I would almost suggest letting someone else from the forum look the car over before buying. I would also like to say unless you are able to work on the car yourself, don't buy it. Just as Brian was saying, and I agree, there is nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes Benz. They are simple enough to DIY if you have some mechanical skills. But if you decide to have someone else do the work, expect to see dollar signs in the mechanic's eyes. Mercedes mechanics for some reason feel they have a right to charge more than your average meckanick to work on them even though old Merc's are no more complex than an average car. The previous owners of my car had it serviced regularly at a "reputable" shop. I found many of the items were either unnecessary or were charged excessive amounts. One example the transmission was rebuilt at only 108K miles for what I found based on the symptoms to be nothing more than a stuck kick-down switch.
My car is an '85 and it has a number of differences from the earlier models. If the car you are looking at is a CA model, there are issues with these cars that have had recalls in the past. Also it needs an expensive air filter. The easiest way you can tell if it is a CA model is to open the hood and see if the air filter can is located at the front passenger side of the engine compartment.
This forum is an excellent place to get advice on these cars if you like doing the work yourself.
