Brand NEW condition 300SEL 1989
 

I met an old lady with a mint, and I'm talking brand new condition mint 1989 300SEL with 40K original miles. It was her birthday present in '89 by her late husband. I have her nearly convinced to sell it to me. I dont know how long its been sitting in her garage, but I doubt she has purchased new gasoline for it in over a year. My questions are the following:

1. Its value
2. What I should do to the car before driving it on a 500 mile trip home, take in consideration it has bee sitting in a garage for a while without much use.
3. Is the 300SEL 126 body a rare car? I have not seen many of them, lots of diesels, lots of 420's, 560's a few 500's but I dont ever see the 300SEL, a few 300SE's but not many 300SEL's
4. Do they run fine on regular unleaded 89 octane, or should I use premium?

You'll receive all sorts of opinions on this, but there are basically 2 ways of looking at it:

1. It's a low mileage car...WOW! Fewer miles are better!...well...maybe.
2. It's been sitting idle for who knows how long and all sorts of electrical gremlins are going to jump out at you about a week or two after you buy it.

You can bet the cyl. head has dried out and you'll at least need valve stem seals and while you're at it a new head gasket 'cuz the head will be off.

The list COULD be endless. You have absolutely no way of knowing what might jump out at you. Remember, you're looking at a car that's how old and has been sitting idle how long?

I've purchased more than one of these "owned by a little old lady and driven to church on Sunday" cars over the years and every one of them turned into a nightmare.

Good luck.

I don't know, but I would like to have it. The 89 -90 126 bodies are awesome and pretty easy to work on, the 300 is a little underpowered but a fine fine automobile

Mike is right lots of things could jump out

check the obvious, look underneath for leaks.

change fluids, filters before your trip home, drain gas tank or better yet rent a flatbed and take her home that way.
Bring her back to life slowly under the care of someone who knows the automobile or through the help of this list

What you offer and what she will take may be worlds apart , but consider you may have to put 2K or so into it, i would not offer more than 5K

If you dont want it let me know

I would call it an uncommon car rather than rare. Rare implies it has some unique or additional value, which it does not. It's a nice car, but not any better than any other 126 chassis, you just won't see many of the same.

If it's been sitting that much, I don't think I'd try to drive it home 500 miles. If it has been used that little for the last several years, there's no telling what works, what doesn't, and what might go wrong. I'd ship it home, then start determining what it needs. And it will definately need some fixing up; it's more than 15 years old. If it had been used on a regular basis, then maybe. But right now neither you nor the owner know if it runs worth a darn.

My $.02,

- JimY

The two door models are more desirable than the 4 doors. My next MB will be a 560SEC.

The 300SEL will be a great car for you. Lots of room in the engine compartment and pretty simple to work on. Dry rot may be a problem for you.