I'm about to join the club
 

It's been a long time coming, but I'm about to join the SL club. I got my 'blank check' from the loan officer, and tomorrow I'm off to NJ to check out some cars.
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I saw one 97 with 125K for $16,000 with a year powertrain. I'll see others tomorrow, and wait a day before making a decision.
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Should be fun!

Any suggestions on what to look for.

Dave

Don't rush into it. Take a long time looking at the cars available on the market. I took three to four months to find mine and travelled the length and breadth of the country looking at possible contenders. There is a huge variation in quality out there.

DavidWeis- I agree with jjrodger. You should be able to find a SL with less miles for around the same price. When you are buying these cars you need to really make sure you know the market is and be patient. If you rush into this you may find your self with a car that is not a nice as what you could have gotten if you just spend the time. It took me about 3 months to find mine but when I did finally buy my SL, I ended up paying about 4K under blue book because the person needed to unload the car.

Also took me 4 months - don't rush or you'll not only be paying that loan off but also the repair bills too!!

joining the club? me too!
 

Not sure if I qualify or not, but I've always been in love with the SL models, and now, at the age of 62, I have bought my first Mercedes. I bought a 1997 SLK 200 that was new in Singapore, before being sold to the dealer in NZ. It is in pristine condition with only 47,000km. I was eyeing it on the lot for about a month before my wife said, "well, go and try it!" The salesman said it hadn't sold because the color was too much for the conservative kiwis-- it is bright yellow.
Got it two weeks ago and loving it. Wish it was a 5 speed, but I'll get used to the auto.
Keep finding more and more details that show it was really thought out through the design stage.

Best to all from sunny NZ (summer solstice today!)

JW

David,

Check out www.collectorcartraderonline.com. They are full of both sls and slcs. There are some great values on 500slcs. Slcs are much cheaper than sls and a whole lot cooler.

I waited a whole 10 days. That is how long it took me to find what I just purchased.
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A '98 with 103K miles and a 1 year warrantee for $21K from a dealer in NJ. I think I paid about 1K too much, but thats because I was too emotional!.
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The mechanic I worked with told me to scoop it right up. The old owner (1 owner), who wondered how I got his name, said he never had problems with it. The MB Dealer who took care of it said there were no reported problems, just normal maint. and the Car Fax showed consistant highway miles (about 90 per day) which falls inline with what the owner said he drove it.
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Just put on a few miles, and its rocking..I go into the MB Dealer on the 5th for a complete checkout. Warrantee company is America's Choice? Anyone ever deal with them?

Anyway..I have another option to extend a transferable warrantee for 2 years, as long as I do it before the car turns 105K.
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I'm waiting for something to break..keep you informed..

ROCK ON

Dave

Bought my 95 early this year with 31K on it, and Starmarked for a year. Positively love the car with only a few minor maintenance issues. Paid 31K for the car which some may think is too much, but I believe I got what I paid for. Stickered for 92K new.