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

[Lowtimer]

em177 said:

Any knowledge on the current market prices...

Am I thinking a early/mid 90’s 300/500 for £5k isn’t going to happen these days unless it’s a little rough?

The £3K to £4K band of the thread title is now broadly the going rate for a complete six-cylinder breaker car with a working roof and no obvious crash damage. You see them from about £3,000 with no MOT, £4,000 with an MOT. By 'breaker car' I mean a car...
- which needs a lot more than the purchase price spending on it to make it dependable and driving the way it should, and/or one requiring significant bodywork and paintwork
- which will fetch substantially more in component form if disassembled and the remainder scrapped (assuming the interior and trim are mostly OK)

Eight-cylinder cars are pricier and more scarce.

What might you get today for sub £5K?

A 500 at £5K now is likely to be very rough indeed, and/or super-high mileage. It could hypothetically be super high mileage and lovely, like this one belonging to r129sl, which IIRC is now on about 270,000 miles -
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
... but no-one really knows what his car would fetch if he sold it. Personally I think on condition and documentation it would sell for more than that, but there isn't really a liquid market for 270K mile R129s so no-one really knows.

These are the only sub 5K cheapies I can find at the moment:

280 here wth a fresh MOT which might actually be worth a look, while checking the invoices for the recent brake work
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C989047

Dodgy looking 280
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

280 with no MOT
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C830053

Cat C 500. Might actually be okay if it was properly repaired after the crash
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Edited by Lowtimer on Thursday 10th May 10:23

[Percy.]

Lowtimer said:

Cat C 500. Might actually be okay if it was properly repaired after the crash
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

I've had this one saved on Autotrader.

Bodywork looks good from the photos, the price isn't too unreasonable from what I can tell and if it does have the certificates to prove that is has been repaired fully then it's not too bad of a purchase is it....?

[Lowtimer]

Depends on how deep your pockets are. Unless you are a talented and enthusiastic mechanic with time on your hands, it's impossible to run these things on the cheap and have them be any good. It might well still need a few thousand quids' worth of suspension overhaul, £600 worth of cam chain guide replacement, a £1000 air con condenser replacement... all very usual stuff and just a few of the many things they all require from time to time. And if you're willing and able to sink money it (which you will) then I would have to advise sinking it into something other than a Cat C car which won't repay it when the time comes.

This thread from last year may be worthwhile context
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Percy.]

Lowtimer said:

Depends on how deep your pockets are. Unless you are a talented and enthusiastic mechanic with time on your hands, it's impossible to run these things on the cheap and have them be any good. It might well still need a few thousand quids' worth of suspension overhaul, £600 worth of cam chain guide replacement, a £1000 air con condenser replacement... all very usual stuff and just a few of the many things they all require from time to time. And if you're willing and able to sink money it (which you will) then I would have to advise sinking it into something other than a Cat C car which won't repay it when the time comes.

This thread from last year may be worthwhile context
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Thanks for the link.

I had thought about the low resale value due to the Cat C.

Something doesn't seem right about this, no MOT history from 2008-2016 (I know that if a private plate has been added then the MOT won't register as far as I was aware) but the mileage has only gone up 2,000 miles.

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

[Lowtimer]

Sometimes a car falls into disuse. The place where I keep my SL is full of cars that haven't turned a wheel for years, The only way to get a feel is ring up and see what the story is.

[Zonergem]

The damage to the front bumper, the fact that the grille has been replaced for a later 6 bar version, the wiper not parking in the proper place and some of the wear to the interior (missing armrest button) don't make me think that the mileage is genuine. That car should have had an analogue odometer but those clusters could break if you reset the trip meter while moving, or alternatively suffer failure of the capacitors or some other circuitry (search R129 dash flash), so replacement was common.

There's no mention of service history so I'd suggest treating the mileage as fictional. Beyond that you'd need the loom and throttle body rewired and a couple of pieces of trim.

Despite the flaws Iquite like it if you could get it away for a small haggle under the asking. Newcastle isn't far from me if you are serious.

[Lowtimer]

Before doing anything though I'd ring up for the tale. And ask where the hard-top is. It's ok that it's not in the pics - it's a big heavy thing, and he's gone to the trouble of showing the roof in operation, which is nice - but it's not mentioned in the advert.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

em177 said:

Any knowledge on the current market prices...

Am I thinking a early/mid 90’s 300/500 for £5k isn’t going to happen these days unless it’s a little rough?

