[V8] New car? Ah, no.

[Roger Woodbury]

Well the auction for the car that sparked this thread ended and the high bid
was $8300.  It did not make reserve and I wish I knew what the seller
expected to get for the car.  The "book value" is whatever the car will
bring, but in a practical sense, there is a very limited market for any car
that is even as much as ten years old regardless of miles.  Most people
won't take the time to, don't know how to, and don't want to do the research
needed to buy an old car with low miles.  

Anyway, the W123 and W126 Mercedes were the last of the true, "generational"
cars, and in 1991 Mercedes announced that they would no longer attempt to
build to the same standards that they has used for forty years.  True, these
cars were somewhat prone to rust, especially in the 1950's-early 1980's
because the Germans have never really understood US weather until the mid
1980's, but when maintained as the elves in the Black Forest intended, these
cars would go for generations.  

So the question is "would I actually buy one?"  I dunno.  I guess it would
depend on a lot of things especially what the mission was for the car in
question.  I live in eastern Maine and I will absolutely NOT drive another
rear wheel drive car through a Maine winter.  I have little to no interest
to becoming a snowbird, so Maine it is for us in our planning.  So, if I
bought one of these cars it would have to be a three season vehicle, and
then parked through the winter.  Then the car would need to have a purpose
for those nine weather tolerable months, and if we were planning on doing
the kind of short to medium distance auto touring that we have talked about
for some years here, then one of these cars would be perfect.  So the answer
is "possibly".

But it would have to be the perfect example and this one in Texas certainly
looked the part.  There is another nice example in New Jersey with 140k on
it, and that is not going to bring five grand, I'll bet.  It's being sold by
the nephew of the original owner, whom I will assume is either deceased or
not able to drive.   A car that went to Florida in the winter supposedly,
and its very clean.  Too many miles for me, but it's pretty clean looking
considering that the pictures are amateurish.

There is a very nice looking SD, the diesel version for sale in Philly.
That's pretty interesting because it is some shade of dark red and black
interior which are MY colors of preference.  79k miles and they're asking
above twelve grand for it. If I was shopping I would be on the road right
now to go and see this car because my favorite of all is this diesel variant
of the short wheelbase W126.  

I think an exceptional example of either the gasoline OR diesel W126 might
bring around ten grand to a very patient seller.  That's cheap money
compared to what one is expected to fork over for a Taurus.  And now that we
are seeing the Great Toyota Melt Down, I think an older Mercedes might be
just fine.

Roger

-----Original Message-----
From: Angie Olson [mailto:davidolson at kc.rr.com] 
Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 12:48 AM
To: Roger Woodbury; v8 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [V8] New car? Ah, no.

The '88 Mercs were solid rides. I've had an '88 300E for about ten years
now. (My mom owns it now but I maintain it). The interior quality is better
than my daily driver '99 E320 4M wagon, which has been a solid investment
also.

I'll mention my 1990 V8Q, automatic, now for grins which is in storage (for
sale) waiting for front struts, a water pump/timing belt, headliner, and a
remedy for four toasted Bose amps, oh yeah one tire. I also have a '94 S4
driver in storage that I want to change the timing belt on if anybody has
instructions on I'd be grateful for. Both Audis were my late brother-in-laws
Ian Jones whose name I wanted to get out in print. RIP Ian man.

   


On 6/30/10 8:14 AM, "Roger Woodbury" <rmwoodbury at roadrunner.com> wrote:

> Aw, it's a good thing that I am not in the market for a new car today.
> Otherwise I would be enroute to Texas to look at what might well be my
last
> car.  
> 
> We all paw over the offerings on eBay and other places from time to time,
> and today I found what might be the jewel in this year's bunch of oldies
but
> goodies.  
> 
> This one is a 1988 Mercedes 300SE (W126) in smoke silver over Palomino tex
> (NOT my favorite combination!).  The thing about this car is that it shows
> 33,000 miles from new. Based on the pictures and firm belief that no one
> ever lies about what they sell on eBay, this car was a one owner, owned by
> two elderly people.
> 
> Well, it could happen.  It could be true. The car certainly is sweet.
> 
> This is the six cylinder, so the big body will be graceful if a bit slow,
> but as a long distance touring car, it would be perfect.  For me it would
be
> a three season car of course.
> 
> It's in Texas, and no, I didn't run a Carfax...I was just interested in
> looking at the pictures.
> 
> And of course, like some other German cars we all know and love, Mercedes
> still supports this one with parts.....
> 
> Roger
> 
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