Hello All,

I'm hoping it is acceptable to post this here, I've looked through the other forums and this seemed the most applicable place.

My father in law recently moved in with us and needs to liquidate some cars. One of which is a 1984 Mercedes 380 sl. I have what I would consider an above average amount of experience buying/selling used vehicles, but NO EXPERIENCE with a Mercedes and certainly not of this year/model.

So ultimately, I'm hoping for some advice on what the car could realistically be worth and any good places to try to get it sold.

The car:
1984 380 sl
176,000 miles
Light brown exterior/light gray interior
Exterior is in pretty nice shape with original paint and no fading.
Interior has fading and some seat cracking but dash is in great shape.
Hard top and soft top
New tires
Recently passed smog (6mo)

I know this is minimal information, but I don't have much other than that.

Any ballpark starting points on what it might be worth? (yes I understand I'll get a slew of clarifying questions that I'll try to answer!)

Thanks,

Captain Ron's son inlaw :-)

Do you have any idea what part of the country the car is located in?

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Jim

Hi there. Hagerty has a valuation tool for classic cars that will give you a ballpark figure. Based on your description, I would say the car is closest to the #4 or "Fair" condition rating, according to Hagerty's scale, for which the estimate is $6800.

Here's a link for more details:

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1984-mercedes~benz-380sl

Best of luck with the sale!

I know someone has expressed some interest in the SL but they don't live around here.

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Jim

Captain Ron's son in law:

Some musing on the car based on the limited amount of information provided:

1.) A 380SL, even the later model with a double timing chain, is near or at the bottom of values for the 107 chassis. That's not a bad thing per se, but understand that from a popularity and desirability standpoint for the 107 chassis this model is pretty much at the bottom of the ladder.

2.) The miles on this car, even if well documented, are pretty excessive for a car of it's type. I would expect that some major engine and drive train work are in it's future if it was expected to be on the road much longer. If that work has been done, so much the better.

3.) Condition, condition, condition. If it presents well it will go a long way to overcome the previous two issues. Not significantly, but it will certainly help. Anything there is to establish the provenance, such as dad-in-law's service records, for example, add to the value.

4.) I'm all for Hagerty, and a customer of theirs myself, but I've found that in some lesser models/chassis' of Mercedes their pricing is inflated. I can only guess that it's due to the venue or means by which they acquire that information, such as classic car auctions, for example. They use a five point scale, and based on what little information you're providing at this point I would guess you're going to be in one of the bottom two buckets.

This is probably the worst time to be selling a car like this. With the Covid-19 stuff and the economy taking such a huge hit on so many fronts, values and demand for cars like this are going to be taking a huge hit.

Something else to understand:

This is a forum, one of many, of very well informed and knowledgeable enthusiasts and owners. We know what a car is worth, or can get pretty close to the value, based on years of experience and institutional knowledge of the cars and the marketplace. Dad-in-law, and possibly other family members, may have unrealistic expectations of the value of the car for any number of reasons. Typically, it's emotion. The car evokes fond memories, etc., etc. It's also a jaded view of value. Dad-in-law might have told Mom-in-law and family that the car was worth "X" number of dollars, for whatever reason. This might have been a realistic number at some point, but is often a total WAG or something just out of thin air based on some Mecum auction Dad-in-law saw one day with a similar (but concours) car like his that sold for stupid money.

In other words, don't let emotion dictate the value. If you do the car will never sell. I can't count the times I've seen a grieving widow show up in one of these forums, offering to sell her dearest's car for stupid money, because that's what he had told her it was worth for decades. Widow gets indignant and leaves, thinking people are trying to take advantage of her, only to get a reality check when she moves on to the next venue or source of value. It's sad, really, but that's the way it often plays out.

Personally, I would contact John Olson's SL Market Letter. I've known John for decades, and he is by far the absolute expert on SLs and valuation. John has retired, but it's possible the Market Letter still has resources to establish values that could give you some idea of what the car is worth.

https://slmarket.com

Good luck!

What great post.

Love this forum.

Don't use hagerty. That is NOT real value of the car.

