I bought a 1988 560SEC last year with 9900 original miles. It went to HoyFox (I think that's the name) Mercedes in TX for PPI.

Passed with FLYING colors..no rust, no rot, no bad seals, nothing. Owner of the Benz dealer offered to buy it from me for his collection!

Of course, I have also put 45K mile beaters through PPIs, so you never know.

Bruce

Bruce, I knew you would know something about this. Some cars just don't fare very well sitting in garages rather then being driven, no matter how nice the garage is.

Thanks.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

That's true, and the W126's (don't even get me started on the M-100 cars like the 6.9) can definitely have problems from being driven too little, just like they can have them from being driven too much.

But only the PPI will tell you for sure. There are too many variables to guess just from mileage alone...there's age, maintenance, climate, storage quality, even how often the car was driven as opposed to how many miles (10K miles, then sit for 5 years, then 10K miles...bad. 4K miles per year for 5 years...good).

Bruce

It depends on how the car was stored. Personaly I care more about the body and the interior which sitting in a garage preserves better than driving. Thats the stuff that costs big bucks to restore. If the trans leaks like crazy when you start to drive it so what? A re seal is cheap, same with the engine, I can re seal it for less than $1k.

Ever price what a new seat costs? What new trim costs? Good body work can run $5k-$10k easy.

Suspension parts seem to age a bit better. But again rubber suspension parts are cheap.

As long as the car was stored inside, and kept dry and pretty clean I'll take low mileage over high any day of the week.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Ebay seller "findgreatcars" will have it on Ebay soon. he finds the lowest mileage cars I have ever seen.....He had a 81 Buick Park Avenue diesel on there last yr with 15k miles or so for about $10000...

__________________
Current stable......
17' Rogue SV 70k
11’ Saab 9-5 NG 94k
10’ e550 4matic 185k

sold
02' e320 210k
00' e430 167k
01' e320 171k (regret sale)
91' 300d 2.5t 300k (sold to ecoofidaho)
79' 240d 177k (old yellow my avatar)
87' 300d 169k (junk but fast)
85' 300tdt 261k (RBM parts delivery)
85' 300dt 68k (one owner cream puff)
82' 240d 250k
84' 300dt 198k (sold to diesel don)
91' 190e 2.3 61k
88' 260e 140k