It’s been a long time since we sold the Peugeot 205 GTI. Having made a decent profit on the Pug, and a few quid on the MG Maestro before that, we’ve spent the last couple of months hunting for our next shed. It hasn’t been easy and after seeing a few cars we started to think the Pug and the MG had just been beginner's luck, and this really wasn’t going to be as easy as we thought. We came up with a plan to get something sensible, move it on quickly and make a small, but reliable, profit. So how on earth did we end up with V8-powered eighties S-Class sitting outside PH Towers?
This is a very good question. And I will explain. Very little was catching our eye as we searched the classified, and although there were lots of cars we liked, none looked like they would turn a profit. Old Minis, Range Rovers, and even a tatty 635 CSi all fell by the wayside, as did the endless 306s, Vectras and bog-standard Golfs that litter the car ads. The first car we went to look at was a really tidy looking BMW 735i. That’s to say it was tidy-looking in the pic – rough as a badger’s backside in the flesh. There was no interior light, which meant we almost missed the gaffa tape covered hand-brake, and generally rough interior. Starting it up, the Seven rattled and clonked, and after a short test drive we figured the £695 the seller was asking for was way too much, and there were too many little jobs that needed sorting before it was even half decent. We tried to go simple on the next one and I found an 85,000 mile BMW 318 (the BMW theme was more of a coincidence than anything) that was unmolested and up for just £500. I figured as it had service, low miles, and was original, we could clean it up and perhaps move it on for £700, possibly £800 to the right person.
After a long trek to North London I found another tatty looking Beemer that appeared to have been cleaned with a Brillo pad. It also looked like Stevie Wonder had tried to get in the car a few times as there was key scratches in a five inch radius of both door locks, one of which – the drivers – didn’t actually work. The big dent in the front wing didn’t seem to tally with the owner’s description of ‘excellent condition’ and although it drove well, being an auto it was dull as dishwater and incredibly slow. Staring at the missing centre cap on one of the alloys I decided the car wasn’t going to make us any money, and I headed back to the office.
I was starting to realise that all the cars I looked at were only worth what the seller was asking and finding one again like the Peugeot was going to be tricky, if not impossible. Trawling through the classifieds again on Wednesday, going nowhere, Garlick suddenly piped up with ‘what about this?’ It was a Mercedes 420SE, with one owner, FSH, fully loaded, 115,000 miles, for sale at a local garage. Trust Garlick to pick out the big Merc, but I had to admit it did look incredibly tempting. I’ll let him explain what happened next:
'In 1994 I drove my first W126 Benz, I didn’t realise just how much of an effect that short drive would have on me, I didn’t know that from that day on I would long to drive another. If you look back at my previous shed of the weeks, you’ll see that I have a thing for big Mercs even vowing that were I to win the lottery I would have a mint 560SEL as my daily smoker, in preference of any luxury saloon on sale today.
‘I suggested to Ollie that we look to spend a bit more on the next ‘shed’ purchase and once we had agreed that was the right thing to do, I wasted no time in looking for a 126 - in fact it took me about 25 seconds to find the 420se, on sale only 5 miles from the office. 10 minutes later we were in Ollie’s Golf going to take a look. It will have soft seats, I said, it will also have doors that shut with a clunk and a boot that shuts with a clang. You’ll be seduced by the switchgear solidity and don’t be put off by the wheel trims- they look cool with those on. Oh, and if it has the warning triangle in the boot then it’s been looked after.
'Ollie will tell you the rest, but let’s just say that as soon as I took the keys for the test drive and fired up the V8 I would have bought it for full asking price. My eyes were blind to the rust, in fact I was already smitten- thank god Ollie was there to at least haggle and look disinterested while I grinned like an idiot. Since we bought it I have not stopped driving it, my beautiful £35K Z4 sits abandoned as I find excuse after excuse to take it home. This car is not for sale, well that’s not strictly true it has to go sooner or later, but if you call the office wanting to buy it and I answer- I will tell you its sold. At that point I suggest you insist to speak to Ollie, and if you do buy it expect tears from me, there will be plenty of those.’
So here it is – our new shed. The car had been advertised for £1,000, but after walking away we managed to bag it for £865 – leaving us £300 extra in the kitty from an original £500. I drove it last night and after getting my head round just how big it was, I was smitten. You feel like a cross between a dictator and a bank robber. It is more boat than car, speed bumps becoming almost non existent, and you start to waft rather than drive.
Amazingly, everything works – the AC, heater, electric seats, the lot, it even has Bluetooth. I can see local petrol stations are going to get to know me on a first name basis, but the V8 is so smooth and so quiet, you can’t help but love it. We found out that the one owner actually meant that it was owned by a company, the director transferred it in to his name, then it went into his wife’s name. According to the dealer that’s just the one. Admittedly there’s a little bit of rust, that we might use some of the kitty to sort, or perhaps we’ll just try and sell it as it is. Who knows, maybe no one will want a huge, old, thirsty Merc, but I can honestly say it caused more of a stir in our office than most of the exotic machinery that gets left in the car park. So anyway, that’s how PH turned a Peugeot 205 into a V8 S-Class. I just hope we’ve done the right thing…
1988 E Reg MERCEDES-BENZ S420 Business Edition
- 115,000 miles
- Automatic
- Blue
- Petrol
- Saloon
- 4196 cc
4 Doors, Automatic, Saloon, Petrol, 115,000 miles, Metallic Blue, MOT-02-2009, 1 Owner. ABS, Adjustable seats, Adjustable steering column/wheel, Air conditioning, Anti theft system, CD Multichanger, Central locking, Cloth upholstery, Colour coding - Body, Electric mirrors, Electric windows, Electric sunroof, Foglights, Front armrest, Electrically adjustable seats, Head restraints, Metallic paintwork, Power assisted steering, Rear armrest, Remote locking, Radio/CD Multichanger, Tinted glass, Towbar, Wood/wood effect trim, Full Service History. Insurance Group:18, A VERY NICE CAR IN GOOD CONDITION THROUGHOUT,WITH ONE PREVIOUS OWNER,AND A FULL MERCEDES HISTORY WITH 18 SERVICE STAMPS IN BOOK,HAS REMOTE ALARM,AND CD MULTICHANGER,AND BLUETOOTH TELEPHONE KIT,AND TAX,TAKEN IN PART EXCHANGE,JUST HAD REAR DISCS AND PADS,TYRES,SERVICE,FOR MOT,RECENTLY TAKEN IN PART EXCHANGE,REDUCED TO CLEAR, £1,000
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