You are right, it shouldn't have to be private, but if you ever sell a vehicle on Ebay you will understand why he has done it.

lot of suckers bidding that up over $6,500 already. not worth that price. Of course thats assuming there are no shill bidders running it up. And with the ID's hidden how are we to know there isn't.

I'm curious - why would you want to keep it private?

What exactly is so wrong with painting a car to make it look better. Remember, we like these cars, but they are not the Holy Grail for car enthusiasts. (just for us.....:D )

Most of our cars only merit a fairly cheap paint job. If it is a really nice example, it shouldn't need a paint job. No time to get snobby about our particular niche of MB's, there are much nicer models out there.

Well for starters, there are email crawlers that scour auctions bidders and send them bulk spam. so it is nice in that respect... however,
"all MB options"? I thought heated seats was an option... I don't see the buttons.
John

Car is a repaint too, Taped around the sunroof deflector, and painted the bumpers/side cladding. Car is from NJ so who knows how much rust it has. Salt stains on the carpet show how much the driver had on his feet.

Car has an original MXV on the ground with tire shine all over it and none on the others, and a "Road king" tire as a spare. It's pretty clean, but its obvious thats a repaint. Water spots on the odometer face, and he writes the ad like its his personal car, just like the other 4 cars hes selling.

The paint looks good from 20' away but up close it looks like canned dog $h!t. My 5 year old can paint better than that. This guys used car lot is about 10 mins from my office.

isn't it odd that in the first few pics he blocks out the liscense plate #
 

except of course in the reflection on the bumper, then later on in the pics he leaves it uncovered?
Hmm.
just odd I guess.
John

When I am selling something that is duplicated or similar to a product by another seller, I will contact those prospective buyers after an auction to my product. I use the courtesy to wait until the other sellers item is done, some sellers don't. Another reason is phony "second chance offers". Which can put the seller in a war with a buyer - I have had that happen. Most of my bigger ticket auctions have a disclaimer stating that I do not give second chance offers, if you receive on you are being scammed.

The private auction has no real advantage to the seller other than maybe some shill bidding. Ultimately the seller has control of pushing the confirm bid button on the auction.

I like this quote:

"This car is one of a kind as this was one of the best Mercedeses made in 1983"

I like Mercedeses.

Has Anyone Dealt with guy?
 

I have seen this guy sell several MBs as a private owner not a dealer, but his cars show up as auction cars via Carfax in the past. He never would answer my questions on it. But, I like the looks of this 300 and it is only about an hour from me.

What are your insights?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4638093745&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

How does the price seem to you all?

Thanks as always,

Don

WOW, a 3 day 300 mile warranty.

P E H

So it is a concensus that he buys these, or aquires fixer-upers, and "restores" them, to almost their former glory. Lets say there is minimal body work, little to no rust, engine and trasmission are in good shape. I can see he has reupulstered the car, repainted the outside, including the wheels. Put new tires on it, probably replaced the trim, and rubber pieces. What do you think he has into them, at this point. Ass-u-ming, he gets this at reduced costs.
BODY WORK/PAINT. EXTERIOUR- $1000.00-$1500.00
PAINT-WHEELS - $200.00-$400.00
UPHULSTRY - $800.00- $1500.00
(forgot) NEW WOOD/REFINISH WOOD - $100.00-$200.00
NEW TRIM - $500.00- $800.00
NEW TIRES - $350.00 - $500.00
BRAKES/ROTORS- $350.00 - $500.00
MAINTENACE ISSUES- $500.00 - $1000.00

Now I am by no means trying to defend this guy. I havn't looked it all over either, to see if all of the above has been done, but if I were to buy one and try to sell it at this price the above is what I would have done. I didn't even include front-end work for replacing ball joints and bushings. One drive around the block and down the freeway, any one of us could know what was, and wasn't done to this car. I know how much things cost to get "fixed" Mine was in decent shape when I bought it 6 years ago(Paid $2550.00. 157,000 miles sold a few months ago for $3500.00 with 206,000 miles with below remaining issues) I only had to put a little over $1000.00 in maintenance PARTS. I could do Most of the work myself.(including taking the engine/transmission out for mains and rods!) That is not including tires and oil changes. It also doesn't include needing a paint job(faded) fixing craked dash, refinishing the wood. Replacing the headlight covers. Which mine needed to be "perfect".

Conjecturly speaking. He COULD have spent anywhere from $3800.00 to $6400.00 fixing this up, not including the original price he payed for it. Now I am sure he didn't spend this much, but if has indeed been "restored" it MAY be worth the price.

But I am with most of you, I wouldn't pay that much for a car WITHOUT, for lack of a better term Mol@e@s@ting the car, in person. Including putting it on the rack, with cylinder compression tests!:eek:

I think that's "stick on" faux wood over the original wood surface there.:(

Ohh, well, hmmm.

BTW.... How are you doin? Man, still in search for the right G-Wagen. I have convinced 2 other locals here to buy one. One of the guys only keeps his cars for a short time. This one is a one owner besides him, and is a 5-speed. Not diesel though, but could be converted quite easily. Pretty too! Keep in touch!
I was, of course, unable to be at the last GTG. Any ideas when the next one may be?

that high quality vinyl "Wood" on a roll. :eek: