Euro 1980 280CE en Californium

[Tristar1959]

Wish I were closer - this is just south of Fresno, a mite west of Virginia.

Anyone want a silver EURO 1980 280CE?

NO ACC-II - knobs and levers like a 240D!
Manual Windows!
Pretty looking fabric-inset seats and doors

replaced Euro km speedo and headlights, apparently.

But-
chrome fender surrounds (what's that hiding/covering?)
delaminating/milky back window (how many years of how much water through the gasket?)

And wouldn't this be the 9.0:1 c.r. domed-piston, feed only 93-octane, engine?

Can anyone enlighten about this having "not been smogged"? And is it grandfathered, as an 80?

Still.....for 1200 opening bid to 1500 buy-it-now, might be really good project driver.

see:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1980-Mercedes-280CE-European-Model-2-Door-HT_W0QQitemZ4618269968QQcategoryZ6329QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Stan

[cth350]

yeah, nice car for a grand, but it has to be looked at by hand. It's early life in euro would set it up for a lot of rust down the line.

Also, he's wrong about the milage. That 96,000 miles is from the time it was imported until know. G-d knows how many miles it had in its first 6 years of touring europe.

If I didn't just buy a 6.3 on ebay last night, I'd consider this. -CTH

[kpb]

charles (or are you chuck -- I always forget) did you buy that rear-ended 6.3??

[cth350]

I got a 6.3, but it wasn't rearended; just sitting in field since 1997.

As for the car mentioned in this thread, the seller states that the milage he quoted is correct; that the odometer was not replaced when it was imported.

-CTH

[300SDog]

Originally Posted by cth350

It's early life in euro would set it up for a lot of rust down the line.

-CTH

What d'you mean by this? Is there something about Euro cars that makes em rust? My current daily driver is Euro bring back 240D.

[t walgamuth]

hard facts but my observation from looking at numerous cars is that the euro cars seem to be a bit more rust prone. also the 80 and 81s will be more susceptible to it than the later 82 and 83s.

but in ky you may be out of the rust zone and in which case it wont matter. i know that in arkansas cars that would be total rust buckets here in indiana look like restorations when they are just drivers.

tom w

[Tristar1959]

Judging by all the welded patching in the frame and underbody that was done to my 65 W111, long before it was brought here to the States, there must have been some chlorides around on their roads - unfortunately, Chesapeake Bay atmosphere and roads finished it off yet again.
I have also heard that, due to fairly restrictive German laws, all rust had to be repaired or replaced, else the car had to be junked - hence the market in Germany for vintage Benz's, particularly Arizona-Texas-California cars. Didn't that pretty timewarp 114 coupe go back to Europe?

[diametricalbenz]

In CA there is no more 30 year rolling emissions rule. Anything after 1975 has to be smogged. Hence my 6.9 has to be smogged indefinitely I would presume the cats are shot and I doubt it has a smog pump so registering it in CA would be interesting. Then again if you take it out of state then that's a different story.

mileage seems suspicious to me as well, notice how nice and new the needle is on the odometer as compared to the others. seems it was replaced at some point recently

[BradleyP]

Yeah, chances are if it was registered in CA recently, it *SHOULD* pass smog, as long as everything else has been unchanged.

I'm going to Fresno on Wednesday morning, and although it'll be down to the line, if someone wants, PM me and I'll go inspect it for you.

If I didn't already have enough scrap metal on my hands, I'd get 'er for myself. Then again, I'm holding out for a nice 108 with a 4-spd and a sunroof.