I will gladly volunteer to buy it from you and profit from your investment.

Why are you selling it?
Why not keep it?

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PagodaLOVER
1967 230SL, manual
1959 180D, manual

I agree with all who said that you cannot get back the investment on your car. I always thought money spent on a classic car, restoring it can be a good investment, but look at the link below. This seller spent $33,000 (that's what he said) on a 1965 300SE, and that's not including his labor. He is now selling it for $22K+. This is pretty bad investment to me!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercedes-Benz-300-Series-300SE-1965-Mercedes-Benz-300SE-W112_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6330QQitemZ4598364375QQrdZ1

Trick is never spend more that whan you feel its worth to make YOU happy a while longer with it.

Never expect to get more than you have into it unless you got it free to begin with....when you get tired of it or its upkeep sell it to someone else for what the market will bear....do that and you won't be terribly unhappy. Odds are it will have been cheaper than a decent new car anyway....per mile.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

The economics of a used automobile are as follows:

You purchase it with the understanding that almost everything works. You might get a small discount on the price if the a/c is broken or the heat does not work or the wipers are non-functional. But basically, you are paying for a fully functioning vehicle.

The exceptions are when you purchase a known problem with an engine or a transmission, rolling the dice to see if you can get to "fully functional" for less than the typical retail price. Sometimes you can............sometimes you can't.

Once you own the vehicle, any and all repairs to that vehicle simply return it to "fully functional". It's worth not a penny more than you paid for a fully functional vehicle, and, might be worth less, because you have more mileage on the clock.

Nobody ever gets back the cost of repairs to return the vehicle to a fully functional condition. It's part of the ownership cost. Hopefully, the repairs are a fraction of the cost of a new vehicle. But, you have to be careful. If you spend $2K per year on repairs and the vehicle depreciates another $750 per year (a typical SDL amortized over 8 years), you are spending about $225 per month on repairs and depreciation. It's only another $100.00 per month for a "decent" new vehicle. Hopefully, over time, you can limit your costs to $1K per year, on average. I'm not anywhere near that number yet for the SD and the SDL, but, I remain ever hopeful.

Well said and worth reading again. I'll never recover the $ I've put into my 500SEL AMG. Just ask the wife if it was a good investment... And the SL's got to go... it's a chick magnet, and with a Panamanian wife I'll be talking with the hands of stone if it's not sold soon

Just to help you.
I will generously take the SL off your hands for $500.00 so I can install an OM617...
When can I pick it up??? LOL

I bid $1000

It sure sounds as though it is hard to make a profit on a car.

I think that a key, might be to find a great deal on a great looking and running car.
You'll pay a good bit more than some of the bargains that are available, of course...
but you might be able to invest another $1000 or so
and still make a profit, since some people are willing to pay a premium
for great running cars with nice interiors and shiny paint.

Any success stories out there?
(maybe I should start a thread for that?)

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'87 300SDL

dieselbenz

The word investment and cars should not be put in the same sentence.

Investments put money in your pocket, money you can buy a car with or other investments. They create positive cash flow.

Cars with very few exceptions are not investments. Some classic cars go up in value and are great ways to store money and have fun with it. Some new cars you can make money on, mostly Ferrari's and others of the ilk. For example you probably could have made a quick $500k-$700k if you could flip an Enzo. But how many people can play in that league? However this is not investing it is speculating, very different things.

So buy cars to drive and waste money on. Thats it, sometimes you get lucky and they only cost you a few cents per mile to drive but overall you lose.

This is very true of old high end cars like MB's. Parts cost more and they tend to be more expensive to get right. These cars are very good at eating up money. If you want a cheap ride either drive a MB into the ground or buy a late model Toyota.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

The initial purchase price for that car was probably $7500-9000 in 1965 dollars. That would be a divine car to have. The sound of the 300 engine is a very unique roar.

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PagodaLOVER
1967 230SL, manual
1959 180D, manual

Good Luck.

Well put everyone, especially Brian's detailed post. What can I say? You guys have all said what I had in my mind. Bottom line: always expect to lose money when you buy an old luxury car and bring it up to great shape and then try to sell it right away without using it for a while to "recover" what you put into it.

As for me, I don't know what my 300SD has been costing me per year, but I know that a few months ago I paid for a new 300SD by repairing mine after the accident. The amount of money I spent would have easily bought one like it.

Come on man... he already promised to sell the car to me. So BACK OFF!!

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1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver