Hello ladies and gentlemen, I am looking to buy an '83 sec and am wondering on the price. These seem like rare cars that are hard to find accurate values on. The 560 seems much more common. The car is in great shape and drives nice with only 130xxx miles on it. Thanks for any replies.

I have a 1982 380 SEC and yes they are a very rare car...parts are not hard to find and they run like a dream..I would say grab it!!

I hope mine will be worth some $$ here soon.

value not to sure but you will really enjoy the car. Ive had so many offers on mine..but I refuse to even consider one.

hope you decide to purchase it

benzat
1982 380 SEC

I believe an 83 would have a single row timing chain. Cost of converversion to the double row chain was about $2500 when I priced it about a year ago when I was drooling over a 380SLC.

Timing chain
 

Yes, '83 would indeed have the single row chain. Unless it's been converted, count on a fairly large expense to do it. Late '84 and on had dual row chains.

Of course that doesn't automatically mean don't buy it, it just means it should be priced accordingly (deduct at least $2000). No doubt these are supurb cars, but this is one item you would not want to let slide.

380SEC Value
 

The 380 SEC was, I believe, the first SEC built. The little 8 cylinder is peppy but no match for a 500 or 560 in acceleration. Nonetheless, a friend has one he's owned since 1985, and he's looking for a complete gray interior to replace his. This is a gas engined car with 235k miles on the engine.

There are actually two weak spots on this engine. The single row timing chain is well known and obviously needs conversion if not already done. The lesser known weak spot is the cam oiler elbows. Each cam has a metal oiler tube above it to keep the oil on the lobes. Unfortunately, the tube ends have phenolic plastic elbows on the ends to make the turn. My friend's 380 lost a cam at around 100k miles when one of the elbows cracked and oil-starved a cam. MB actually picked up the tab for his independent dealer friend to rebuild the engine as long as they got all of the parts for examination. He ended up getting a little extra engine work done to make it a little more stout, including the couble row chain since they pulled the engine, but the car runs very strong 135 k miles later.

If you have a 380 (or any of the V-8's of that vintage) check above the cams next time the valve covers are off. The elbows are simple to replace and only cost about $10 for both sides. I replaced the ones on my friend's 380 at around 210 k miles just to make sure he wouldn't get surprised again.

I personally like the 380 over the 560 but I'm not a horsepower junkie and the market favors the larger V-8's. If I were looking for a toy, I would probably look for a well cared for 380 SEC, but that's just me.

In any case, the SEC's all had the same chassis and were designed as a driver's car at a time when MB didn't care about the economics of marketing cars. They have incredible manners for a 20 year old design and still look great on the road.