Wtb: 500e / E500

I am currently in the market for a 500E. I have a few questions:

1) I am from Northeast PA and am going to be in the LA area next week. Does anyone know of any good examples of the 500E/E500 in southern CA? I would love to test drive one!

2) I was going to drive out to Brooklyn to see the green 500E on eBay. I did come across a long thread from October about this car. Did anyone actually go check it out? If there are known flaws it would save me a day.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=598115091&r=0&t=0

3) As would anyone on this board, I am willing to go anywhere to find my car! Does anyone know of a good 500E anywhere?

Any help on what to look (out) for would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave

daveb12@adelphia.net

[Mark Stetson]

If you are in LA over the weekend, you might check out the Eurotunerfest at Willow Springs on Sunday, Nov. 25th. Besides seeing a bunch of cool cars (I expect), you are likely to meet from one to four 500E/E500 owners, that I know of. None of those would be for sale, but at least we can give you a rundown and a look-see.

I am looking at 2 different 500E's that are currently listed on eBay.

Has anyone checked these out?

There is no way I can make it to St Louis in 2 days!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=598115854

I also like this black one in San Francisco:


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=598117749

Any comments would be appreciated.

Dave

Daveb12@adelphia.net

My only advise is to decide on your favorite color combination and stick with looking for that car in the lowest possible mileage you can afford, because you are probably going to want to hang on to this car for a long, long while.

[dwight hinton]

There is a white 500E in Charlotte at the dealership, starmarked, Craig was looking at it.

I have the service records, etc. if you are interested.

[TomE500]

1994 E500 Black Pearl Black. No CD or telephone. K40 built-in Radar and Lojack only additions made so far. 32900 on the clock.
Purchased from Grenwich CT original owner/exotic car dealer 10/00 with 26900 on the clock for $48,500. 30000 mi service done by Clair Mercedes 3/01 - replaced battery and idle control valve. Have all service records since vehicle entered service on 01/01/95.

Although I love driving this beast, the top does not go down like my last benz. If you have a diamond black/black or grey SL600 with less than 25K on the clock, you may be able to wrest my toy from me.

Tom

[rjfjr1]

There's a '94 E500 listed in SF Chronicle; Smoke Silver, $39k, "lo miles" number listed is 650-365-0871.

Also check Classifieds 2000; two listings, one has been listed for some time in Chicago.

Best of Luck finding your car.

Tom, I would love to take that 94 off your hands. The only problem is I am SURE you would want more than my budget for such a nice (low mi.) car.

I am VERY interested in the starmarked 500E. It seems to be a few thousand more than what is listed on autotrader/eBay, but the warranty seems worth it. Am I thinking correctly here? Is the starmark worth that much?

Also, I would be buying long distance. Dwight, did you drive the car?

I sure they would ship it to me!??

Thanks again,

Dave

[TomE500]

Dave You are probably right. It cost me almost $2500 in sales tax just to register it here in Taxachusetts so I will prolly trade it with a dealer that has what I am looking for AND has a ready buyer for this work of engineering art.

Starmarked, IMHO of course, is a rip off. They generally only offer it on vehicles less than 7 years from the "barn". It took me a year to find this one and I am quite sure that there are still a hundred or so low milage versions (less than 25K) of the 92-93 500E series and the 94-95 E500 and E500 LTD series. The dealer in St. Louis and his father are quite reputable and I know several folks who have purchased expensive vehicles from them over the years. They generally ship in a closed van and are quite thorough in re-conditioning the cars that they sell.

Your best bet is a private party. See if you can network and develop a contact at MB of North America that has access to their database. They know who still has low milage vehicles tucked away in this country. There are a dozen or so of the 95 E500 LTD in Switzerland with under 20K Kilometers on them.

Good luck on your hunt and take your time to get EXACTLY what you are looking for. The hunt alone is a lot of fun and you will meet some pretty interesting people along the way. They are out there.

Tom

[TomE500]

Does any one know where I can get a better price on these CL 2 piece wheels in 17X8.5 (They come standard on the 2002 AMGCL 55 Cabriolet)

http://www.autoclass.net/catalog/wheels/amg.html

Autoclass has them @ $589.00 a wheel. They look something like Guido's Silver Arrow wheels but are better as 17's ride better than 18's and are less subject to bent wheel syndrome(ItalianBenz eat your heart out;^)

Tom

[Tobias MB]

Was reading the new issue of Hemmings which has about eight 500E/E500s in the classifieds. Some show price, some not much info, but here goes:
93 500E prl blk/grey, 34K miles, Omaha, NE 402-496-0123.

93 500E, prl blk/cream beige, 78k miles, CA 650-343-7980

93 500E, 39k miles, Hatch & Sons, MA 508-358-3500

93 500E, Renntech 6.0L, 470hp, 500ft/lbs.Alcon brakes, BBS 18" wheels,Koni sport shox, 24k miles, Hatch & Sons 508-358-3500

94 E500, spruce green/ parchment,16k miles, first gear start, chip, bottom painted? flawless, 2 sets of wheels, $50k, in CA
530-435-2627

93 500E blk/blk 129k miles
92 500E, blk prl/blk, 94k miles
94 E500 silver/ blk, 66k miles. Ft. Lauderdale, FL 954-583-5400
or www.mercedeshowroom.com for all three cars.

Happy hunting for performance!!
Tobias MB
4 MBs

[dwight hinton]

Dave,

Yes I drove the car. It is quite nice.

If you are interested, I obtained the service records and did a comparison test drive with my 92 500E as Craig was looking at it.
If you are interested in photos, etc. e-mail me and I will send them to you.

93 500E White w/ black interior
61,000 miles
Starmarked including 1 year 100K warranty
Price is $31,950
can extend to 2 years for $700
can extend to 3 years for $1100


As Tobias said,
Happy Hunting.

[rainmaker]

Hatch and sons wants $60,900 for the Renntech modified 500E. Ouch!

Here's a pic of the car they sent me:

[rainmaker]

...

That is a nice renntech!

$60,000 is also nice, but higher than I can go!

I just LOVE this car.

Who was it that coined the phrase PERMAgrin?? :-)

++db