Advice needed !!

artic

I am looking at a yellow 1974 mercedes 230 saloon on carsIreland.ie . I rang the owner and asked the usual questions about mileage, history,rust any bills etc, Basically there is no service history as far as he knows the mileage of 44,000mls is correct which i am not sure about,He has no service history or bills and said the floor and arches are ok apart from one or two blisters on the body.Also i am a bit dubious about the colour and the reg does not show up on Cartell. What do i do ? Is the car worth a look ? The asking price is 3950 euro.Any advise would be apprerciated.

tc20

http://www.carsireland.ie/detail.php?ad_id=349740&r=s.php%3Fm%3D53%26amp%3Br%3D1974%26amp%3Bg%3D0

Hmmm,
the car looks good at first glance, but no close up shots, or interior pics. It does seem a little unlikely that a car with such low mileage has no documents to back it up. Its a private sale, how long does he have the car, where did he pick it up?
The colour is kinda cool, its a period colour - possibly a respray at some point.
I would wager that the 'leather ' interior is more likely to be MB-Tex, but this is more durable, so it wouldn't bother me that much. It would be worth a look at that price - and i'd say you will get the price down a bit. If the body and mechanicals are in decent nick, it would be worth it for sure. Check the sills, jacking points and bottoms of the doors for rust. They are fairly simple and robust engines - its possible it could be either a 4 or a 6 cylinder, very comfortable cruisers, and a usable daily driver. Expect high teens to mid 20s max mpg. Most parts are readily available, and there are a few good indie specialists around the country.

artic

The chap that is selling the car has had it for the last year or so, He bought it from his friend who owned it for for a year or two before hand,

tc20

artic wrote: »

He bought it from his friend who owned it for for a year or two before hand

any way of tracing the cars history beyond his friend?
So in the last three years of the cars life the guy has no bills/receipts ?
Oh, another thing, these cars have 5 digit odometers, (the Mk1s definitely, the Mk2s - which this one is, im not 100% certain) so it could well be only 44k, but it could also be 444K

3ps

just give it a thorough inspection is all you can do. It seems reasonably priced.

I had one of these before. You should check the bulkhead, stick your head up under the dash and there should be a seam running all the way across. This can let water in and would be a big job to fix.

Also, check that the heater motor works, dash out job to fix apparantly.

Blue850

Lift the carpets, they're held down by studs, if its wet underneath in the front its probably got bulkhead trouble, also check for rust in the corners where the bonnet hinges are.
They trap mud underneath the wings around the headlamps and rot from the inside out.
Yellow really is a love it or hate it colour on these.

MercMad

I like the car, it should be worth a look.

Other than that I echo everything the lads say above.Dont be afraid to give it a good poke underneath. The old underseal can hide a huge amount of rust, yet still look solid.

artic

tc20 wrote: »

http://www.carsireland.ie/detail.php?ad_id=349740&r=s.php%3Fm%3D53%26amp%3Br%3D1974%26amp%3Bg%3D0

Hmmm,
the car looks good at first glance, but no close up shots, or interior pics. It does seem a little unlikely that a car with such low mileage has no documents to back it up. Its a private sale, how long does he have the car, where did he pick it up?
The colour is kinda cool, its a period colour - possibly a respray at some point.
I would wager that the 'leather ' interior is more likely to be MB-Tex, but this is more durable, so it wouldn't bother me that much. It would be worth a look at that price - and i'd say you will get the price down a bit. If the body and mechanicals are in decent nick, it would be worth it for sure. Check the sills, jacking points and bottoms of the doors for rust. They are fairly simple and robust engines - its possible it could be either a 4 or a 6 cylinder, very comfortable cruisers, and a usable daily driver. Expect high teens to mid 20s
max mpg. Most parts are readily available, and there are a few good indie specialists around the country.

Well i bit the bullit and went to look at the car, It was in a sorry state.The engine was on its last legs more like 444k miles and not 44k,Lots of rust and resprayed yellow from original colour white . Needless to say i walked away. :eek:Too many faults to list The price was too good to be true .

tc20

You did the right thing artic. No need to feel bad about it, there's no harm in looking and you've saved yourself a lot of heartache - not to mention money.
Dont lose faith, you will find a good 'un, but the best approach is to take your time finding 'the one' and not settling for a lemon.

artic

tc20 wrote: »

http://www.carsireland.ie/detail.php?ad_id=349740&r=s.php%3Fm%3D53%26amp%3Br%3D1974%26amp%3Bg%3D0

Hmmm,
the car looks good at first glance, but no close up shots, or interior pics. It does seem a little unlikely that a car with such low mileage has no documents to back it up. Its a private sale, how long does he have the car, where did he pick it up?
The colour is kinda cool, its a period colour - possibly a respray at some point.
I would wager that the 'leather ' interior is more likely to be MB-Tex, but this is more durable, so it wouldn't bother me that much. It would be worth a look at that price - and i'd say you will get the price down a bit. If the body and mechanicals are in decent nick, it would be worth it for sure. Check the sills, jacking points and bottoms of the doors for rust. They are fairly simple and robust engines - its possible it could be either a 4 or a 6 cylinder, very comfortable cruisers, and a usable daily driver. Expect high teens to mid 20s max mpg. Most parts are readily available, and there are a few good indie specialists around the country.

I was at the show in Citywest today and saw the above car for sale, wiukd be intrested to hear anybodys opinion on it .

3ps

I saw it at Citywest and didn't bother even inspecting it as it was obvious the bodywork was rotten and painted over.