I REPEAT hagerty is NOT the kbb of vintage cars

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if you car were basically prestine and lovely, John can find you a buyer who will pay for that level of perfection. (I too have known John for decades; he's like a founder of the MBCA; he's knowledgeable and trustworthy).

If you car is a bit more "lived in", you might not want to go that route due to John's fee structure compared to what the car is worth. The Bring a trailer website (an online auction house) is quick route to go that gets your car seen and sold with a smaller cut going to the house.

-CTH

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- cth350@gmail.com
http://www.111lakeside.com/

Point well taken Charlie. I was thinking more along the lines if John's site or the SLMG still offered pricing guides like they used to. He could look up the car and get an idea of value.

I doubt very much that they would want to employ John's valuation service. That would most likely be overkill considering the description of the car.

Howdy. I don’t have any specifics to offer on the 380sl, but will affirm that you’ve received good advice here. I do hope the captain is well. I met him one time - he deadheaded down to Texas, bought a car from me and drove it home overnight. I get the impression that wasn’t a completely unknown behavior for him. He seemed quite the character.

my other pet peeve, you guys take the time to write up some well thought out advice with your deep knowledge, banter it around and nothing...no response from the original poster- doesn't bother to even say thank you.

I too have had similar experiences with friends and their dads who kept a car in the garage and were thinking of it as a part of retirement, or the kids inheritance.
I'm a car guy so I often get asked about values.

Ex: good friend, she asked me to look into her dads 70's corvette stingray in the garage. There was nothing special about it, ok all around. It was in average condition per any scale.
Having watched all the auctions of older vettes flying through the roof...he was sure that his was worth at least half of those...I forget the number, but she still says he frowns and changes the subject if my name or the 'vette come up.

I think the issue is one of embarrassment; they've been telling their wife or kids for years and years about how much that car will be worth...don't you sell it...I've done such a smart thing...then reality hits and it's ouch time. They get mad and claim everyone is trying to steal it from them to make the big bucks.


*LBW250 - permission to cut and paste your message you wrote? That would just save me the time and effort of going thru the exercise. Or for anyone else here!

That's OK, I don't mind, as now it's out there for everyone to put to use if they choose to do so.

I figure someone in the situation described is probably more caught up with dealing with far more critical issues and might not have the time to respond. I'm OK with that.

But yes, you make a good point. Funny about the 'vette. Some people don't like to hear the truth...

A 380 anything, be it a 107 or 126 is not worth squat. Unless its a museum piece, I doubt anyone is actively looking for a 380. Those who ended up with a 380 to begin with more than likely got into it because they were cheap to begin with.

Agreed, for the most part.

And many that got into a 380 probably did so for the cost compared to a 450, or they might have gotten a good deal on that particular car. But - the 380 is definitely the red headed stepchild of the 107 chassis, for sure.

All, thank you so much for your thought out and knowledgeable responses! I sincerely apologize for not responding sooner, I thought I had the notifications set to send me emails when someone responded to my post but clearly I didn't.

LWB250, you couldn't be more accurate about your description of my father in law's assessment of the value of the car. He saw one sold on TV (not sure Mecum or the other big one) and is convinced the car is worth 20k! His deceased sister inlaw gave him the car upon her death and since he got it for free he figured he'd drop some money on having it "freshened up". He essentially got taken to the cleaners by a Euro mechanic in the San Diego area. Racked up a bill around $8500... the car passed smog after the mechanic was done, but that was about it. To top that all off, I can't seem to get the paperwork from him to see what the mechanic actually did for that amount of money.

I have convinced him over time that the car is simply not that valuable by showing him several Craigslist adds with cars in similar condition to his and he has come to believe it's worth far less now, but I think still unrealistic.

I don't have the level of sophistication or time to try to market the car on much more than Craigslist or Ebay, so my assumption is that we will get bottom dollar for the car (which I am ok with, he is not ;-)).

Anyhow, I'm guessing given the advice here and a little bit of poking around we'll list in the 6k neighborhood and hope for some interest or at least an offer.

He insisted on paying someone $250 to detail it so it does look fairly decent, although somehow in the detail process the drivers window is stuck in the down position and will not roll up, so there's one more thing to figure out.

Thanks to all who replied, I truly appreciate it, I apologize for not getting back to you all sooner!