i own a 1986 560SEL with 93K miles on it.. i bought if off ebay in 2007 when it had 53K. it's a very nice car! now for the reality of ownership.

these cars are now 25 years old. mileage has nothing to do with anything in my opinion... time is the enemy. all things rubber will be in need of replacement if not already done.

if funds are short, i would think long and hard about such a project.. unless you can do a lot of work yourself, almost everything is very expensive to have done by a professional mechanic... AND finding one who knows the difference between is his ass and a mercedes is pretty difficult.

so here's the story of my car. bought it off ebay without first hand inspection... not smart. paid about $5500 if i remember.

so first thing i learn is that everytime i fill up the suspension oil reservoir it is empty again within less than 100 miles. learned that suspension pump probably is leaking oil into the crankcase.. so got a pump rebuild kit from George Murphy at Performance Products. what a bear to get the pump out but managed to do it without removing the fan or radiator or any other major part for that matter. so now the suspension pump works and the suspension finally moves up and down.. now I replaced the accumulator spheres and the suspension no longer feels like it's riding on boards.

unfortunately after only 3 months of driving the car one morning i get into it to drive away and as i'm putting in reverse i say to myself "what is that strange noise coming from the engine"? i get out and it sounds like i have a really bad valve tap but the engine is running perfectly smooth... so i turn it off and try to restart and nothing... it is totally locked. tow it to mechanic where it sits for almost a year!! he tells me it has definitely jumped time and i'll just need to do a complete chain guides and head job... i say how could the timing chain have jumped when the engine was running smooth and i turned it off.. it didn't stop itself. but i relent and say start with the chain and guides and let's see what we find... so i let him take the whole front of the engine off and guess what... not one guide is broken and not one cam shaft is out of time... but it appears the hydraulic chain tensioner doesn't hold tension so we replace that, all the guides (upper and lower) timing chain, just about everything i can see since it's already open this far... also water pump... who wouldn't at this point. but still the engine is locked... so now he's having problems from his landlord and has to clear out from his space... so i think this is a good time to find another guy.. and take it to a very reputable shop... they examine the engine initially by taking the bottom off to make sure something didn't happen to the lower.. end... tells me everything is clean and smooth as a baby's butt down there.. and says based on the condition of the engine i'd say it definitely support the low mileage on the engine... which i didn't doubt based on other evidence such as oil change stickers and notes i found in the car.

so it's now time to take the top off... and here's what i'm told... the engine locked up because the top end of the car was so carboned up that a chuch of carbon got between the piston and the head and locked the engine...

so now after spending as much as i paid for the car i have a complete top end rebuild and new chain and guides etc. so with just 60K on the clock i decided i'll just drive this baby and that's what i'm doing.. up to 93K now..

most recent work was complete front end rebuild... which i did myself... upper control arms, all tie rod ends, new center link, new steering damper, track rod mounts, etc.

traced all vacuum lines trying to find source of fast idle... pretty much replaced all the rubber parts of vacuum system... idles normal now but kinda rough... took to mechanic who "smoked" it and said needed injector seals.. so had those replaced.. .still has rough idle.. he thinks it's fuel distro based on #8 cylinder being low on fuel pressure... so that's the next problem to sort out...

do i enjoy driving it? yes love it!! but it is definitely not economical transportation... it much more a love affair than a rational and logical choice for transportation...

so that's my story..... you'll decide to either follow your heart or you mind... :)

owe and as for mileage, i consistently get around 18 MPG on the highway and i usually drive around 73 on the highway... i've never measured in town mileage because i don't want to know!! :)

Thanks for taking the time to share that story. I'm almost in the same boat with my 1990 300SE. I bought it with just 60k on the clock. I'm at 70k now. The car looks new. However, as you also stated, it needed most rubber parts, and then some.

I've done most of the work myself and the cost has been in the thousands. Many thousands. I don't know if I'm an idiot for doing all of the work to the car that I have. I guess time will tell. I'm still not done changing everything that I want and need to change.

My thinking is that for the money that I've spent and will continue to spend, there's nothing modern that will provide the same enjoyment as my 300SE. Oh, and I don't know what my gas mileage is other than horrendous. My lead foot doesn't help either.