Quote:
Originally Posted by Idle
And take into consideration that this was not one of Mercedes best ever cars. I know a lot of folks that bought them new and were rather unhappy with them since they clearly were a step down in quality from the 123's everyone was driving back then.
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Depends on your criteria.
The 1986 300E had some teething problems, but those should have been sorted out by now. The late W124s are a much, much nicer car than the 1986.
As a serial owner of both the W123 and the W124, IMHO the W124 runs rings around the W123 as a daily driver, just as my W211 does the same when compared to the W124.
WRT to the OP, the car in question is not a highly valued car. Assuming the mileage is verifiable, which it well could be, there is not much market support for a 1986 300E in any condition. With disassembled A/C and cooling, the value of the car is low, regardless of the mileage and condition. Six years of sitting open up all kinds of costs, mainly tires, fuel system restoration, and possibly brakes (stuck calipers, hoses, etc.). Depending upon what is wrong with the A/C, you could easily sink another $2k into this car including all the other fettling that would need to be done.
The previous estimate of $1k sounds about right for this car. Put some time into it and you'll end up with a pretty nice car without having to spend a lot of cash.
Jim