My 99 has been wonderful. There's really nothing to be scared of on the 140 as long as you have the finances to pay for some of the big ticket items that happen from time to time.

Some of the earlier models are dropping really fast but I think thats mostly because of their condition and because of the extra hassle you get owning an earlier model.

So far all my 99 has needed was some bulbs in the cluster and a set of remote batteries and an oil change.

Its next service is going to be a big one as I am going to replace my swaybar bushings and links and do a transmission service and do its yearly all fluids change and a set of sparkplugs and wires. Probably will do the oil fluids and spark plugs myself and get the mechanic to do the swaybar bushings and transmission service.

I think part of the price drop on the 140's is the gas guzzler perception. Even the standard length chassis is massive in appearance. I bought my S320 for more than 6K under its list price with no negotiation needed at the dealer. The same thing happened in the 1970's and a lot of smart people snapped up really good classic sports cars cheap and their values rose. Since the 140's are paticular about owners I think a lot of the poorly maintained 140's will go away and make them less common. Factor in the fact that the car is one of the highest quality MB's ever put into production and you may have some eventual collectable interest in the future.

Strangely enough I have been admiring late production 126's lately. I love my early production 126 diesel dearly but there is a great difference between it and the later production gasser 126's. Perhaps a 300SEL might be in my future.