PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

Bengoshi2000 · #8 10-26-2017, 02:04 PM

I've just been through several rounds of this...

I looked at an alleged low-mileage 350SDL which was pristine in the high-res CraigsList photos. Asking price was $6300. Based on the photos I decided I needed to see this one up close. Made plans to meet the guy one night after dinner. Even got a sitter so the wife could go. Guy pulls up in a car that looks "fair" at best (by Hagerty's standards). Paint is fading. Interior is grungy, but intact. Trunk is chock full o dirt. Talked with the guy for a bit and found out he uses it to haul stuff around on his farm. Turns out the photos posted were taken 5 or 6 years earlier right after he bought the car. He was rock solid at $6300 and repeatedly told me that the engine in that car was the most bullet-proof motor Mercedes ever produced... Oh, and the odometer had stopped working, but he didn't know when.

I was born at night, but not last night.

Then there was the low-ish mileage '87 300SDL white with a pristine red interior. Drove 3 hours to see that one. The car was fit mechanically speaking. It was a repaint, though. The paint job was nice but the guy who taped it off clearly graduated from the Earl Scheib Automotive Paint School of the Arts. There was more overspray than you'd get at a beauty salon that specializes in beehive hairdo's. AND there was rust on the front fender, rear fender and under all but one of the doors. Rear window sill had some rust bubbles... potential disaster there, right? And water in the trunk. Asking price was $8300. He was firm at $6500 (Hagerty's "good" condition price). Did I mention I discovered that the ac control surround was attached at the bottom with 2 drywall screws?

Tons of CraigsList ads are out there where the interior had so much junk/trash in it you can't tell what's going on. Whatever happened to detailing a car out, taking some sexy photos and using those to really SELL the car?!

Sorry... that was more of a rant than I meant it to be.