Harold, I agree with some here that say the 140's are much higher on maintenance. When I was looking for a 86-91 420sel, told a friend who sells MB at the dealership, who happens to also drive 86-91 560sel(126) and he said if I found a 140 that had had the compressor on the ac repaired or replaced, it might be an ok buy. He said that the motor was basically poured in around the compressor and if it goes out, it was easily a $2000-3000 job to fix. I have a 90 420sel that I found with 100k on it. I only gave $8200 for it, but it was in real good shape. On the 126's(v8's) you want to make sure you either find one that has had the timing chain job done or plan on having it done if the history is unknown on the car. Every 100k is a wise time to do it because from what I read, this is the achillies tendon of the car. I have also a 300se. I would definately NOT recommend the inline six motor found in the 300se/sel. There seems to be a major problem with oil consumption with these cars. I have had the normal valve job done to correct the oil problem and it still consumes just as much oil. It will consume about a quart and a half every 700-800 miles. Stay away from the inline six if you are looking for less aggravation. My 420 sel does not use a drop between changes. I don't know how the prices are in other parts of the country, but a 86-91 420sel that is for sale for only $3000-4000 is probably going to have quite a bit of miles and probably problems. Out of the 86-91, I would recommend going with at least an 89 if not a 90 or 91 versus the 86 and 87. It seems there were some minor changes in the workings between the years and the later years seem to have less problems if taken care of. That's not saying that the earlier years are junk because I am positive that there are some extremely good 86 and 87 out there. If I had a choice today to buy a car, let's say $8000 or less, it would be a 86-91 420sel. They seem to be better on gas than the 560sels and don't have the expense of the rear suspension that the 560 has. They have great power. My opinion for what it's worth is that a 420sel that is taken care of and the regular maintenance items are kept up and oil changes/transmission filter changes are prompt, you will easily get 350k-500k out of one of them. I don't have any real experience with my opinion because my 420 only has 121k on it currently, but I have read enough here and have experienced enough with cars to realize that these cars are built like tanks and will almost last forever. As far as repair costs, they are not much more expensive than my 93 Nissan Maxima that I put 160k on before selling to buy my 420. I suggest you find 2 shops for repairs you can not do yourself. One to do the more simple items such as suspension, flex discs, etc. and one that is a MB certified mechanic to do the more critical items such as transmission, computer controls, etc. You will save yourself some bucks on the jobs you have to farm out if you will do this. I hope this will help you on your decision. I would check www.autotrder.com for some good deals. Some small time dealers are even starting to advertise on there. I bought mine from a dealer in NC.