Here’s a gorgeous , with only 8800 miles and a $43k buy-it-now:
quote from seller’s eBay listing:
1994 Mercedes E500 finished in Pearl Black over Parchment Leather interior. This ONE OWNER example is being presented in excellent, garage kept condition. Fully loaded with all options from the factory, this E500 is considered the original AMG Mercedes as it was a joint collaboration between Mercedes and Porsche, it carries with it very subtle OEM body treatments such as front and rear fender flares and enhanced grill. Purchased new in 12/94 from California dealer, this car has only seen 8800 miles and always stored in a climate controlled garage. All service documents from factory Authorized Mercedes dealer, all books, tools, and keys! No accidents or paintwork and is 100% all original as it came from the factory. Considered the lowest mileage E500 in the country known to exist. A collectible car with the comfort and ease of a daily driver!
While there aren’t many E500’s with this kind of mileage — after all, most were driven by wealthy executives who didn’t care about miles — $43k sounds very optimistic. Maybe there are gold bars in the glove box, but I think in this economy, the seller is really holding out for the one in a million (or billion?) that might justify the price for the miles.
I spotted this 600SEC on Craigslist in Denver to compliment the 600SEL I recently posted. Here is an inexpensive two door version. A lot of what I said in that previous post about the 600SEL goes for the 600SEC, just minus two doors. $5500 even with 105k miles is a heck of a lot of car for the money. You’ll need to get a lot more description than this seller offers though before pulling the trigger. It may run great, but with all the 15 year old electronics there is plenty that can be wrong. Still at $5500, drive it for a season, hope nothing major breaks, and then sell it for what you put into it.
What better way to celebrate labor day then by looking at a car that was designed to take the labor out of the automobiling experience.
Do you remember the good old days when Mercedes put the letters describing their models after the numbers? Remember when those numbers and letters really stood for something instead of arbitrary model distinctions? 1992 was the last year before the switch. That year the king of the Mercedes line was the 600SEL. This was the first Mercedes V-12 since after World War Two. So at the time a Mercedes V-12 was much more a rarity than they are today.
Despite packing a V-12 this car was more than just a high power autobahn cruiser. It was packed with technical goodies that made it stand far above other models at the time.
The car had self closing doors, a power trunk handle, double pane power windows that stopped going up if your hand got in the way. Power front and rear head rests, heated headlamp washers, Bose stereo, the car even has a built in trickle charger. Perhaps most above and beyond were the two little antennas that popped out of the rear fenders when you went into reverse to help you see where the end of the car was. Remember this was well before the days of navigation, i-drive, and other now common technical gizmos.
1992 is also a significant year as that year the 48 valve V-12 put out 408 horsepower. Again remember, this is 1992 and that type of power was virtually unheard of in a sedan. By 1994 those pesky U.S. emissions requirements strangled horsepower down to 389 so the early 600SELs are the prize of the W140 bodied cars.
appears to be a fine, unmodified, low mileage example, only 59,000 miles. There should a ton of life left in the engine as long as the massive amounts of electrical components don’t cause a new owner problems. Not only is the car nice, the seller does a very good job with the ad text. This car was purchased new for $152,896.90. When you figure there is at least a $125,000 worth of depreciation to account for, purchasing a 600SEL today seems like a deal. Not a bad way to get a car in your driveway with V12 badges on the side. Just make sure you get the most well cared for example or you’ll be left with an empty wallet trying to fix peripheral items.
Here is a clip of a younger Jermey Clarkson talking about the 600SEL, scroll to 4:42 to see the over the top rear fender aerials in action:
You know how much I like it when sellers take a gamble and put up a vehicle for auction at a low or reasonable opening price and stay away from placing a reserve. When an ad like that goes on eBay and is away from the hype of a major Barrett-Jackson style event you really can peer into what fair market price is like. This is even more the case when the same car gets listed twice in a short period of time.
