Hello all, I looked at a 1996 C36 today and when I was looking at the body panels I noticed that the two front fenders had what I can only describe as a slight deformation along the crease which runs along the wheel opening. The crease is typically nice and crisp (at least on standard C-class)...but on this car at the very top of the crease was flattened out. What I have concluded is that during the fender rolling process this is where the counter pressure was kept. I guess what I'm tryting to figure out is if all C36's will have this deformity or am I looking at the work of a "butcher"? I also noticed that Kelly BB and Edmund's value for this car differ about $1500 between the two, Kelly being the lower of the two....which, in your opinion, is more accurate? As you can guess the asking price is a tad over the higher Edmund's number. Thanks in advance.

I would suggest asking this same question over at www.Club202.com
If possible, it would help if you could post a picture. In any event, the guys in that forum are intimately familiar with all the C36/C43 peculiarities.

The C36 was not a mass produced car. There are a limited number of them, and thus the "price" is going to vary greatly on your location, the number currently available, and the condition of each example. If you find a super clean 1997 model that has been lovingly cared for, I doubt you'd come close to any "book" for the price. In the grand scheme of car prices, $1500 is pretty close for a thin-trading car like the C36.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Yes, the front inner feder lips were rolled by AMG. This was to clear the larger wheel/tires installed.

When I installed 18" wheels on my C36, I had to finish rolling the front fender lips to address some new rubbing issues. AMG rolled the lips to about 2" of either side of the fender.

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1993 500E
http://2phast.com/500e/500e-sig.jpg

Thanks for all your information. The fenders on this example were completely rolled from end to end so it sounds like additional rolling was done here as the lip edge was folded over on itself and went right to the very end of the wheelwell opening. I know from reading here that the '97 is the best year to get and is likely worth a premium. The example I have seen is a '96 and the thought is that for a few thousand more I can get a C43. Logic is telling me that and extra $4K for a three year newer car....is the way to go. Kind of like the "newer is better" thinking. But please tell me if there is an error in my thinking as I have only recently started to research this particular model.