[s-cars] NAC - Benz 300E Questions

[toml99 at todomundo.com]

Hey, saw this on the V8 list and felt I must chime in.  I just sold a  
92 300E w/120K in "mint" condition for a friend's teenage son for  
$2400 because of all the "issues".  Car had been maintained at the  
dealer/good MB tech in town it's whole life.  He desperatly wanted an  
80's Saab, and being a former 80's Saab guy, I was searching for  
him....Then out of the blue, he goes and buys this car.  He paid  
about $2400 for it, 8 months prior, but mom had sunk about $1200 into  
it in those 8 months and it rarely ran, and just wanted to see it  
leave the driveway.  Lots of phantom electrical problems, that the  
experienced MB tech(s), never quite got totally solved.  The entire  
suspension needed upgrading, and if you look, some of the pieces 
(there are many), can be quite spendy.  Hydraulic leaks  
everywhere....a low hummmmm that both techs and myself thought  
sounded like a bearing in the bottom end.  Even my tech friend's that  
work on MB's said "the car is evil" without even looking at it.   
Bottom line was that he was planning on working at the ski area/ 
spends half the winter there anyway, and this simply just wasn't the  
car for him, period, or any teenager in Idaho(I used to live in  
Driggs)....I wouldn't even consider anything that wasn't front wheel  
drive/4 wheel drive.  Are you planning on doing all the mechanical  
work on whatever it is, or would you be paying someone to do  
it?.....A '74 Landcruiser wagon w/67K original miles just recently  
sold here for $3800!....not that I needed it, but would have bought  
it in a heartbeat......Just my 2 cents......There are a million cars  
in the state if ID that would be a better choice than a 300E for your  
daughters....If you must have a MB, I've got a friend in Boise that's  
got a fleet of 300D's that have been converted to Bio/Veggy oil and  
some parts cars, and he said if you put a huge tank of Veggy oil in  
the trunk and a set of snow's, they're pretty good in the  
snow....Sincerely Tom