The Mark's new stablemate... Antique inside

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martz0r

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I was bidding on this car last week on eBay and was $85 below the seller's reserve price. I contacted him after the auction asking if he'd like to sell it outside eBay, and picked it up today. I paid the reserve price, because I thought it was fair (actually I know it is). Anyone want to take a stab at what it cost me?

1973 Mercedes Benz 450SEL:

benz1.jpg


benz2.jpg


It only has 99,400 original miles and I love it. Only rust is a tiny bit of surface rust in the trunk, but everything else is spotless. Under the carpet, the undercarriage, wheel wells etc. I believe it was a FL car most, if not all of it's life. I originally planned on buying it and flipping it (I got an extremely good deal IMO) but I think I like it too much. You can see the front fender has been repainted at some time (I think the whole car has) because it doesn't match up perfectly. Other than that and some slight fading on the roof, the body is like new.

More pics coming tomorrow after I give her a good bath.
 
Coooold... (lower)

And thanks, it's my pop's. Has come in handy lots of times including the tow vehicle: His 95 Astro with 220k (can't kill them!)
 
Goodness You like this bdy style?? You saw the WHOLE front and is a repaint right? Good luck but man o man what an ugly car. My Uncle Ray had this same car NEW when I was kid. GREAT interior and ride.
 
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I love that body style myself; for me it represents the "classic" Mercedes.
Would rather have had the 450 SL coupe tho.
 
ONEBADMK8 said:
Goodness You like this bdy style?? You saw the WHOLE frond and is a repaint right? Good luck but man o man what an ugly car. My Uncle Ray had this same car NEW when I was kid. GREAT interior and ride.
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Hell yes I like the body style. I agree with Kaha, this is one of the classiest models made IMO... If you can remember the car well enough you remember the quality and how this car is built like a tank! Your uncle must be (have been?) a pretty wealthy guy. As for the repaint, I already mentioned it in my post... Today I actually found the receipt from when it was done in the 90's.

I paid $1900 out the door for the car. I thought that was more than fair given the mileage, motor and shape of the body. Just needs a little bit of front seat repair and a dash pad.
 
Oh no doubt about the tank factor, this car is just broken in with that mileage too. It was VERY expensive new back then when He got it. The ride is incredible. He sold His in the early 2k's with over 224k trouble free miles. NEVER made an interrior noise, even at high milelage.
 
That is good to know man, I know I read somewhere that these were almost 3x the cost of a Cadillac back then. They are pretty agile buggers too for only making 190hp/278ft.lb.

I have always been intrigued by antique vehicles. Any time I've looked at ~1980 cars they either seem to be too expensive for me or piles of crap. It's funny, my pops just picked up a '92 400SE (just before they started calling them S420s) and my Benz is in better shape than his!
 
I really like it, man. Several years ago, I might not have cared about it so much, but I've kind of gotten into classic European luxury cars (Jaguar and Mercedes mostly), and of course I've always been into 70's American luxury cars.
 
Amazing!!! How I love those. One of the best looking classic Mercs.
I always wanted a 450, with 6.9 in it. But any 450 will do too.


Have fun with it. And it has the Euro bumpers??? You need to get the Euro headlights if you want to make it original Euro looking. Otherwise quad lamps look cool too. Very sinister.
 
i love the old benz's !! nice ride +1, although my favorite older mercedes are the 90s S class
 
Good find, good price if it runs well. Get yourself some german headlights and the front will be perfect. A shaved look with bumpers removed is kinda neat, too. How is the interior?

Should be very reliable yet very thirsty... God help you if you need to buy engine parts, they're made of unicorn tears.
 
martz0r said:
Thanks guys... And to the comment about the African country flags, I'm not :q:q:q:qting you I would totally rock some fender flags on this beast!
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I thought about having some made for my Mark, with Pink Floyd's marching hammers (from "The Wall") on them. :lol:

Talking about that Merc body style (and yes, they are AWESOME to drive. The power, the handling, just the FEEL... they are so damn Teutonic. Nowadays Mercedes all look like electric shavers) here's my favorite movie clip starring one.
From David Lynch's "Lost Highway". Some profanity, don't crank the volume if you're at work.

Mr. Eddie Hates Tailgaters
 
martz0r said:
I paid $1900 out the door for the car. I thought that was more than fair given the mileage, motor and shape of the body. Just needs a little bit of front seat repair and a dash pad.
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I would have bought it for that in a heartbeat.
Now you have to find a crotchety old German mechanic, take him out and buy him some beers. You'll be set.

I lived in Germany for 11 years, a mid-80's Mercedes was gonna be my next car to replace that POS Nissan Micra that I was driving, could have gotten one rust-free and great mechanical shape for about 3 grand (this was in '95). But I was fighting with the old lady and drunk and was just about to start vacation and my flight to Cairo (was gonna spend a month in Egypt) turned into a ticket back to the USA cos I basically said screw it all. Short version of a somewhat longer story, lol.
And yes, I'm impulsive. :lol:
 
That's funny, on the Crown Vic boards when I posted about the car someone responded with the same video. I plan on doing most of the work myself, starting with the cracking rubber fuel lines running to the fuel rail. If worse comes to worse, there's a shop here in my town that works on higher-end euro cars and their costs aren't that bad. (I had a leak in my gas tank on my Vic repaired there once)

Good story lol
 
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