I found an '86 300e with 71,000 miles. The interior and exterior are in incredible shape. The owner died 6 years ago. He was in the process of replacing the A/C system, then got sick and passed away. The work was never completed.

Car sat in covered garage several years and then his widow sold the car to a friend and it sat a couple more years. All covered. The cooling system is all removed. So I would need to put all that back together, get the new AC components and probably convert to 134. The price would be $3,000. Then I would have to get it up and operational.

Has anyone revived a car like this in the past? Is it something you would consider with what I have described. I still have my 300SD Turbo Diesel, which I love, but would like to add a solid gasoline model to the garage as well.

Thoughts and recommendations appreciated.

Check the car's history via VIN, make sure the odometer is currently connected and functional and has been throughout its life. Extraordinarily low mileage requires extraordinary evidence.

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

And take into consideration that this was not one of Mercedes best ever cars. I know a lot of folks that bought them new and were rather unhappy with them since they clearly were a step down in quality from the 123's everyone was driving back then.

3k seems like a lot for a low mileage parted out car. If it was all together and running well, then I'd say it was a good deal. That car is a 1k mechanics special.

There are not a lot of people out there willing to buy a non running car for that kind of bread.

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Eugene

10 E63 AMG
93 300te 4matic
07 BMW X3
14 Ford F-150 Fx2

In 1994 I bought a barn find '63 Dodge Dart. It sat in a barn somewhere for about 20 years. Then a high school friend got hold of it, drove it for a while, then pulled the motor to repower his '65 Barracuda. I got the body along with a blown up 225 slant six for $200. I ended up putting in a 360 out of a '79 Cordoba along with a '73 A904 transmission from who knows what. I think I paid a fair price. Three grand for this one is a bit much.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Depends on your criteria.

The 1986 300E had some teething problems, but those should have been sorted out by now. The late W124s are a much, much nicer car than the 1986.

As a serial owner of both the W123 and the W124, IMHO the W124 runs rings around the W123 as a daily driver, just as my W211 does the same when compared to the W124.

WRT to the OP, the car in question is not a highly valued car. Assuming the mileage is verifiable, which it well could be, there is not much market support for a 1986 300E in any condition. With disassembled A/C and cooling, the value of the car is low, regardless of the mileage and condition. Six years of sitting open up all kinds of costs, mainly tires, fuel system restoration, and possibly brakes (stuck calipers, hoses, etc.). Depending upon what is wrong with the A/C, you could easily sink another $2k into this car including all the other fettling that would need to be done.

The previous estimate of $1k sounds about right for this car. Put some time into it and you'll end up with a pretty nice car without having to spend a lot of cash.

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

The 1986 W124 had an issue where the floor pan cracks and separates where the rear subframe members mount to the car. Watch for that.

a w124 has lots of rubber parts under it, sitting for 8 years straight means that you are replacing all of them immediately after ownership.

I personally would not pay some high dollar like 3 grand for it - its about a less than 1K car at this point in time.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

This car is worth perhaps $2500 at the most, fully assembled in nice running condition and with working a/c. One way to value it is to subtract the value of the expected repairs from that number, which is how the previous posters have arrived at ~$1k.

However, given that you can't drive it to evaluate whether the brakes operate, the transmission is functional, etc., you are taking on significant risk the car has unknown or undisclosed problems. Personally I would only pay scrap value for an un-drivable vehicle. That way if you uncover a problem that would make it uneconomical to repair, you can recover your investment by parting it out and/or selling it to a junkyard.

I can agree with everything you just said. I have gone through a few 123's and found the 124 to be a better car in many, many ways. But not the 1986 cars. From what I have seen the 124 started turning into a real Mercedes about 1991, but I may be too picky.

And the part about the 'sitting' is right on the money. I once was young and foolish. Now I am old and foolish, but I have learned to stay away from Mercedes that need tons of work when they are purchased. I tell people to always buy the best they can up front otherwise they will be paying for all the repairs/upkeep the PO's should have done but did not.

I had one of those cars and I sure loved it, except for the A/C. Almost a couple grand to fix. But what a ride!

The seller is trying to sell low mileage, NOT the car.

Walk away.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Why do you want to convert to 134? R12 prices have come back down to a price only slightly higher and it will save the expense of the other conversion items.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

I appreciate the feedback. I have walked away. I love my 300SD Turbo Diesel and would just like to have a nice quality gasoline Mercedes as well.

If you're looking for a good gas model, I'd suggest a good used; Honda/Toyota car. That seems to be the most cost effective and reliable solution to the quest in your OP.

Honda makes better motorcycles than they do cars. The same is true of Suzuki and BMW.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.