Just bought a 111 on eBay...your thoughts? - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Shab · #16 09-03-2006, 03:59 PM

The other buyer seems to have bought himself 2 111's. Did a "buy it now" on a gold one in Texas and probably didn't expect to end up with the winning bid on SF car. That buyer's feedback is less than stellar as well.

At this point I'm committed so I will go through with the purchase. I'll let you know how I made out when the car (gulp) gets here. I could stand a little excitement around here anyway.

"May fortune favor the foolish" Capt. James T. Kirk

#17 09-03-2006, 04:30 PM

Quote:

At this point I'm committed so I will go through with the purchase.

In that case, let me congratulate you on owning an absolutely gorgeous car. Even if the whole floorpan is fiberglass, its still the best looking model in the benz-line. What would you rather drive, a w111 with some bondo and holes, or an absolutely rust-free 190e? Rust can be welded, but you can't fix ugly...

cheers,
dan r.

nhdoc · #18 09-03-2006, 04:33 PM

Good luck with the car Shab...FYI I used DAS for shipping and was pleased. I opted for a top position on a covered carrier and could "track" the car online the whole journey. The only bad thing about it was that the car sat about 10 days waiting for their truck to pick it up at the terminal in Reno, once it was on the truck it made it all the way to MASS in about 4 days! They build the sitting time into their estimated delivery date though and they made their date so I can't complain overall...I just felt after it sat for 10 days they could never deliver it to me by 14, but they did!

One tip to save some money though: Instead of paying them for door to door service I found out where their terminals were at each end and contacted them directly (they use local towing companies for their terminals and they tell you the closest ones when you get a quote).

Once I knew which towing companies they used for terminals I arranged directly with each towing company to flatbed the car from the seller's place to their yard and from the yard in Burlington Mass to my house. It was MUCH cheaper than the door to door service offered from DAS. If your seller will drive the car to their terminal at his end and you want to pickup at yours all the better but mine would not as it was 90 miles from his house and he was 85 years old and I wasn't sure about the condition of the car to commit to driving it the 30 miles home on my end.

RobTheMod · #19 09-03-2006, 04:50 PM

Speaking as a fellow who's traveled far for an Ebay car:

Gut feeling is, it looks fine to me. I think that's a car from the Bay Area since 1969, (when it was two years old! Do you rule out 2004 MBs from out of state?) with mileage as stated. That interior is just beautiful- not restored beautiful, it's better than that- it's just original nice. I agree with what the other guy said; rust can be welded but you can't fix ugly!

Oh and by going far for an Ebay car:

I won an auction for a 1989 Audi 80 Quattro 2.5 yrs ago. $500.00, said to run fine and good to drive. Seller had three pictures and a two-sentence listing.

It was in Keene, NH. I'm in Phoenix. $103 for a one-way bargain fare to Boston with a suitcase filled with tools, a shuttle ride, five Benjamins handed to the seller, and I was off.

I went nearly coast-to-coast in a $500 car, sight unseen. I needed to install a fuel pump in Kentucky, and that got interesting, but I was at Chris Semple's shop in Concord NH the day before, Chris listened to it (Audi uber-guru) and offered to replace it for $220 out the door, I thought I'd chance it. Spent more than that trying to fix it en route.

Aside from the heater fan quitting, and the exhaust system disintegrating (couldn't take the temps from 20 hr days at 75-85 mph!- New England car)
I got home just fine.

If I had had the funds I would have outbid you for that W111 with my girlfriend's full approval- but no capital for that sort of project right now- didja see the Fiat 500 parked behind it in pictures?

W108 · #20 09-03-2006, 04:57 PM

Is that a Euro license plate in the front?

Shab · #21 09-03-2006, 07:16 PM

Guys,

Thanks for all the good will and encouragement as well as educated discouragement, which was most helpful. The 111 is just buckets of panache, always wanted one. The heavy thunk of those 2-ton doors closing, the big fat ride, chrome and wood everywhere. Unless it literally breaks in half at the frame, I should be able to deal with the sheet metal issues over time. No intentions of winning Pebble Beach with the thing, just noodling around within 100 miles of the garage ought to do it (tools, fluids and duct tape on hand mind you).

I’m reminded of the now defunct Kenny Rogers Roaster chain slogan, “It’s the wood that makes it good”

Shab · #22 09-03-2006, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by W108

Is that a Euro license plate in the front?

Looks like an old German Munich plate. Have one on my 108 as well.

S

Jim B. · #23 09-03-2006, 07:43 PM

Well Shab,

I have every hope that it works out well for you, (I assume your'e going to buy it sight unseen), and it looks like for sure the interior is near to mint, the dash, wood, steering wheel, and leather seats appear as DieselDog said, more consistent with 78k than 178 or 278k, and there is even a good chance that the car was in a covered garage most of the time, probably in a temperate California suburban town near San Francisco.

Hopefully there won't be much in the way of rubber seals rotted to worry about and the hoses and belts are in good shape. Probably only a bit of rust and rot might have to be attended to but let's hope it won't be too serious.

Ask the seller for every bit of documentation, old registration cards, service records, anything he can get on the car, each one will tell a little bit more about the car's life. We've pretty much exhausted the black Calif. plate issue (see www.Calpl8s.com for a pretty good rundown on the Calif. plates over the years) and maybe with luck the front plate exists, as it was illegal to have it off the front bumper. The Euro plate on there looks period correct, and probably is a Munich plate (The single digits went to the big cities, B=Berlin, H=Hamburg etc.

