Mine, in anthracite with light grey leather, was one of the best cars I've ever owned. There were times at the repair shop when I grumbled at it, but in return for careful maintenance I got a solid ride that made me feel like the King of the Road, a car that people were always stopping me to ask about ("How old is it? Eighteen? Wow!"), a car that I felt I could have kept longer than the 5.5 years I did, until it was totaled by a drunken teenager.

In case you're worried about safety, the W126 is a champion at that. It wasn't totaled in a crash, but by a long sideswipe scrape along the driver's side while the car was parked. The big grey car still drove superbly, but it would have cost me much more than it was worth to get it back to the same sparkling condition.

I still miss it.

Yes, the timing chain is an issue, but $500-600 should do it for 100,000 miles more. Yes, it swallows premium gas -- I got about 17 mpg in most city driving, and I don't think I ever bettered 22 on the highway -- but that's damn good for an '80s car that used a V-8 to propel its 3850-lb. body.

Cheap as I am, I know gas is a very small portion of the costs in running a car. If you don't have a car note and do even a little of your own maintenance (it's very easy to change the oil, for example), the extortion at the pump will go easier.

If everything checks out, you'll enjoy it.

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-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino