Why the prejudice against automatics? I love my 280SL auto. Myself, I think that car is priced about right. Real nice ones are hard to find. I haven't had any problems on parts or getting it worked on, at least not here in Houston. One word of warning - a lot of those cars had the Euro speedo changed out when they arrive from overseas to mph gauges, and the miles may not be right if the car was brought over as a used car. If it was shipped direct from MB to an Arizona grey-market dealer, you are probably ok, and that should show up on a carfax.