Funny, a friend asked me this question just last night. A search on the board will give you lots of excellent info on this subject. I'm not an expert but I can give you a list of some of the problems that are common for most 107s.

- Single row Timing chain as you mentioned. (Up till 84?)

- Climate Control system. Do the center vents work? If not can be as simple a vacuum leak or as involved a vacuum actuator replacement. Do all functions/buttons perform as intended?
Does it have working A/C?...This could be very costly to repair or upgrade to R134.

- What shape is the interior in? Recovering or replacing a seat or dash is very expensive. Condition of the soft top and plastic windows? Not a typical DIY job to replace and not cheap to have done.

- Rust, rust, rust!!! Wherever you see rust multiply times three (at least) and that's what waits for you underneath. Use a magnet with a thin piece of cloth over it to identify bondoed areas.

- Suspension is likely to be an issue when a car is this age, whatever the mileage. Shocks, springs, subframe mounts etc...all parts rubber.

- Steering....If you can feel excessive play when steering it could be Steering coupler, steering damper (shock), steering gear box or (maybe, hopefully) an adjustment.

- Fuel Injection: CIS is always a load of laughs when a car is 20 plus years old. Cold start, warm start, hot start and no start issues. Poor idle, unexpected RPM increase/decrease, binding throttle cable etc. Typically hard to trace and relatively expensive to fix. Some play the Replace and Pray game...gets expensive real quick and many times leaves one with the same problem.

As always have an experienced MB mechanic and Body shop (preferably experienced in resorations) do a PPI on the car if you're tempted to pull the trigger....cheap insurance.

Repair records are always good, a Cardex from MBNA is helpful and a CarFax is of some (sometimes little) value.

My typical advice on buying a car is buy the newest one you can afford. Exceptions are first year of production and known years with major problems.

I'm sure others will chime in.....Hmmm, about the transmission....

__________________
Rick

'85 380 SL (sold)
'85 Carrera Flatnose
'71 280 SL Signal Red/Cognac