I believe in buying the best example you can find / afford. Go for zero rust (easy for me to say - I'm in Texas). It took a year looking on eBay to find my 97 S600. I probably paid 3K premium for it - but it is dang near perfect!

That interior on this 123 for example is worth a 2K premium to me. A "retrim" is $500 per front seat and $1000 for the rear bench. Not sure how much new carpet would run. When I see a 123 of that vintage, the door trim is usually "puckered" pretty good.

Not sure why the fuel cap has surface rust - was the car near the coast?

I think it's a good color combo as well (aged well).

If you can get a pre-purchase inspection that is a bonus. At least you'll know what you're getting into. Service history is the next most important thing to review. With that low mileage, even if the previous owner skipped some regular maintenance (let's say went too long on an oil change), the damage would be minimal on such a low mileage engine.

Of course, it's not my money and I've never seen the car, so keep a level head when parting with your hard earned dollars!

__________________
~shell
As of 2/2010:
2001 CLK55 0o\=*=/o0
13.6 @ 106mph
10K mi
1984 300SD
260K mi and going and going...
97 S600
46K miles
1991 Sentra SE-R (extremely dorked with)
www.se-r.net