Trax I could not disagree more with these comments. I've bought 5 old MBZ's over the last 20 years now when a friend who knows all about them finally talked me into it because I was skeptical like the posters here. The first one was a 79 turbo D for $2,500 with about 150K on it and the latest one is a 2001 CLK430 that I picked up just before Xmas for 7 grand. This car is a black on black high option version with the nav system, Bose sound, even the air bladders in the seats. It sold new for 52 grand. Why so cheap you ask? Because it has 130K on it and the average person thinks it's done and it's going to be a money pit. Nothing could be further from the truth and that's what makes old Benz's a good buy. My other Benz is a 87 560 SEC with only 248K on it and a friend of a friend is picking it up from me next week for 4 grand. Do the math, I upgraded from an 87 to a 2001 with all the newer high tech stuff for a difference of 3 grand and 115 thousand less miles? What kind of a no brainer is that? That's what I've done since around 1992. The only reason I've bought 5 cars and not 3 is bacause one got totaled, I sold one to my nephew and I'm just now selling the SEC. No major repairs on any of them but sure I've replaced starters, alternaters, one radiator, hoses, all the regular maintence stuff but I'm telling you the parts are not more expensive than they are for any other car. Even the AC compressor on the older ones like this 87 you're talking about is the GM rotary type they put in Chevy's. They're like $150. No biggie.

Here's the deal. If you live away from a big metro area forget it. Some of the people in this thread are probably correct because of that. In a smaller town with one dealer and two indies who all know each other, you're going to get bent over for repairs. But here in LA Benz's are like Honda's. Everybody and their dog has one and there's shops all over the place plus there's tons of wrecking yards for parts for older ones.

Example, last year I needed a window regulator for the driver's side door for my SEC. New from the dealer is about 6 hundred bucks and a used rebuilt one is half that. On the Benzworld forum I met a guy in Glendale, maybe 20 miles from me who's hobby is old S class cars and he had a good regulator he pulled from a wrecking yard for 50 bucks. That's what you do if you can. That and find a decent indy mechanic.

I'm not going to rattle on and on about older Benz's here. PM me if you want, I know quite a bit about them. Oh, and here are the two big forums, you'll see me posting there in the CLK sections.

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/

http://mbworld.org/forums/index.php

One more thing, MBZ didn't come out with a 400E until 1992 in the US market. This car may have been a grey market import because 87 was right at the end for people doing that. If it passed smog it's legal now so probably no problem but ask around those forums. Just like here, there's a lot of good people in both forums who know a ton about these cars and it seems like a good 20% of them are from SoCal.

Ok, yet another thing. Get familiar with the chassis model numbers, all the Benz pro's and wannabe's use it. My CLK is a W208, my SEC is a W126 and your proposed E class is a W124. Buy that car and don't worry, I'll get you up to speed. There's a huge family of Benz fanatics out there including for the old ones.

Bob

Last edited by jazzmammal; 04/27/12 05:39 PM.
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