A friend of mine recently came to visit me to go to lunch, but when she came over I realized I had forgotten the fact that she owned a W126 300SE (I myself own a 85’ 300SD). Eager to try out her old tank I elected to take her car but told her to drive I wanted to drive back. On the way I regaled her with my small expertise in the area of W126 and told her, famous last words, that these cars (w126’s) are so strong that if we got into an accident that nothing would happened to us and instead to the other car. Sure enough driving down PCH in Newport, a car pulls into our cross traffic and we collide. We were only going something like 10-15 MPH so it wasn’t that bad, the left lamp was broken but still turned on the hood bent but still opened, the fender rubbed into the tire but even then I just bent it out so it didn’t hit the tire. After exchanging info with the other guy the car still drove (I drove from then on) and we took at least 20 more miles before we got back. At that point I did a little inspection put some oil in checked the tires and cleaned the filter. I told her to let me know what the insurance company says, and if they let her buy it back for some money I would take it off her hands. Now I think she is saying that I can have it. Another point was that her little sister learned to drive in the big thing and rubbed the side of it against a pole.

My question is should I take it? If yes should I part it out? Should I sell it (still drives good)? If we transfer title do I have to get it to pass smog? Advice…

Smogging depends on your state. OC == California? Then most likely yes. Get it smogged before you get it fixed to see if it's worth it.

Fenders and hoods and headlights for W126 sedans are available. I'm selling some as are at least one other fellow here. Not that you want us to send you a hood cross-country.

If you have the time and patience to part the car out, by all means do so. It's not a quick process and you will need to be able to store a canniblized car or a pile of parts from it.

On the other hand, if this is a cash repair job, it should be a fraction of the quoted price for "insurance purposes" if you know where to find the out-of-the-way little body shops that abound.

-CTH

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Hi ,sorry for you bang up, I also have a very clean 85, but as claen as it is I could use some interior parts ! let me know if you part it out ! thank you ,J

Yeah I do live in CA, and I live in a community that would crusify me if I tried parting it outside. At the same time depending if I get it for free or not, it would be worth it so long as it passes smog and even if it doesn't I could sell it to a yard.