This nice blacked out Benz has only 36k miles, peanuts for the venerable 5 liter Mercedes engine. The black out trim and lights looks pretty decent on this. The treatment isn’t really complete, if it was triple black with all black interior and black rims it would look even better. It has some interior custom bits too. If I was the buyer I’d keep the hardtop on, the look is much nicer. I’ve always thought Mercedes did a better job than BMW 3 series in terms of the looks of a removable hardtop on convertibles. You have four different options here, hardtop, softop, neither with, or without roll bar.
Someone might get a deal here unless two crazed bidders get into a battle. The car “sold” last month for $9606. If anyone noticed this it should make the price a bit lower this time around as you always wonder why it is being relisted.
From the seller:
This is an ultra clean 500 SL. It has all original paint that is in excellent condition and is the beautiful color of Jet Black. The original paint has a beautiful luster and in great condition. The added AMG styling package is the only thing that has been painted on the car. It has a perfect, clean Car Fax and has never been in a accident. The original black soft top is perfect including the original hardtop which is also in excellent condition. It is sitting on a amazing looking set of 19″ staggered custom wheels with like new tires which gives this Benz a very aggressive look. This car is a true unmolested beauty!
Being a Mercedes guy, I’ve always liked the 560sec and its siblings of the same body style. Here are several all up right now on eBay.
The body on this one has 292,390, but it has only 50,000 since a full restoration. The ad doesn’t say much about the 6.0, but the valve covers look genuine. Seller says all the documentation from Renntech is available. Pretty subtle for having an AMG engine, transmission, headers and rear end.
Here we go, this is a GREAT opportunity. Rarely do you find a decent vehicles listed on eBay at a low opening bid AND no reserve. A 55,000 mile 560 that looks amazing up for sale with the public setting the market price. This is fantastic if it was a standard 560 SEC, but this is a grey market car with an AMG body package. So you get the nice Euro headlights and the sculpted bodywork. Don’t miss getting a bid in on this one, someone could snag a real deal if this one goes under the radar on eBay. Probably not the smartest move for me to post this here since I’ll probably throw a bid in on this myself, but I’d like to see what the market sets itself at. If this was a later model, year I’d say if it didn’t breach $10k it would be undersold.
Here is a white one that the seller claims is a multiple show winner. I’m sure it is nice, but a 100,000 mile, 1991 model year car, in stock form must not have much competition in its class at whatever shows he’s entering it in. The car does look good and is nice that it has service records, but you can almost be sure that the ask for the car is going to be over priced just by the way the seller is describing it.
I just put this one in because I always find older 1 owner cars intriguing. Being the 2nd owner on a vehicle that has a long history with its original owner can mean some neat stories and a chance to really know the car’s past. This 160k mile car is a California delivery vehicle so a buyer is going to want to look out for extra smog gear restricting the engine.
And this is for the handyman looking for a bit of a challenge. Chances are you can talk the owner down from the $1875 ask. Sadly I think you’d have to go down on price to find a taker, but then you get close to part it out territory as the parts become worth more off the car. Who wants to save this one?
I figured this being a car blog it was somewhat necessary to at least give brief mention of the CARS Car Allowance Rebate System or Cash For Clunkers program. By now most of America is probably familiar with the deal. You readers as car folks also probably understand that upon turning your car in for a credit the car is scrapped, regardless of how much life is left in the vehicle. What I think is important to underline is that scrapped doesn’t mean the engine gets pulled out and parts reused. Jalopnik covered this issue. In this case the government insists the engines are destroyed using a sodium silicate solution (liquid glass), that is poured into the running engine after the oil is drained. This locks up the motor and makes salvaging it useless.
I don’t want to get preachy or go into more details here, there are plenty of other places online where you can do that, but I do find this program a shameful waste, full of economical, environmental, and practical pitfalls. I’ve seen a number of BMWs and Benzs meet their fate in this past week. Including several big bodied 500 series Benzs that easily were worth more than the credit given. The financial incentive has made less loyal car owners sacrifice fine automobiles or be forced into doing so by significant others. See this ad for a 1988 BMW M5 that needs saving for example.
Regardless of your own thoughts on the program or political views, below I give some examples of what this program has brought that should sadden you as gear heads and folks who are going to have to pay jacked up used part prices.
