These folks have a nifty diesel flipping operation, for hippies.
 

The perfect blue dash car in the other thread is being sold by these guys.
http://jgsmercedes.com/Hello.html

Quite a little operation they have going; I can't imagine it being very profitable, but fun.

They seem to be doing this flips the right way:
Ownership history
Near Perfect Cars
No WVO SVO tampering, though they encourage it.
Amazing photos, preparation and detailing.

Look at their gallery, they sell beautiful cars, excellent photography, too. I guess not all hippies are killing these cars.
http://jgsmercedes.com/Gallery.html

Did you see those prices? I think he's making plenty of profits.

100% chance of some shill bidding happening in those auctions.
Dang they take the best pics I have ever seen!!!

Yes, a huge profit is likely per car, but they've sold less than 20 cars in 2 years. If their website is correct, 14 total. At about $5,000 profit each average, with 14 cars that's only 35k a year, gross. On top of that, they're splitting the profits between three people.

Yeesh, they do have a professional photographer/photoshop artist on staff, thats for sure. Those pictures and the detailing is fit for a high end magazine! Pictures sell!

Amazing seeing them that clean. If mine looked like that I'd never want to drive it! :eek: Which would defeat the whole reason I own one....to get out and enjoy/drive it.

Still....amazing examples and amazing photos. It was a treat to browse them. :)

Yeah, the photos look better than the original sales brochures. Wide angle lens, perhaps?

On the FRIENDS page is a name, Rafael Ortega.
A photography studio.
http://rafaelortegaphotography.com/

This new listing of theirs is stunning. Picture 24 is amazing. Where do they find these things?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6330&viewitem=&item=320233054121&_trksid=p3907.m29

I'm detailing my interior this weekend, then attempt to replicate some of the pictures.

Where do they find these cars!?!? It is almost as clean as one of Shell's......;)

this is ridiculous. I dont think they find them this way, they somehow make them this way. HOW?

Agreed. Perhaps they found a time machine that can only pull vintage Mercedes-Benzes from the past. The device was located after the Berlin wall fell, in one of Hitler's secret bunkers. Then, they fabricate an amazing ownership history.

These cars are worth 3 to 5 times most of the junk I've seen for sale most everywhere else. Hint, hint.....here.

Trying to be offensive, as usual?:D


Agreed... We actually drive our cars.

No trying, the truth is in the pictures.

My previous SD was only 16 years old with 305K miles on it, and it looked much better than most of what I see on this site, with 1/2 the miles and thrashed paint and interior appearance.

I actually drive my Mercedes-Benz too, but it's not a piece of junk, jerry-rigged together like some. I actually take pride in all my machinery, and they look it too.

Yet the prices are 6-7 times what most of us spent on our cars. Actually those prices are about 50x what I have paid for each of my last 4 w123s. I dare say my 300D looks as nice as some of the cars they have (other than the dent in the passenger door, thanks *&%^ teenager), and it is one of the ones I paid 1/50th the price for. Those sure are are nice cars though...

Miles isn't the only ager of these cars... years, climate, etc. all make a big difference too. 16 years old is young compared to most of the cars on this forum.

Finally, remember that a lot of "pride" simply means "money." For example, I bought my 79 SD with some pretty rough-looking paint oxidation and fading. With a new paint job, it would look awesome. But guess what? I'm not a rich guy who can afford a good paint job, which would probably cost me more than the original price of the car which was purchased as and has been a reliable daily driver (and if you're going to spend $800 at a Cheapo-Painto place, you may as well not paint it at all).

To me, "pride" in ownership does not mean having a show-quality car: it means that your car is clean, the inside isn't trashed, and the engine is regularly maintained. Beyond that "pride" begins more and more to simply = "money."

That picture, and especially the first picture are horrible. Perhaps the their photographer friend was on vacation, but they can't hold the camera level. The first picture was done with a fisheye lens and then corrected in software. Because they didn't know what they were doing, it ends up looking like the wheelbase has been shortened but the car length stays the same. That, and the car "sagging" in the middle.

According to the EXIF, the camera is a Canon 5D. With that and a fairly wide lens, I don't understand why they'd pick a fisheye and then correct it. Fisheyes are more of a specific purpose lens, not one you'd use for something like this unless you wanted to lead off with an eye-catching shot. But you'd leave the image alone.

I'll take your word for it.....but they look nice to my untrained eye:).

They flip gassers too.....I dig that orange SL they sold. I just sent them my resume:D.

The 1980 300SD in Silver with Black leather looks mint. I was drooling over that one while it was on ebay.:)

I know it doesn't matter to you, but you are unbelievably socially inept, and have insecurities that must be overcome by bragging about pretty much whatever the subject is at the time.
You are flawed.......
{all of us are, just thankfully not all in the same ways....};)
Why you are on your knees in front of the Berkshire guy is another mystery. So, you not only brag about your own stuff, but also stuff you are associated with??
I'm sure the psychologists on the website are grinning.......

That's funny, true, but funny. I'm grinning now and I'm not a psychologist. (Sure hope I spelled that correctly, in case Hatie reads this).

On a related subject, if you want to see a nice picture of our "friend" Joe, go to the ************** site. He's standing in front of his car in front of his trailer. He must have spent some of his Berkshire Hathaway frotune with Kent. You have to wait for the various testimonials to cycle through to see him.

A repaint ,a few interior swaps from a yard and throw in new parts under the hood to clean things up a bit. Build it and they will come ,as they say. Cant hate what their doing.

I thought he posted that pic just to be a smart a$$.:D

I general their guy seems to know what he's doing, but he does like wide angle lenses much more than I do. About the widest lens I every use is a very flat 24, a little of that fisheye stuff goes a long way. Of course, I'm not a big fan of digital photos anyway.

