Q's on potential 1986 300e Purchase!

[Miles81_240d]

Hello All,

I am considering purchasing a beautiful white 86 300e w/ 5-speed manual Transmission...This would be my 2nd Benz (replacing my previous 240d).. The lot this car is on is a fairly high-end lot that caters to higher end european cars. They are asking $4995, and it has approx 137k miles on it... I have a few questions!

-is 137k alot of milage, in general,for one of the gas engines (I come from Diesel territory!)? I have not driven the car yet, but.. it did start right over and seem to idle/rev freely and smoothly.This car has the 3.0 6cyl. I do remember hearing a *minor* valve-tappet -type noise for the first minute or so..but that dissappeared quickly.
-The car is a 5-speed, which I understand is somewhat rare??? Would you say that the manual transmissions in these are reliable (compared to the automatics)..
-I am going to see if the lot has any paperwork on the car.- Are there particular areas of the engine that would be good areas to check? Do these suffer from headgasket or valve seal issues (that some MB's i have heard rumors about)? How long to timing belts/chains last on these? Any other maintenence areas of concern?
-The interior of the car is Dark Blue/Navy MB-Tex. Its in fine shape, but the driver's door panel skin [that runs along the base of the drivers side window] seems to be starting to "seperate/stretch".. can this section be replaced, or does one have to replace the entire door panel??
-the A/C turned on from what i could tell- and appeared to blow cold, but I did not know much about how to operate the ACC controls (remember, i was used to a 240d!).. i've heard these can be troublesome- is there a correct procedure i can try to verify if things are actually working right?

I am also looking at a 89 190e (which i'll write about in another post).. I'm kinda debating on the 2!..

Thanks so much guys!, This group is wonderful!!.. Look forward to hearing what you think about the 300e!..

Miles
-------
email: miles@macforce.com