While it's not the coveted SEb model, the coupes are nonetheless very rare and exclusive, practically handbuilt, the ultimate prize is a '71 350SE cabrio, well into the 6 figures for a restored one, I bought some parts from a guy in Berlin who'd come to the USA to find a convertible, and he finally found a pale yellow 1962 220SEb cabrio with a blown engine in Texas, and (this was 5 years ago) he had it shipped back to Germany to be rebuilt and restored.

Cars like this can't be found in unrestored condition in Europe anymore, they've all rotted and rusted away.

That said, coupes like the 250SE, lovingly restored, are still driven and shown at shows and rallies in Germany, Austria and Italy, the classic color seems to be Ivory with red leather, and the cars are admired and cherished. This is NOT a diesel fintail or anything like that. I think youre going to love it, and if you play it right, you'll win the wife over (I understand, I was married once to someone like that who didn't care, her tastes ran more to Manolo Blahnik heels and Mikimoto pearls....)

Back in 1972 I met a girl, kind of trashy, in a Sacramento singles bar, and she had a '65 250SE coupe; I was real young, and had utterly no idea what those cars were, just though they were rather large and unusual looking, and a Benz, that's all. I had a '67 Cougar then, what did I know.

Good luck and let us know what happens and what you find out about the car, sometimes these long distance sight unseen purchases can work out, and this one was a stretch, but I think this was basically a sound car at a very good price, and you will be glad you bought it.

Shab · #24 09-03-2006, 08:09 PM

"just though they were rather large and unusual looking"

The girl or the car?

S

W108 · #25 09-03-2006, 08:12 PM

Is it legal in California for vintage foreign plates to be installed on the front?

Shab · #26 09-03-2006, 08:22 PM

It's not legal but I did it there (Lived in LA) and here in Rhode Island. Neither local PD or Statey's ever do or did bother me about it. Pass em all the time, usually get a wave rather than a ticket. Just a weekend poodler for me now but even on my 4.5 daily driver no one ever batted an eyelash in RI, MA, CA, NY or CT. Big honking up to date reg and inspection stickers on the windshield, seatbelt on and a shiny well lit plate on the rear seems just fine on a vintage auto for Johnny Law, who's got better things to do. I keep the front plate in the trunk just in case.

Jim B. · #27 09-03-2006, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shab

"just though they were rather large and unusual looking"

The girl or the car?

S

Ha ha, the coupes were "large and unusual" for the imports around at that time. (The ebay auction pictures for your car show what is either a Fiat 600 ("Topolino") or a Gogo mobil parked behind the car.

I actually DID look that summer of '72 at a maroon '65 220SE automatic fintail sedan, a one owner family car with all books stamped from the orig. selling dealer, Gregg motors in Santa Barabara, original black plates, wonderful barber pole speedometer, disc brakes, mint body with palomino interior, engine just rebuilt , only 93k on it, and damn, he only was asking $1200 for it.
He was a med student who needed the money for it. Car was basically mint, needed nothing and gleamed. It drove very well but felt high and dignified, not like American cars, was first import I was ever in

But all I had was $900, so I bought the Courgar and later my dad said why didn't you ask me for the extra $300 I would have loaned it to you.

Grr. Like the "girl" who got away. Always was sorry I didn't get that car.

dAMN.

Jim B. · #28 09-03-2006, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by W108

Is it legal in California for vintage foreign plates to be installed on the front?

No, Shab is right, it's not legal in California.

They enforce it randomly in SF for the parked cars, and red light camera violations too.

Kind of petty, but what can you do. The law is routinely ignored anyhow.

W108 · #29 09-03-2006, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim B.

No, Shab is right, it's not legal in California.

They enforce it randomly in SF for the parked cars, and red light camera violations too.

Kind of petty, but what can you do. The law is routinely ignored anyhow.

An elegant way to rage against the machine.

I think I'll try it on my vintage Mercedes; maybe an oval one, which used to be for export.

Jim B. · #30 09-03-2006, 10:14 PM

Yes, those were the West German Z export plates from the 1960s and 1970s.
My uncle got one of those on the '63 VW beetle he had brought over from Germany, where he arranged to have someone drive it around enough to save him money by exporting it as used, though the driver had an accident in it and caused problems in the process of export.

When the German Gastarbeiter laws started back then and the Turkish guestworkers came to Germany to work at Opel, Mercedes Benz and VW, and settled in their ghettos, without assimilating into the culture, as proof of their new success many of them would buy Mercedes cars with Z plates, fill them up with tires and spares and go back to Turkey. These "zoomies" (so named for the Z plates on the cars) were terrible drivers!

Of all the cars going back to Germany, only one in three ever completed the trip back. The others wrecked along the way! Awful stuff, like the driver who grew tired to keep going and put a huge brick on the accellerateor to keep the accellerator pedal down and failed to get around a curve in the road and flew off the road and crashed. Or the one who let his 10 year old son drive the car and who wrecked it, the Turk was affronted that his son's abilities would even be questioned; or the Turk who failed to dim his brights for an oncoming car and blinded the driver and caused a horrific head on crash, and when questioned, did not know the car had a dip switch or how to use it. The highway south to Yugoslavia was a horrible graveyard, and incredibly, was even decorated as one, complete with road side shrines to the dead, decorated with flowers and incredibly, bottles of wine.

Turks and their Mercs, it was a terrible scourge on the highways through southeast europe.