in the car to easily justified. Most mechanical parts and consumables are cheap.

Plans for my 1990 300-24 this year include new P7's, a new cam chain gasket (preventative) and paintwork rectification to get rid of stonechips and two tiny blebs on the front wing. I'm still pondering a new soft top.


r129sl

9,518 posts

202 months

Wednesday 13th January 2016
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To be honest, my figure of £4,000 can possibly be reduced further. There are rough cars knocking around sub-£3k. There are also plenty of reasonably priced fundamentally sound cars. Most of the posters here have bought really good examples at very reasonable prices. As is said above, go in with your eyes open. Also, it's January: these cars are not going to be flying off the forecourts, so it is a buyer's market.

Good luck with your car. I haven't driven mine for a month or more but I always love it when I do.

biggster5000

9 posts

112 months

Thursday 14th January 2016
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PositronicRay said:
They can be money pits, go in with your eyes open.
mickyveloce said:
Good luck with your new car. A cheap SL can throw up some big bills, and, because of their engineering integrity even tired cars can drive OK to the 129 novice.

That having been said, the absence of depreciation allows for investment in the car to easily justified. Most mechanical parts and consumables are cheap.

Plans for my 1990 300-24 this year include new P7's, a new cam chain gasket (preventative) and paintwork rectification to get rid of stonechips and two tiny blebs on the front wing. I'm still pondering a new soft top.
This one had 2k spent on it at last MOT in April 2015, according to the seller, which included new front wheel bearings, wishbones, rear brake pipes, sump gasket. The driver's side speaker isn't working (seller will fix that before we collect it) and it will come with 12 months MOT. The rear window in the hood is discoloured and needs replacing and apparently there are a few minor parking dents in the doors (hoping some kind of dents away service can take care of those).

I will be testing everything electrical on Saturday to check if there are any other faults. TBH, our budget was around 7k so at this price, we have a bit of spare cash to fix things.

I am also OK with the spanners and can tackle minor stuff. I'm also OK on electrics having installed a few different bangin' sound systems in my yoof!

r129sl said:
To be honest, my figure of £4,000 can possibly be reduced further. There are rough cars knocking around sub-£3k. There are also plenty of reasonably priced fundamentally sound cars. Most of the posters here have bought really good examples at very reasonable prices. As is said above, go in with your eyes open. Also, it's January: these cars are not going to be flying off the forecourts, so it is a buyer's market.

Good luck with your car. I haven't driven mine for a month or more but I always love it when I do.
Thanks for you best wishes - I have read your posts on your cars and you have done some amazing work on your lovely cars! Also - your r129 buyers guide is a fantastic piece of work! You are truly deserving of your forum username!

PositronicRay

26,958 posts

182 months

Thursday 14th January 2016
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biggster5000 said:
PositronicRay said:
I am also OK with the spanners and can tackle minor stuff. I'm also OK on electrics having installed a few different bangin' sound systems in my yoof!
This is the key to a good ownership experience. Since owning an R129 contact cleaner has been my best friend. smile

rubystone

11,252 posts

258 months

Thursday 14th January 2016
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I paid £4250 for my 150k mile '98 320 SL several years ago, ran it for 2 years including parking it up outside with hard top on over the winter. Nothing went wrong, nothing fell off and it didn't let me down. Sold it for £4,500.

Check them over carefully, make sure everything works and you should be OK. Do make sure the 'box goes up and down through the gears smoothly and change the gearbox oil if there's no record of if having been done.

Only Merc I've owned that feels as bombproof as my 129 is my Panzerwagen G-500.

And to my eyes, a 129 still looks fresh and modern. A design classic.

biggster5000

9 posts

112 months

Friday 15th January 2016
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PositronicRay said:
This is the key to a good ownership experience. Since owning an R129 contact cleaner has been my best friend. smile
I hope so! Vendor is MOTing it today and promised to take care of any advisories that pop up smile

rubystone said:
I paid £4250 for my 150k mile '98 320 SL several years ago, ran it for 2 years including parking it up outside with hard top on over the winter. Nothing went wrong, nothing fell off and it didn't let me down. Sold it for £4,500.

Check them over carefully, make sure everything works and you should be OK. Do make sure the 'box goes up and down through the gears smoothly and change the gearbox oil if there's no record of if having been done.

Only Merc I've owned that feels as bombproof as my 129 is my Panzerwagen G-500.

And to my eyes, a 129 still looks fresh and modern. A design classic.
My father and I previously built a kit car (Tiger Super Six) but we recently sold it because neither of us were using it. Our partners hated it and it was so impractical! Great fun, though.

