sptt, seems like a great deal at first glance. If your friend's father maintained the E420 by-the-book, or had a qualified tech do the same, and has complete service records then it would be a fine price. However, if this automobile looks good and has spotty maintanance then it could be very costly to rejuvenate. In general V8's are more expensive to maintain than I6's, particularly for non-DIY'ers.

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Fred Hoelzle