Moving! Do I sell or keep my 450sl? Advice appreciated!

[supercanuck]

Good morning! I am turning to this forum hopefully to get some advice on my car situation. Let me explain.

I own (as my primary vehicle), a white/tan 1980 450SL that is in great shape and runs like a champ (~ 108K miles). I’ve had it for almost 5 years and have used it as a daily driver over two lengthy spans. I live in Texas, and I just found out this weekend that my fiancée was offered a professorship in Illinois, so we have decided to pack up and move north. However, I am trying to figure out what to do with my car. I am pretty sure I’m not going to take it up there with me, so I’m deciding whether or not to try to sell it before I leave, or just keep it around for when I come back to town (my family is still here) and buy something new for up there.

Now let me give a little bit more detail on the car.

As I mentioned, it runs like a champ. My only apprehension about trying to sell the car is that I have been in the middle of fixing some things and working on the car to eventually get it in as good a shape as possible. The biggest thing still wrong with it is that I had to pull the AC Servo last summer (it was causing a battery drain), and I haven’t gotten around to replacing it yet, so the climate control system is not functional right now.

The only other area of major concern for me is the center console and area where the climate control unit and radio is. Everything there is in good shape, the only problem is that the framework for the center console was broken when apparently the previous owner tried to install an aftermarket tape player. From the outside, it looks fine, just some of the components are a bit loose in the back and don’t have a tight fit.

Other than that, the car is in, my opinion, great shape for being 28 years old. I am not sure if the paint is original or not (I think it may be), but overall the paint is great all around the car. There are a couple of small dings and chips around the car, but nothing that really jumps out. I have the hardtop (which has been stored and is in nearly perfect shape) and the softtop is also in good shape. This is a GREAT car, either as an everyday driver, for a weekend mechanic, or for a true Benz enthusiast.

So I guess my basic question is what would some of you who know the values and markets for these cars? By not having the servo finished, is there any point in trying to sell it? I have looked at getting the digital replacement, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. If I were to go ahead and make that purchase, would it significantly redeem some of the value of the car? Or, with a car like this, am I just SOL and better off to just grin and bear it and hold on to it knowing that I won’t ever really get a chance to sell it?