So pour out a quart of 40 weight for the fallen. If you find photos or videos of German vehicles to add to this hall of shame let us know.
I know this one isn’t German, I wanted to ease you into this post, give you a chance to back out in case you want to avoid the carnage. This does illustrate pretty well the nonsense of where tax payer money is being spent:
BMW 530i manual, so sad.
BMW 735i
BMW 525
1991 and 1992 525i
1986 Mercedes 300E
Fortunately their are some folks out there with good sense
Mercedes 1992 190E 2.3
There are many, many, other engine blow up videos like these from dealerships participating in the cash4clunkers program out on the net. Googler beware.
Mercedes-Benz Euro W124 500E 1992 Anthracite Grey Metallic/Black
Features:
Fully loaded, Rare onboard computer! (Similar to E34 M5 )
Mileage:
89K since new, second owner car, imported from Germany 1993 by the original owner all the DOT/EPA is done, Currently the new home is Los Angeles area.
Availability:
CURRENTLY FOR SALE $42000- call/email.
Technical Data:
This is legendary M119 engine, Euro spec is 326hp 354 nm / 261.1 ft lbs @ 4900 rpm.
Exhaust:
Custom made from the headers all the way to the Remus, the sound is awesome !!!
Soon will have dyno test on the car, estimated around 356hp at the crank…
Suspension:
Koni yellow sport (adjustable).
Brakes:
High-performance double-drilled and slotted rotors with high performance brake pads.
Transmission:
Is set to start from 1st gear every time and
operates very sensitively in downshift mode with no lock moment… The result is impressive!
Differential:
2.47 LSD (Limited Slip Differential)
Wheels:
19” inch AMG (style) Front 245 35 19 Rear 275/30/19.
Is this the finest W124 500E for sale… anywhere?! It sure looks like it, and duplicating this car would surely cost more than the asking price. Make sure to check out their website which has probably 100 images on it. This car is beautiful!
quote from eBay listing:
This is the one! Anthracite gray with black leather interior, 5-speed manual with the higher horsepower, higher compression european spec engine. 75k miles and very tight. Very good to excellent condition throughout.
Yes, this is a 1985 model and that means it was produced for the European market and imported here. In the case of the Cosworth 190E, this means that this car has higher horsepower (185hp vs 167hp), torque and compression ratio.
This is a really nice example of a very desirable and collectible car. This is not a show car, but it certainly is in much better than average condition and has a relatively low 75,000 miles on it. It is probably too nice to take racing — even though it is a race car — but could make a great base for a project street car. Or do like me and just drive it! I have driven a lot of Mercedes in my life and this is the only one that really feels like a sports car. It’s nimble handling, high revving Cosworth engine and great exhaust note make this car a blast to drive. Please come buy it before I get into trouble!
I like the opening bid of $8000 and the honesty of this listing. While not quite as nice as this example posted a while back, the combination of European specification, recent respray, and very good miles, make me think this is a great example for an enthusiast. I wish I was in the market right now, I’d bid!
We have an exceptional Yellowbird Yellow 1997 Porsche Ruf CTR-2 Sport for sale. This RUF was the fastest production car in the world in 1997. This ultra rare Porsche Ruf CTR2 Sport ranks right up there with Ferrari’s F50 and Jaguar’s XJ220. The CTR2’s air-cooled engine whips out an impressive 580HP with 0-60 times under 4 seconds, and a blistering top speed of 217mph! There were only 16 of these street legal super cars made from 1995-1997 so this is obviously a really rare chance at owning a piece of automotive history. Not to mention it is one wicked car to drive.
This is the fastest car I’ve ever ridden in, and we didn’t even juice it anywhere near its full potential. This particular car was featured in the February 1998 issue of European Car magazine when it was owned by the previous owner Steve Beddor. This car has only 8k original miles since new, a beautiful sounding Blaupunkt stereo system and looks to kill. You are looking at a very fine investment opportunity for any Porsche enthusiast – and one fun sports car that craves some hard driving.
