Hey guys, I've been watching for a decent car for my son to use as he is just starting to drive and will soon have his drivers license. As a Mercedes fan I was looking for perhaps a C240-80 but just haven't found one that suits my pocketbook and desire to have an unmolested and clean one!

I did, however, locate a 260E on eBay and lo and behold was in my neck of the woods - about 20 miles south. The guy had a $2800 starting bid with no bids as of the time I headed over to see it. More on that in a moment...

Ironically, this guy bought the car thru a very good friend of his that lives in Houston (south) who runs/owns a Bosch service center there. He asked his friend if he would look for a good older MB suitable for his 16 year old as well! So, the guy finds one that was owned by a customer of his Bosch place but the twist is that the previous owner had recently died and the widow "...wanted it gone..." and he was able to pick it up for $2500 and did. He gets it back to OH and his son does not want/like it! Dad puts it back on the market and that's where I come in...

The car is definitely nice/clean, drives like a car of that age but the front end suspension *feels* loose as if there's a need for ball joints/bushings/something yet it drives ok. I didn't notice it wandering on the road when I drove it but I am thinking it just needs some bushing TLC...maybe? Tranny seems fine it shifted good, no flaring I noticed. The engine bay was very very clean - I mean like someone had just cleaned the snot out of it! Given how clean the rest of the car is, I don't seem to worry too much about that. But more of a concern is the valve guide issue I read about in a search thread I came across. Anybody here familiar with this motor and what I need to be aware of? The owner has some records that he showed me but I didn't take the time to sit down and look thru them other than looking at some of the bottom line costs that had been spent. There was one I saw for $39xx another for $23xx and another for mid teens, so there has been maintenance that has been performed on this car I'm just not sure of the items done.

Wifey and I got back from our drive and he came out and during our conversation he mentions that he just looked at his auction on eBay and saw that he had an initial bid for the $2800. He said he didn't care, he'd rather it was purchased by someone 'local' and that he'd take $2800 for it. We gave him a check for $100 and planned to pick it up Tuesday or Wednesday. Constructive criticism wanted but please, no flame throwers (I'm attaching a few pics) Thanks.

EDIT: Sorry for the side-turned pics :-/

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