I found another '87 300SDL today in OK - this one has 126K miles on it - lots of records, seems the owner was pretty good about the maintenance - think he has 4 MBs total. This one looks clean, especially the engine bay, never in a wreck, AC and all the systems work, new breaks, glow plugs, block heater, new paint... but the guy wants $5000... now how you gonna get him to a reasonable $2500-3500 without putting a gun to his head?!
That's just the problem - there are plenty of cars out there it's just that most of them are junk and the ones that aren't are pricey... so, at least from my vantage point the last 2 months or so you almost have to pay a bit of premium to get a clean car with low miles... otherwise, you've got to make tough choices...
Case in point is this one here:
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/ctd/1444544898.html - now lemme know the 'voodoo that you do' to get this one down to $2500 and you'll get a $500 bonus when I sign the title...
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1987 Mercedes 300SDL; SOLD
1985 Mercedes 300D; SOLD
2006 Honda Pilot - wife's ride; 122K;
1995 Toyota Land Cruiser - 3X locked; 182K