Not much needs to be said here. An opportunity like this doesn’t come along very often, and it’s appears to be titled! The real deal, not a conversion, and has only 8k miles. I’ve always said that I think the 993 series was the last of the real Porsche 911’s and this one is the ultimate tuner car of it’s generation. Sure it’s a Powerball fantasy for most of us, but if my ticket hits, this guy’s phone is going to blow up the next day! Make sure to click through and check out all the images they have and bunch of videos too.
There really isn’t much to say about this eBay oddity, other than it has to be overpriced.
The seller says:
Only 2 cars were authorized by BMW to be custom modified to pick up version.
I’d like to know more about what exactly that means. I’m not sure I can see the fine folks in Bavaria back in 1984 thinking “You know Rolf we really need to compete with the Subaru BRAT segment”.
It has some nice goodies from Hartge and Schrick, but I really can’t explain what they were going for with that paint job.
If this can really be documented as a factory BMW project its rarity might give it some added collector value. It is going to take a special someone to want to take this one home at $25k. Besides, I know Mercedes already locked up the German El Camino (or would that be Die Straße) bragging rights. Below photo from my archives.
There are several Mercedes 300 Wagons in our neighborhood. I often think that if I had one I’d want to lower it an inch, put on period AMG monoblock rims, color match the lower panels, and upgrade to European spec headlights — which would make for a great family ride.
But this 300 wagon takes it to another level. It has the AMG 6L motor, 3 piece rims, and very rare body kit, to name a few of the tasteful and rare upgrades. Here is the majority of the seller’s listing from the eBay ad for this 300 AMG Wagon:
quote from seller’s listing:
987 Mercedes 300 Wagon with AMG 6.0 litre twin cam motor, complete AMG car in excellent condition. I have owned this car for 13 years, originally from Canada a built for Mr Feingold I aquired the car through Renntech from Hartmuth, the car was in for a major service and Mr. Feingold decided to sell me the car after a $17000 complete service.
The exterior of the car is finished in a blue similar to Ferraris Tour de France, it has a complete AMG body kit including the 3 pc AMG wheels color keyed to the body, these wheels were recently refinished and sits on new Pirelli tires, Complete amg Mods, suspension, Exhaust, header, adj transmission, it is a real 6.0 motor and has had all services to date it runs outstanding has 44,000 kil. it has the 320 AMG speedo. The car has never sustained any damage, the paint is excellent with the acception of the front spoiler that has some minor rashing at the bottom corner, the front spoiler has air intakes for the cooling of the front brakes, it has never been tracked or abused I use the car once in a while when I need to take the kids somewhere and I need the seating for 7 it has the rear folding seat.
The interior is gray leather in excellent shape no dye work, suede dash, orthopedic driver and passenger seats, carpet not stained and door panels not cracked, and upgraded stereo with XM and I pod connection in the glove box, front and rear hidden K40 radar.
The car runs outstanding recent AC upgrade, Aligned and balanced, A real piece of AMG history
The starting bid for this car is $25000.
Many thanks to Ali for tipping us of to this great car!
If you have a suggestion for us, please email me: dan@motoringblogs.com
Evan answered my cry for help in the last post and I’m so super grateful for the help! Here is his quick and dirty bio:
I’m a major gear head and German car fan. I did my first engine rebuild in 7th grade and was hooked from then on. Though I appreciate fine design and engineering regardless of make, Mercedes Benz is my marque of choice. I particularly enjoy the big power German sport sedans, a niche I filled with the purchase of Euro spec 1979 Mercedes 450SEL 6.9. From autocrossing BMWs at Indianapolis to hauling in a Mercedes down the autobahn, from the RUF Porsche factory to Watkins Glen racetrack, I’ve tried to engage in a variety of experiences to further my knowledge of the German cars I appreciate. I hope to help bring fans intriguing sales listings I uncover, along with some anecdotes and info.
Welcome aboard Evan! Looking forward to your posts and expertise; and I very much appreciate the assistance in growing this blog!
dc
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We re-post public classified advertisements. As a practice we rehost images and ad copy to preserve the listing for future reference. If you would like additional attribution for your work, or wish to remove your listing from our site, we are happy to accommodate. Please email us: germancarsforsaleblog@gmail.com
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