Lowtimer's earlier response is spot-on, but I'd caveat it with one thing. The fact is that there are cheapies out there, especially if you wait and prowl, and if you can live with things not working or some cosmetic scruffiness there are still bargains to be had. These cars are very well-built and hide neglect - that can be a strength as well as a risk inasmuch as you can run them on a shoe-string if you want.

So, 'a little rough' in this instance may not necessarily be a bad thing, but as with all ageing and once-expensive premium cars, you need to be prepared to invest or walk-away because they can chuck you some hefty bills.

[anonymous-user]

Just saw a lovely almandine Princess of Wales spec 500 on the M25. A G plate so one of the very first here and the chap had the roof down and was sporting an Almandine red cap. Lovely.

[Zonergem]

If it was good enough for quite a few of the Press cars and the then Princess of Wales...

[Percy.]

Thanks LT and Zonergem

[pcn1]

em177 said:

Any knowledge on the current market prices...

Am I thinking a early/mid 90’s 300/500 for £5k isn’t going to happen these days unless it’s a little rough?

My recent buying experience tells me that at £5K they will be rough, and you'll end up spending serious money to get the car into a decent shape. The cheapest cars I considered were at £8K, and although they seemed "tidy" they had no history and were early cars. Basically you check it over as best you can and take a gamble.

I dropped £11K on my 1998 320 from a dealer (after a good haggle down), but it was the best car I viewed. Basically just immaculate with Pano roof, AMG alloys, working A/C, FSH etc etc.....


But who knows... you might get lucky if you view some private sales ?

[Willwors]

pcn1 said:

My recent buying experience tells me that at £5K they will be rough, and you'll end up spending serious money to get the car into a decent shape. The cheapest cars I considered were at £8K, and although they seemed "tidy" they had no history and were early cars. Basically you check it over as best you can and take a gamble.

I think that's about right. I went down to about £8k when I was looking at 129s. This would buy a 6 cylinder car with good history but a few niggles that I knew needed addressing - I walked away from a slightly under-specced 1999 SL320 with 80k miles and full MBSH but that had rust spots on the wings / arches at £7,995 (I think). That was late 2016 - market might have firmed up a bit since then.

I ended up spending 5 figures on my car, but I wanted a 500 really and when one in aforementioned Princess of Wales spec popped up with a history folder the size of my entire literature collection I had to have it:

[Zonergem]

Percy. said:

Thanks for the link.

I had thought about the low resale value due to the Cat C.

Something doesn't seem right about this, no MOT history from 2008-2016 (I know that if a private plate has been added then the MOT won't register as far as I was aware) but the mileage has only gone up 2,000 miles.

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Flippy flippy flip flip.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-500SL-Converti...

[Percy.]

Zonergem said:

Flippy flippy flip flip.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-500SL-Converti...

Well well well

[Lowtimer]

"This is a non-trade sale from my Dads extensive private collection of cars"

hahahahaha

[Zonergem]

One of those really confidence inspiring "Full Service Histories" that consist of a few old MOTs, all from the post-2006 'I can see all that online anyway' era, an invoice for wiper blades or one cheap tyre, and a single key artfully bound in finest OEM spec sellotape.

£14k all day long, innit?

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Lowtimer said:

"This is a non-trade sale from my Dads extensive private collection of cars"

hahahahaha

I don't at all object to him finding a cheap car and then selling it for more money, but the lying, deceitful and conniving bks he's using around it really grates.

[PositronicRay]

Zonergem said:

One of those really confidence inspiring "Full Service Histories" that consist of a few old MOTs, all from the post-2006 'I can see all that online anyway' era, an invoice for wiper blades or one cheap tyre, and a single key artfully bound in finest OEM spec sellotape.

£14k all day long, innit?

I travelled 120 miles to see a FSH R129 from a dealer

FSH turned out to be a receipt for an A/C recharge and a trolley jack (from Halfords)
No service book no receipts, nothing.

[Willwors]

PositronicRay said:

I travelled 120 miles to see a FSH R129 from a dealer

FSH turned out to be a receipt for an A/C recharge and a trolley jack (from Halfords)
No service book no receipts, nothing.

That's hilarious.

A stamped service book is not enough for a 129. You need to see evidence of out of schedule maintenance, and lots of it if possible.

The one taped-up key on that car is hilarious too. Pretty sure these were supplied with four?