Whats its worth question - 85 190D
 

Folks, I am scrambling to replace my 95 which pooped an engine. The one car I've seen locally is an 85 190D, VA car ( no rust), with 90K on the clock. It looks like a genuine 90K car. Int is VG, body needs a bit of work. Some "hoodlums" literally walked on the hood, dented it, with paint on their sneakers.

He's asking 2200. It needs new front struts as when you turn the wheel ( at rest), there's a muted clunking sound.

I am asking y'all what its worth for the purpose of buying it, running it until I find the right car, and then selling it without losing my shirt. I'll do the struts and likely change all the rubber lines and Orings to Viton is all. ( after I use some goof off and a buffer on the beige ( ugh) paint.)

Car started right up, no smoke.

If I could get the car for 1600, new struts, some "lipstick and rouge", would I be able to get 1600 back out of it here?

THNX. I hope this is not an inappropriate post.

IMO if you can validate the odometer reading, it sounds like it is on target for under 2k. I wouldn't think the clunk in the front is the struts though, more likely a ball joint. A new hood should be pretty easy to find in the junkyard, AFAIK the 190s should be interchangeable between gasser and diesel.

Just remember if it only has 90k miles, it means it was sitting for a long time without being driven, so look for hidden rust and "sitting" deterioration (like dried out rubber seals like the windows and stuff, puddling water, etc.) rather than things being worn out through heavy use as you'd see with high mileage MBs.

Manual transmission or automatic? That will affect the price quite a bit. As a benchmark, just last month, I purchased a 1985 190D 2.2 5-speed manual transmission with ~110,000 on the odometer. It was owned by my mechanic and was going to be his "retirement car". He had fixed or replaced anything that needed to be done.

Mechanically, it is in perfect condition. Interior, also perfect. Exterior...just a few dings and dents here and there that a 25-year old car would have. Nothing major, just not perfect. You would have to look close with the light just right. I paid his asking price, $5,000. Probably paid a little too much, but really didn't mind because I know that mechanically there would be no issues for a long, long time.

As part of the purchase price, he fixed a bunch of other "little" things, like new springs in the sunroof deflector and such. I'm getting consistently in the mid to upper 30's mpg, once topping out above 40. On the current tank full (14-gallons total), I'm at 400 miles and still have above a quarter of a tank of fuel.

This car will now be "my retirement car"! Can you tell that I'm a happy driver? Honestly, I haven't driven my coupe since getting the diesel.

Man, I just hate hearing that a '95 chunked the engine..... :(:(

my 85 190d parts car with 250k on it and 5spd was $350!!!

So unless it's a museum piece I would say they are not worth much

You can fix the body
 

I don't think the previous comment was correct. A car with 90k is a far cry from 250 K. If it cleans up well it is certainly worth $1600 and probably more. You can do cosmetic cleanup and still have a lo miles vehicle. I recently dabbled with selling my 87 190d if the $4700 range & had a fair bit of serious interest. Ultimately I decided that finding another cherryish diesel sedan was pretty hard to do so decided to keep it. If it really has 90K it is a reasonable deal in my opinion. look for rust behind the drivers seat mounts and around the jacking points and of course verify the automatic trans with a good trans shop familiar with MBZ. Maybe a good deal but " There is nothing as expensive as a cheap Mercedes" not mine but quite true . Cheers Dan

New transmission, btw, auto. Thnx for the input guys.