These pics have been used by scammers on craigslist before.

Wow, nice cars, great pictures, and an attractive website. Those guys seem to do things first class.

I see at least two vehicles that state that the title is open, which means they never registered it. Curbstoner. Nothing like avoiding taxes. How come we bash other curbstoners, but not these guys?

It looks like they recondition the car prior to taking the shots, maybe a very good steam cleaning facility, exterior and interior detailing too? Those are still obviously low enough to still gain a huge profit seeing the prices of each one.

They have amazing shots, I love the way they cover most of the details but still being presentable and composed nicely. Seems they always take it to the same spots when taking shots of their cars.

Looks like a team effort to me to say the least :)

Even the composition of their photos is good, not just the lighting. If they do as good a job on the car rehabbing as they do on their presentation, they should be pretty nice cars.

Nice car, but its missing its most important european part: euro bumpers! Its also missing the euro side markers and tail lights, but that is a very nice car. I like how he said the 4 speed 300d was a rare option in europe. Funny, his car is the BASE model. I don't see any options on it besides tape deck.

I sold my really nice 300d euro 4 speed for $5750. It had some dings and dents, but could have been made perfect for another grand or so. I'm guessing this one goes for 12-13k.

Oh yea, look at the owners manual. From a turbodiesel!

Would someone look at picture 61. Is that a crack in the unibody up by the spring (upper right of the picture)? Also, does it look like they repainted the lower trim area (black paint runs visible on pic 63)? I agree they have amazing cars but I just find it hard to believe there are so many low miles w123's ensconced in garages throughout southern California.

here is the link http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6330&viewitem=&item=320233054121&_trksid=p3907.m29

Seriously is that him?:D

I believe it is, but I can't remember how I figured that out. It couldn't have been to difficult, because it didn't take me very long

I did point out in the title that they were hippies. Illegal Aliens don't pay taxes either.

Don't these guys need a dealer's license, anyway? If I remember correctly, titles are open on some when you buy a used car, but can't remember. Since they accept interview opportunities and market their cars well, wouldn't they be concerned about tax evasion and have a dealer's license?

He just openly admitted his desire to offend people here; he does it in other threads regularly. This breaks one of the cardinal rules of this forum, "trolling". Though I also see Jimmy's point; he may just lack any tact at all.



Hello? Moderators.... Do something.:D

Joe has an E300D, is he the guy in front of the nice looking green W123? Maybe I didn't see the right picture.

No I don't think its trolling, I think it's him being himself. Wait for Brian to get back from his trip and see what he thinks.

You don't have to get a dealer's license unless you sell a certain number of cars per year. Usually 3-6 cars per year, depending on the state. And if you sell out of state, those numbers get harder to track.

Judging from the price/condition though, I wouldn't be surprised if these guys don't sell more than a few cars every year. Plus remember if there's more than one guy running the operation, those "legal before a license is required" numbers go up.

Eh... I feel like a tattle tell. :D I don't really want to see him go, yet. At least he changes his oil.:D

Did you see their rodbender for sale?

http://jgsmercedes.com/1991_350SDL_GR_CB.html

Dig the creme interior, not so much the shade of red.

What is the car in the picture on **************? What does Joe say he used to drive?

from his post: "My previous SD was only 16 years old with 305K miles on it"

I'll bet you a set of new glow plugs that it's him.:D

And that is how you sell a car this old at 5k.

I emailed them a while back asking them how they get such perfect parts for these saying "i know you dont get them this nice. You just dont. How do you guys do it? Im not a customer, I already own three of these things". THey replied back with something along the line of "Id love to share with you, but its our little secret" and "I cant give away all my secrets, but its alot of hard work"

Pull out the car fax sheet if theirs a doubt on mileage ,a seller will skirt the issue if its reading questionable mileage.An indie guy told me that most MB diesels are very easy rebuilds considering,bingle berry the cylinder ,slap some rings and bearings in ,then finish it off with the finals.At least thats a guy telling it thats been raised under a hood on these cars.They are fine cars when their cleaned up ,these cars were very well taken car of or were placed under very concerning hands to get them in the now clean state that they show.Extensive work,this gives me the motivation to get a paint job started.

Yes, they are easy rebuilds, if you do a half a$$ job.

True, you did mention that they were hippies, and that's no excuse for us not bashing them for being curbstoners, nor is it an excuse not to pay taxes. Do we not bash them because they have nice clean cars? Oh, he's a nice curbstoner, let's not bash him. lol With no title paper trail, it's going to be difficult to prove anything as far as taxes go.

True again, illegal aliens don't pay taxes either, but they aren't on Ebay curbstoning cars, last time I checked.

In VA, I believe it's 12 cars per year for a license. And office space, and a few other things.

They do have clean cars, but I'm going to call them as I see them.

Hippies? Since when do "hippies" pay $19,500 for a 1983 station wagon? Apparently those "hippies" grew up, worked hard and made a good amount of money in Silicon Valley.

This is a great site, well done, clean, tasteful. Gorgeous cars. They obviously have an understanding of marketing and presentation. Nicely done, bravo.

The last of the hippies started collecting social security several years ago.

3 new diesels for our drooling pleasure. The wagon is my favorite, but the coupe is georgous as well.
http://jgsmercedes.com/For_Sale.html

Picture 60 with the 76 300d gives me pause, though. Nicely disguised rust, perhaps? The trim is off from a recent repaint, though the ad says 100% original paint. They could remove the trim for detailing, but that seems overkill.

http://www.sitedesigncentral.com/eba...d-8%20(60).jpg

I can't help myself ... I love their photos. Those cars look great despite any issues we might discover. I even love the crazy two tone green and yellow pinstripes on the coupe.:cool:

Where on EARTH do they find these cars!? Just perfect! It's hard to believe these are 25 year old vehicles!