I am contemplating the repaint on the W126 The body is completely stripped and almost ready for a full repaint and color change.
It will be black, but I am hesitating with the color choice of the lower plastic panels and bumpers.
My 95 S600 is now solid black and looks great.
Should I also paint the 89 300 SE solid black also????

I'm not an extreme purist, so personally, I have no qualms about color-matching, component upgrades (euros, wood and body kits), etc.

I'm planning on matching the cladding on my wife's SL to the body color as well. I think your color matching effort will look great too!

My take on keeping things 100% original is limited to classics that appreciate or hold their value well with time...as for the rest, I will apply my personal touch where I feel!

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

I agree - do whatever you want and like. You're already doing a color change. Whatever you choose is not going to have an appreciable difference in the market value of the car. Single color will be a little bit easier, maybe quite a bit easier, on the painter.

Please post pictures when you're done. I'm considering doing the same thing to my 300E. Actually, the lower plastic panels are just a hair dull, so I was considering wet-sanding them with 400 and reapplying a high-quality clear coat with some flex additive. But I have been toying with the idea of instead shooting it with matching body-colored paint. My theory is that the car will look less 80's (I think two-tone was a big deal in the 80's) and will look more modern. I'd love to see how yours looks when it's all done.

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08 W251 R350
97 W210 E320
91 W124 300E
86 W126 560SEL
85 W126 380SE Silver
85 W126 380SE Cranberry
79 W123 250
78 W123 280E
75 W114 280

I actually am the one painting the car and can do any combo I choose.
Fyi- don't shoot clear without respraying the base color. It will not last.

Paint the bottom. That plastic crap never looked right to me.

What about spraying with a single stage catalyzed enamel? I have had good results with DuPont Centari in the past. I've never used a 2-stage paint, and I'm afraid to use it due to my inexperience. Do you think I can just scuff with wet sand 400 and then use that on top?

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08 W251 R350
97 W210 E320
91 W124 300E
86 W126 560SEL
85 W126 380SE Silver
85 W126 380SE Cranberry
79 W123 250
78 W123 280E
75 W114 280

If you wet sand 400 and shoot single stage it will be fine. I prefer the clearcoat durability and UV qualities.
2 stage is no more difficult if you will wet sand & buff the final product.

I have a 10 year old 040 black single stage urethane MB, and had (already sold) a 2003 Volvo, black with clearcoat. This is admitedly not an apples to apples comparison but I could not believe how much more durable the 10 year old MB single stage paint was, compared to the much newer clearcoat. A bird dropping for a single day on the Volvo would leave a clearcoat stain. You could have an entire flock of birds pooping on the 040 for a month - no impact whatsoever. And clearcoat, even on newer Mercedes, seems to forever be peeling for some unknown reason, or eventually just evaporating into thin air. It's worthless stuff - a cost cutting measure. I'll take single stage 040 black, in a high quality paint, over any clearcoat any day of the week. It was a sad day, just a couple of years ago, when MB stopped doing single stage 040 black.