W124 Newbie w/ some questions

[argonaut212]

Hi,

First off, I will apologize for the long post and say this is a great forum. This is my first post here, however I have visited this forum a few times. I have been interested in an early 90s E-class (w 124 i beleive) for some time and i think a car may have found me. It is an immaculate 1990 300e 2.6 w/ 135k on the clock, white w/ tan (not my ideal but its really clean) My questions are: What is getting ready to go at this mileage? What should i look out for? Is the 2.6 a worthy motor or should i hold out for a regular 300e? what are the performance differnces? It is an auto, how sturdy are these transmissions? How much should i budget for maintenance each year with this car? Can anyone recommend a good indy repair shop in the NYC area where i can go for a pre-purchase inspection? Do they make the service manual like the Bentley manual for BMW? And if i do purchase the car, I would like to lower it and fit AMG monoblock or Evo wheels, is there an OE spring i can use for this and if so how much? or a recomended after market spring? and what else will need to be done? will stock shocks be ok or will there be bump stop issues? Lastly, what is a fair price for this vehicle, I beleive he is asking $3,800 Again, I apologize for the long post, but i'm very excited about this car. Its one of the best kept ones i have seen, but i don't want to take a blind leap. Thanks in advance for all your help.
Regards,
J