Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
This might be as good as it gets. A 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300SE with a mere 8,500 miles. The color combo? Pearl Blue Metallic over blue leather. This is the type of car that was regularly used and excelled greatly at it, but this one was somehow put away and spared. Now over 30 years later, do you dare? If so, it isn’t going to come cheap. Not at all.
We’ve come a long way in the past 30 years when it comes to cars. Arguably the best car in the world at the time, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, offered everything in terms of quality and functionality – but you had to pay dearly for it. Now almost 30 years later, you get all that plus a host of autonomous-like driving features in a basic family sedan. Such is the march of time and progress, but we still like to take a look at the cars that created the trend – and this W140 is the perfect candidate.
There is nearly always a “sweet spot” for everything. Not too little, but not too much. That perfect blend of everything. In the car world, having a sweet spot is something we’ve been chasing since Carl Benz back in ’86, 1886, made a little 3-wheel buggy that changed the world forever as we know it. From that point forward, it’s almost always been something that doesn’t make it perfect. It has to be reliable, safe, durable, make good power, look good, return good MPGs, be comfortable, and not cost a million bucks to fix. Well, good luck finding a car to do all that. Unless, of course…
The 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300SE. The last of the W126. For some, the pinnacle of all cars. Enough power to get out of its own way, won’t kill you in a crash, gets over 20 MPG with ease, and built to last literally a million miles. Nothing on this car will bankrupt you if something fails, none of the parts are too expensive, and basically anyone can work on this car if you are capable enough to actually work on cars. This example up for bid in Arizona is one of the better 300SEs I’ve seen come up for sale in a long time. It has just over 75,000 miles and is clean like you wouldn’t believe. I’m not just talking about the interior, either.
A little over a month ago I took a look at a 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300SE. On the surface, a 1991 300SE isn’t all that special, until you noticed the Bornite Metallic paint of course. I went into a little detail on why that paint matters and the data doesn’t lie when you see the selling prices of two nearly identical cars with one painted in Bornite and one painted in a more common color. Well wouldn’t you know, the next generation S-Class, the W140, had the privilege of carrying on this color as well. This 1992 300SE checks in with a fair amount of miles with nearly 185,000, but don’t kid yourself thinking you are going to get a deal on it. Also, there is one other problem if you want to own this car. It is in Germany.
One of my favorite colors from Mercedes-Benz in the 1980s and early 1990s is Bornite Metallic. It is a wonderful shade of light purple that could maybe pass for grey in the right lighting, but purple is a good general name for it. I don’t think I’m the only person who feels this way, as a 1991 560SEC with 8,000 miles painted in this color sold for a $78,400 at auction recently. Yes, I realize that a lot of that price is due to the fact that is a final year 560SEC with 8,000 miles on it, but compare that to a ’86 560SEC with 10,000 miles and you can see that the paint color surely played a factor in the price. Today, I came across a 1991 300SE painted in Bornite up for sale in North Carolina with just 84,000 km on it. Yes, I said kilometers. Let me explain.
