My advice is to never buy rust. Unless the car is super rare, its not worth it. I have a '73 450 sl (same as the '72) that I paid $5800 for with no rust. Its not perfect, but its a lot better than this one. I have seen several here in the Atlanta area in $5000 to $9000 range. Most likely they would not have as much rust. If you can find a good southern car, look for rust in the passenger side floorboard. This is the result of plugged A/C drains and is fairly common on this vintage.

That said, I think the '72-'73 sl is one of the most underappreciated cars of all time. They have plenty of power (240 hp and no emissions equipment), small attractive bumpers, are dead nuts reliable and parts are readily available. Perhaps its because later models did suffer from small design flaws and reduced power due to emissions. Still, it baffles me how Jags of the same vintage go for $30+ thousand while 450s can be had for a fraction. Good luck.

John Ray
'73 450 SL