PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

bustedbenz · #10 09-11-2010, 01:44 PM

The "noticeable rust" concerns me more than anything else. That devalues these cars rather rapidly, and is (in my opinion) beyond the do-it-yourself repair skills of the average home mechanic, though some could pull it off. I've got a rust blister forming under the paint of my rear quarter panel right at the wheel well, probably 3/4 the side of a playing card. Body shop wants $350.00 or so to cut that little piece out and form something new back into it. There are people who could cut and weld at home but if I tried it, the results would look worse than if I just put duct tape over the rust spot.

It's fine to say you aren't worried about the cosmetic appearance of the car -- I used to say the same kind of things as part of my "Old M-B" defense to anybody I had to defend it to. As time has gone on, the things I used to ignore have started to wear on me. I really wish now that the one I had bought had been less rust-prone and had started with a better interior -- seat leather, etc. Every time I get in the thing now, I notice that the roof paint looks like a turtle shell, the quarter panel rust is now joined by some smaller rust blisters on at least two of the four doors, the seat shoulder bolster is rubbed clear through to the horsehair underneath, the passenger seat was torn across its flat surface so badly that I finally had to put one of those cheap slip-on cloth covers over it just to keep it from coming to pieces... All of these things start to wear on a person after a few years of ownership even if, in the beginning, you "didn't care as long as it was a cool old diesel" or "As long as it runs well, I don't care what it looks like". You do care later once the "it actually runs every time I turn the key" elation passes into blandness. Besides that, rust can eventually become a structural issue that is too bad to ignore.

My point: I spent relatively high dollars (most of them were my dad's) for what at the time I thought was the perfect car for me, and now I own one that is medium-quality at best, I paid medium-high price for it, and I've put *considerable* money onto it along and along in the form of new parts for everything that broke that I "Fixed right". Now I almost feel like I've got a money trap -- I still love the old thing, and I want to keep running her and taking care of her... but it's become a rather expensive hobby, and worst of all -- the to-fix list now includes things that 1) I won't be able to afford for years, 2) make the car really look shabby everywhere it goes until I do fix them, and 3) will turn the car into at least $5000-10000 more dollars than it is actually worth. So starting with a machine that's got rust and a ragged interior (door panel clips destroyed, trim pieces falling off and not fitting back right, seats shot, carpets uncleanably nasty)... seemed like a good economy to me five years ago and now it has become as much of a burden as a pleasure... it's a rock and a hard place. Either put twice as many dollars into the car as it is honestly worth, or else resign yourself to driving one that doesn't look like you want it to and doesn't really uphold its image anymore. And it just *irritates* you when you take a door skin off to fix a window that won't go up for the thousandth time and realize that about one more take-apart and the door panel simply will break in half rather than attach to the door again. Then what?

I'm 21 in college now, and I was... I think somewhere between 16 and 17 when my parents and I bought my first M-B diesel. I know this was an EXTREMELY long post, but I wanted to share my experience with doing something similar. My folks helped me pay $5500 for the 300SDL, and at the time, I couldn't imagine anything I'd rather drive, and who cared what shape it was in, it was MINE.

Since then... 85,000 miles later, the thing's probably only worth about $4000 now even AFTER all the work and parts we've put into it, it needs body rust repair that I'm not knowledgeable enough to do, and we're getting ready to put a replacement (used) engine head on the thing at great labor expense and great gaskets/parts expense (on a college budget, that's a great expense) -- all into something that's still not going to be worth its face dollar amount when all is said and done.

I'm not trying to discourage you from buying one. But the "my first car, I've got money in my pocket, I could actually bring this one home" impulse is one that I was then and still am unfortunately very susceptible to. So I simply encourage you to think long and hard about whether you think you're going to be telling the same story I am. A great advantage for you in your case is that you're going in at a MUCH cheaper starting point. But nonetheless, decide how long you think the rust can go before it becomes a problem you can't ignore, and decide for yourself how much of this kind of thing you really do have the patience for. If you still feel like buying it -- go for it, as everybody else said. You've picked a much lower starting price than mine was, so that leaves you a lot more playing room. But it's all something that has to be considered.