Excited with baited breathe now. Bought is in parenthesis since the car is coming with no title. It has been stored on jackstands; wrapped in a tarp, and under a canope in Loxahatchee FL for the past 7 years.

I did not bring it home yet so no other pics for a few days. I am buying this from a young but seems like a pretty knowledgeable diesel mechanic. He is not really familiar with old Mercedes... The car is 9 years older than he is . He did the brakes recently; new lines; flushed the lines added new fluids... and changed the engine & transmission fluid. Put in all new belts and filters...

Some of the good; The engine runs very well, good pep. Turbo kicks in . 146,000 original miles on her. Tranny shifts good with no clunks ; Manual sunroof; Roof rack too; Solid body; Seats fair to good all around w/ only rip a small driver's wallet rip on the left seatback; All 4 windows work up / down good.

Not good or known: Non matching color hood; There was some rust repair done on very front of driver fender next to the headlight housing; also behind both rear wheel wells , but not into the frame at all. Frame is solid all other places, etc.. Cruise didnt work; paint needs to be BUFFED out ; A/C condition is unknown as of now; looks like and hoping it is from an electrical issue since there is some wiring messed up....Needs new rear shocks, but is coming with a pair of new rear leveling shocks in a box. Will need 4 new sneakers too since the ones there now are dry rotted.

Mechanically seems to at be good, or very good. Cosmetically interior is rough and needs serious cleaning up. Exterior hopefully clearcoat is still there under the haze, and can get by with just painting the hood. Obviously the exterior will need alot of attention....

The title story is the wagon's last titled owner passed away in 2008. the husband who is also MIA left this at his friends farm 7 years ago said "Can you store this for me for a while". He didn't leave a title. He never picked it up, and after first 6 months he was also impossible to reach. The family attorney could not find any next of kin that were able to be contacted either. No judgments or liens were found. ....

I will be checking with a tag agency Monday on what I need to do...

...yeah.



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__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

Sounds and looks like a nice car. Should be fun bringing her back to her original glory. Good luck and keep us posted.

__________________

Welcome to the SLS club.

__________________
'70 F100 shortbed
'82 Diesel Westy
'83 Euro 300TD
Curtlo Viper
Yeti ARC
Surly long haul trucker

nvm

__________________
Current : 1988 R107 560SL

Previous: W123's, W211, w210 E55, W463's, W108's, W111

Sounds fishy to me.......

I would give a call to your family attorney before giving anyone money for the car. You may be buying stolen property, or property that is owned by someone that is not willing to sell it, or giving money to someone that has no rights legally to it either.

The last place I would ask is the tag agency, after giving some stranger that does not own or have legal title to the car money.

yeah.

.

Joe,
I understand the concern and considered this on the way to see the car. The guy selling this lives in approx a 18,000 sf estate home on an airport - with a nice private plane in his backyard. I could almost fit my 4 br Boca home in his kitchen. I do not think he is hard up for the couple of grand he was asking for the car, and I have a copy from an attorney of said vehicles last titled owner and the Social Security Death Index certificate.

....

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

Good luck with the ownership documents; quite often fixing these processes are remarkably simple - so simple in fact that you wonder why there isn't more fraud!

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

It is a no go.

Spoke to tag agency in FL and impossible to do. Car either goes up for public auction or goes to the state.

............

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

Huh? So, someone buys it at public auction; then how do you license it? Title it?

I don't understand their answer at all.

__________________
daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

That's more reason to hire/consult your own attorney. Tag agency can only push papers and tell you no on a situation as you've presented here. Any pics?

Sounds like the guy has ne heirs/family, OR they haven't been contacted yet. If no heirs, the state gets it I'd imagaine as the guy was told by the DMV. Public auction makes sense in this case.

Bersides, you can't just take a deaceased or unidentified person's property (car) and re-title it just for showing up at the DMV. Come on, man!

Oh....I guess I missed that in the beginning of the thread. I thought the estate was selling it and they just couldn't find nor know where the title was.

__________________
daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

Oh....I see the problem, NOW. I wonder what the family attorney did with the other possessions that belonged to the deceased.

2006 --- Husband stores vehicle
2008 --- Last title owner (guessing, wife) passes away.

__________________
daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

Generally there's a process that goes something like this:

Vehicle is left on someone else's property.
Property owner has vehicle towed as abandoned.
Salvage Yard / Tow company / Towing agency applies to state for title to abandoned motor vehicle. Proceeds from sale are to go against storage and towing costs owed to applicant.
State sends last known address of last registered owner to applicant.
Applicant sends registered letter to address stating that vehicle has been towed and fees are due, and title will be applied for if fees are not paid.
Letter comes back undeliverable.
Applicant documents steps, sends copy of documentation to state.
Process repeats, two or maybe three more times.
State releases car to be sold as abandoned property at public auction.
Applicant posts notice of auction in public place, places ad in local paper's legal notices.
Public auction is held, highest bidder gets car.
Any amount of bid higher than debt owed to applicant is held by state to be claimed by previous owner.
New vehicle owner applies for new title using state's release form and / or applicant's documentation as a basis.

This process does not guarantee that the public actually gets to bid / buy a vehicle.

If you want the vehicle you should read the state laws regarding obtaining a title on an abandoned motor vehicle. Rather than letting a tag or plate company or even a state DMV employee answer questions, approach them with some knowledge of the process and specific questions about required forms, steps, etc. I've found the state employees in the front office often know less than the people who actually deal with these issues.

In ohio you can get a title for an abandoned vehicle by judgement. You file some paperwork and go before a civil court judge you signs a court order for the bmv to produce a title. I've done it twice.


There is more than likely a method by which to obtain a title.

__________________
68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

Better to do it legally, rather risk grand theft and handcuffs -OR risking a charge of Grand Theft AND Forgery. I't's just an old car - find another old car, rather than becoming party to Felonies.