I already own this car

Help me find value with my 1969 280 SE 4door, bought new in Pasadena (true) Mom ( required little old lady) expired and the boys did not have room for it 82K miles. real Time Capsule.Hellbeige, Saddle MBtex. Auto Air, US spec I am the second owner

Car is Original, no accidents paint is original and an 8 of 10, NO and I mean NO rust it’s a six ( injected I think ? ) with a 4 speed auto on the Column, Dash is 9-10 All electrical works Interior is brown MB tex 9/10 looks like the interior of a car I found in the gallery. Original MB floor Mats, Under all mats is perfect. Becker Signal seeking radio works great, PW all accessories work. Chrome is a 9 Plus Original factory underneath, again no rust , all records no sunroof, Vin to come runs like a top. Top mechanic just serviced, engine has great compression
and no leaks at all. Would drive accross country.

I work for the department of Defense and will be in Germany for several years And I could bring it over to Germany if I wanted to be a Sunday driver.

I restore and collect old Porsches and I know the 4Drs are not rare but this car is so original I cant help think someone will want to keep it when I tire of it. I am not looking to get rich, and I understand these are not rare cars but I don’t know the value, need help finding one, if it was a Pagoda or a convertible it would be a preservation class contender, if it was a 69 911S It would be $65K or possibly much, more.


Thanks in advance from Ramstein Germany

.... I'd take a stab at saying it's worth between 5-7K, IF you can find someone who is really looking for that particular car. If you had to dump it quickly, the value would be a lot less.

Whilst the SE spec is more desirable than the S (carb) model, this car is hurt by not being a V-8, and not having a sunroof.

Not knocking the car, mind you, I love original patina, and actively seek those out for my own cars.

Just that the market for older 4 door MBs that are not diesels, is very limited from what I've observed. Nowadays, mechanical fuel injection, kingpin front suspension and swing axle rear suspension are getting pretty quirky, with limited service availability. So, unless you are familiar with the old tech, and willing to do the grunt work, getting this car serviced will be a challenge and will cause lots of people to shy away from the car.

Sounds like a great find, W108 chassis cars are great to drive, and people love to look at them. I'd love to own one someday, but then again, there are a lot of cars I still want to own. And at this point with 11 good cars, I'm at/over capacity, so whatever I want next, I need to like a lot MORE than something I already have......

Good luck, and enjoy the car. And, if you can get the car shipped to Europe without cost, I'd wager the market price for what you have would be much stronger than it is here in the states.

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

IMO, 5-7 is on the optimistic side by 10-20%. The Sunday driver crowd wants convertibles, or at least coupes.

It sounds like a very nice car, but also one that could need a lot of deferred maintenance, suspension and steering especially.

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

Will likely be shipped from California to Germany as Hardtops are actually
more useable and desireable here (Can't understand why)

If you can point me to what suspension and (steering ) updates and or maintainence needs done, I have a retired German wrench that wants some old Porsche Carbs real bad, he was a MB Tech from 1965-80

Anything else I should do stateside ?

I am blind on this one but hey there are very few Classic MB on the Road here in Germany so I can justify to my wife having so many 2 seaters !

I am really appreciative.