I agree - they do look fantastic. I prefer the early exterior/interior, but we did look at a 97 car that was fantastic. With the r129, we think we have the perfect mix of cost, practicality, appeal, performance. I reckon that prices are currently as low as they will go and have already started to appreciate.

We both plan to take weekend trips in it withour partners. We have also joined the official Mercedes-Benz owners club so will hopefully do some events together. I can't wait to join the esteemed ranks of r129 owners!

0a

23,879 posts

193 months

Saturday 16th January 2016
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Good luck biggster5000. I have had mine since June last year and purchased it from CharlesDeGaulle who actually posted earlier in the thread. It was also a sub £5k car, and I absolutely love it. There are some jobs on the list to do still, but isn't that always the case with old cars.

As above parts are generally cheap and my mechanic likes working on it. The car is very comfortable, with an excellent ride meaning it's a car that I am happy to jump in and do many hundreds of miles. I would say that I have been using it more with the roof down over the last month then any other month - get the heater on and it's a pleasant place to be (the wind flows nicely over the top.

Here it is about to commute home in some mild sleet last week smile


Motorrad

6,811 posts

186 months

Saturday 16th January 2016
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Good luck with SL.

I bought my 1991 sub 70K mile car 500SL 15 months ago for 5K.

Since then I could have spent nothing on it and had a great car albeit one with no air conditioning (negotiated 500 quid off the asking price as it wasn't working well).

However as I like the car so much I decided to spend a little bringing it upto scratch.

Expenditure so far has been 600 quid repairing the A/C condensor, dryer and some pipes.

20 on a steering damper- cheapest and best thing I've done to it as it improved the steering no end.

350 on a brake fluid/coolant change, service, MOT,steering idler bush and top mounts.

50 on new bonnet insulation

400 on new Goodyear F1s (a great tyre option for those running 16" wheels as it's available in 225/55/16).

So 6500 all in and the car runs and drives beautifully.

The only thing I'd point out is that these cars are getting very old now and obviously plastic, rubber, pipework etc is going to be deteriorating. Expect to replace things as you run it!

truck71

2,328 posts

171 months

Sunday 17th January 2016
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These really are superb cars. Got in mine this morning for a short chores trip having spent the week in a modern e class- they're refined, sooo comfortable with effortless oomph, charming and from an era when Merc's were properly constructed.

adam917k

37 posts

227 months

Sunday 24th January 2016
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0a said:
Good luck biggster5000. I have had mine since June last year and purchased it from CharlesDeGaulle who actually posted earlier in the thread. It was also a sub £5k car, and I absolutely love it. There are some jobs on the list to do still, but isn't that always the case with old cars.

As above parts are generally cheap and my mechanic likes working on it. The car is very comfortable, with an excellent ride meaning it's a car that I am happy to jump in and do many hundreds of miles. I would say that I have been using it more with the roof down over the last month then any other month - get the heater on and it's a pleasant place to be (the wind flows nicely over the top.

Here it is about to commute home in some mild sleet last week smile

Oa, your picture gives me a good excuse to post one of mine. They don't look bad under supermarket car park lights!


0a

23,879 posts

193 months

Sunday 24th January 2016
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It looks great in that colour. Get the roof down though!

Motorrad

6,811 posts

186 months

Sunday 24th January 2016
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0a said:
It looks great in that colour. Get the roof down though!
Careful putting it down if it's too cold. The windows might crack. Won't risk mine below 7 degrees. I may be mistaken though. smile

CharlesdeGaulle

26,099 posts

179 months

Sunday 24th January 2016
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adam917k said:
Oa, your picture gives me a good excuse to post one of mine. They don't look bad under supermarket car park lights!

The boot's not as long as you think is it? wink

0a

23,879 posts

193 months

Thursday 28th January 2016
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Motorrad said:
0a said:
It looks great in that colour. Get the roof down though!
Careful putting it down if it's too cold. The windows might crack. Won't risk mine below 7 degrees. I may be mistaken though. smile
Too late - one of my rear little side windows cracked last night frown

It's really stiff so I've plugged the whole with bubble wrap for the moment.

I'm using the car with the roof down far more often at the moment than in the summer - it's great to leave the office and have a bracing drive home.

What do I need to do to replace the plastic hood windows that are clearly brittle with age (and cracked)

0a

23,879 posts

193 months

Thursday 28th January 2016
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CharlesdeGaulle said:
adam917k said:
Oa, your picture gives me a good excuse to post one of mine. They don't look bad under supermarket car park lights!

The boot's not as long as you think is it? wink
I do this all the time. Lots of bonnet at the front, not much behind you!