1979 SL opportunity of a lifetime

[Doug41]

I have a chance to buy a 1979 Beautiful Blue SL. problem: mileage cannot be verified. There is 8K on the odometer (8000 miles, not a mistype), and everything looks like it could be 8K (break pedal wear, etc). A GM dealer bought it at auction, had the tranny fixd, but in the course of trying to look up maintenance records, they could not find anything on this car. he wants to sell it around $12,000, but not as a dealer, just as-is.

Is there a way or source to find out more about this car? Does the VIN hold any information about whether it came from Canada or overseas? Would carfax help? Can Mercedes be contacted directly, beyond what a maintenance report would normally show? I'd really like to get this car, but if I cannot verify the mileage, what happens if I ever try to sell it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.