new to me 380SL 1981
 

i just this very day bought a 1981 380SL from a little old lady who hated it!! i am probably going to turn it around and sell it, she said the battery kept going dead and she just stopped driving it, it had junk motorcraft battery which was way too small and alt was not charging. first thing i noticed new servo!!! it has excellent paint and interior, has new michelins and wire wheels, i really don't care for the wheels but the car looks great. i will likely get anything needed up to par that it needs. but for $1,000.00 i think i got an excellent deal!!

Let's see a picture of it.:D:P:D:P

as requested

http://members.cox.net/mercedessd/380Sl.JPG

You're right about the wire wheels. They gotta go.

But they paint looks great.

i am gonna leave the wheels, the tires are new michelins. hopefully whomever buys the car will like the wheels. i started fixing it today, it was running like crap, all the secondary ignition items were way sub par plugs were autolite platinums lol, replaced them and it runs much better. still a work in progress, one cool thing that was in the car is it has a shifter lock, it is a metal piece that attaches to the shift gate and locks with a key, when it is in place the shifter can not move from park.

well congrats....like her...I have a thing for those wires though. I had a 1978 450 SL red with those years ago and I just do not know why I think they look hot....how much for the car i can alsways use another one LOL And the little old lady did you a solid.

Your right, for $1000 you can't go wrong. As far as I'm concerned it's a great deal and a beautiful car. As for the wire wheels, I'm mainly into older british sports cars that regularly came with wire wheels. I love the look of a sporty looking car with wire wheels. If you decide to take them off or want to work out a deal for them with the stock chrome rims in trade, let me know.

Is that a lapis blue one?

It looks sweeeeeet!!!!!

when i am finished it will be forsale, so if anyone wants to make offer let me know.

Looks very similar to my 1980. I have wire wheels on mine but they are completely different. I love how they look on my car & would never get rid of them but as I said, they don't look like yours.

What's the interior color? Mine is blue w/tan interior, great color combo, in my opinion.

A grand for that!? Where are all those little old ladies around my neck of the woods? Great score.

How does the timing chain look in this bad boy?

Does it have a single or double row chain?

it has double row, what was even better new rails and chain!!, pulled valve covers to inspect,
also after a brief general inspection i also noted:
new smog pump
new front calipers and rotors
new master cylinder
new power steering pump
new rear muffler (can be seen in picture)
new climate control servo
new michelins
and likely much more

interior is gray, overall in good shape, drivers seat seems to have been restuffed

Well, SOMEBODY still likes wire wheels. I got a set with my 380SL, and they hadn't been maintained very well. After some rather extreme cleaning involving paint remover (!) and replacing the slightly beat-up caps/curb feelers with fake spinners, they look good from a foot away. My wife likes them and she may be doing some driving this summer. Mine are Daytons, supposedly the best. They may be leaking a little so I'm going to have a shop put some sealant on the rims this spring. Dayton doesn't make this exact style anymore, rechroming wires is impossible without complete disassembly/cutting/rewiring, and on new ones, they went to more wires, and they would be a cool $2K for a set of 4.

What I don't like about them is - 14". You can barely get a decent 14" tire anymore.