I'm in the market for a good, well-maintained E300 or E320, either sedan or wagon. Am willing to travel to get a car that hasn't been exposed to a lot of salt.

w124 or w210? What years do you want? What colors?

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- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600

For years I've had early-80's 123 models, all diesels. My current one is rusting out, and the price of diesel is daunting.
Yesterday I went down to a dealer in Portland Maine, and drove a used '98 C230 and a '97 E320. The C was too small for a family with two teenage kids and a dog that take roadtrips together. The SE 320 had a lot of surface rust, with paint coming off at the wheelwell flares. At 157,000 miles, with a lot of rust, as-is, where-is, they agreed to a price of $6,000, which seems like a lot.
I suppose that what I'd ideally like to find would be one of these:
1) 123 with a straight six.
2) 300 SEL with a straight six. I really like the extra room in the back of the SEL, and the way they go down the road. The V-8 in the 420 scares me with how little room there is around it, and also I guess they burn more fuel. There's one for sale on ebay in Florida right now. I sent the guy (dealer) an email with half a dozen questions. He writes back, says I should call him on the phone. What is it with these guys? If I wanted to chit chat, I'd have called him in the first place. I was asking for specific information (What kind of tires? How much tread depth? Where has the car been registered? Any maintenance records?) If he has the information, he might as well write it down. If he doesn't, he might as well say so.
3) 1988-1998 E or TE 300. Avoiding the years with the bad wiring and the AC problems. The 320 engine with all the camshaft gizmo scares me, but maybe that's foolish.
Of all of them, I guess that a sedan E300 would be the best driving car. All of them would be capable of getting as many speeding tickets as I'll ever afford.
Any advice or opinions would be appreciated.
SEO

Why discuss on the phone instead of email? One reason is that it might be quicker to have a verbal discussion. However, the answers to your questions wouldn't be "on paper" which they would be if emailed. So you see who would benefit from that.

Just for a moment, consider the question I asked about tires: what make, how much tread depth in 1/32". Now if I call the guy, once I've gotten him on the phone, and ask him that question, does he then get out his tread gauge, go out to the car, measure the depth, write it down, and come back, pick up the phone, and say "There's 3/32" of tread depth." Okay, good.
"What kind of tires?" I ask
"Michelins," he answers.
"What kind of Michelins?" He troops out to the car, comes back.
"XZX's"
"What size?"
"Aw, c'mon, buddy. Whaddya wanna know what size the tires are? What are you going to do, drive around in a car with your kids on 'em? huh?"
"Well, yeah. That's the idea."
"If you want to buy a new car, you ought to do that. Otherwise, you take your chances. If the car looks good, give me a bid. If you win, you better pay. If you get here and don't like the looks of it, it was an as was/where was auction."

The problem that I have with a lot of the dealers on Ebay is that they want the width of market that distance selling offers, but they don't want to offer any more information than they did in the good old days when their lot only sold to locals.

Beyond that, I don't see how them writing tread depth in an email confers any advantage to anyone, as long as the depth they measure is correct. It just gives the bidder information he'd be able to get if the car was in a local lot. It's not as if be providing make, model, size and tread depth that the seller is warranting the tires.

We've all seen the range of info offered in descriptions of cars for sale on eBay; ranging from novels to one like a recently posted 560sec that had maybe 20 words in it.

As one who has sold different things on eBay but never a car, it would be daunting to consider describing the good and bad points of one fairly and accurately. So I'd definitely expect the questions to come.

About the emails: he could say on the phone "90% tread" and you discover that the car you won had 50% instead. The tread may be minor, of course, but it's the "get it in writing" that stands in the end. So, we agree because you said "as long as the depth...".

You point out the benefit sellers have of eBay's range of buyers. So with that vast number of potential buyers it may seem some sellers figure take it or leave it or the car can sell itself.

I've also bought a fair number of things on Ebay, the largest being a Ford LN8000 truck with hydraulic boom. It was substantially mis-represented, but the buyer made it up. The most successful trade I've made on Ebay was for a $10.00 sailboat ratchet block. Cheap enough that if it was no good you could throw it away and mark it down to experience. A car that can cost you a lot of money, or crash on you, doesn't fit that description. Unless a seller agrees that the deal is contingent on inspection after the auction closes, then I don't bother. It's impossible to bid intelligently on cars in FL, TX, CA, unless you own an airline.
This is a fairly big deal for me, because in northern New England (Maine), cars rust out pretty quickly. For a Mercedes, it's about ten years to when the paint begins to blister along the panel joints. This means that if I'm going to find a good, reliable ten-year old car, it's essential to travel.
So far, that's meant Philadelphia-Washington, because it's pretty easy to travel there by train, and I have a brother in law who lives there and will lend me a car. I keep looking at all the ads for Mercedes and Lexus cars on Craigslist in Dallas, and think that it might be worth flying down there to buy a car. Better do it quick, before airline tickets go through the roof.
SEO