Advice on 1984 230 CE Coupe

[flango]

Hi All

My Brother in law has finally seen sense and is thinking about buying an older MB as a summer / weekend car. He is in the trade working as a vehicle technician so checking it out physically is not a problem. Anyway he has been offered the car below.

Apparently the guy has said make me an offer but with an older car where do you start? I know a lot depends upon what is wrong with it and you can try and get that of the asking price, but where is the starting point?

Sorry about the poor pictures but that is all he has at present

He is going to see it this weekend so any advice on what to look for and price guidance would be most welcome , thanks

 

[grober]

Body condition is paramount I would say. Sills, jacking points, rear subframe / mounting points inner wings/wheel arches, floors. Mechanics are pretty strong and can always be rebuilt/ transplanted. One weak spot was the valve stem seals which tend to go hard leading to blue smoke and this can put folks off a basically sound car. I notice it has a manual gearbox which one less thing to worry about. The other very important areas are external and internal trim condition which can be expensive/ difficult to replace. I'm sure some w123 owners will be along shortly to comment.Oh and check the tyres including the spare are not past their (5years old ) sell by date and adjust the price accordingly.

 

[neilrr]

Also search under "Mark Cosovich"

http://www.schumanautomotive.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77

 

[kth286]

as per Grober really - rust rust and rust again.

You cannot really do a proper inspection unless he can get the car up in the air on a ramp. If the seller is a reasonable person he will agree to this because your BIL will agree to give the guy feedback on the condition of his car won't he.

And if BIL does not buy it, at least the seller will be in a position of greater knowledge as to the actual condition of his car.

Lets be fair, if the seller knew he had a good car, he would know the likely selling prices. He probably does not know what the real condion of the car is like at all.

 

[flango]

as per Grober really - rust rust and rust again.

You cannot really do a proper inspection unless he can get the car up in the air on a ramp. If the seller is a reasonable person he will agree to this because your BIL will agree to give the guy feedback on the condition of his car won't he.

And if BIL does not buy it, at least the seller will be in a position of greater knowledge as to the actual condition of his car.

Lets be fair, if the seller knew he had a good car, he would know the likely selling prices. He probably does not know what the real condion of the car is like at all.

Think you are spot on the plan is to take it to my BIL work where he can get it on the ramp and give it a good going over, trouble is if it is any good where do you open the batting on price?

 

[vijilants]

Unless that is a five speed manual gearbox, which was quite rare on these cars, the 4 speed manuals are really quite awful to drive.

You are far better off with an auto if it is the W123 coupe that you are interested in.

Badly geared and on the whole don't suit this vehicle at all.

Also check the steering box.....they always land up with massive amounts of play and usually only a new one will fix the problem.

Also waterleaks - check under the drivers and passengers footwells for damp and also in the boot towards the back. These are famous for leaking from around the seal of the front and rear screens due to corrosion under the seals. The only way to fix this problem is to remove the screans and properly repaiir the rust.

 

[Ted]

Desilva is right. The manual boxes of that era were ponderous to put it mildly.

 

[stever]

Having owned two W123 coupes I echo the comments about water leaks and rust, through bitter experience! A couple of other points:

1. A lot of the trim is different to the saloons - harder to find and more expensive. E.g. rear window weatherstrips are £80 each, and the main rubber seal around the window aperture is £400!
2. The rear windows are supposed to go all the way down. If they don't, the regulators will need a replacement part, and it's a right pain to do.
3. The car in the photo has chrome arches. These are an aftermarket part and are often used to hide rust.
4. Slack in the steering box can often be adjusted out, but it's very hard to get to in the 230. I ended up undoing the engine mounts and jacking up the engine so I could get access to the nut.
5. If the front or rear windscreen is leaking, then a proper repair with new seal will cost £400.

If you can find a rust free and watertight car, then buy it - the mechanicals are cheaper and easier to fix.

 

[SilverSaloon]

go in with a price on the basis its just an old car to begin with....

then if he doesnt agree to that lowish price, then start to do a proper valuation based on conditon.

 

[popuptoaster]

I've seen really nice ones sell for well under 3 grand, so work backwards from there as you find faults with it, its all been said really, manual box will knock value off it definatly

 

[vijilants]

I've seen really nice ones sell for well under 3 grand, so work backwards from there as you find faults with it, its all been said really, manual box will knock value off it definatly

The really nice ones that are properly renovated go for well over double that price.

Generally speaking anything in the sub £3000 range is going to need a fair amount of work to make it a really nice car, unless you are extremely lucky

 

[popuptoaster]

I dunno where you been looking but they often pop up over on http://retrorides.proboards86.com as private sales in good nick at the 2500 mark, im not talking minty concours but i am talking about perfectly useable cars with no real issues, my W114 was only 450 quid and all it really needs is painting and the valve stem oil seals doing, the merc dealer near me was asking 4 times that for tattier ones!! keeping away from specialist dealers and one marque forums for your purchases is where you get the best bargains, i do try and support the forums i use by buying through them, but an prices do tend to be higher for cars.


for instance, i just grabbed these two old ads with a quick search, there have been more, both of these were well tidy and under 1500 quid.

http://retrorides.proboards86.com/index.cgi?board=FSW&action=display&thread=32621

http://retrorides.proboards86.com/index.cgi?board=FSW&action=display&thread=50524

 

[219]

W123 prices are on the increase these days .

You just don't get the rustbuckets going for a few hundred any more . Thanks mainly to the efforts of Mark Cosovich with his national 123 days and the like these cars are now being recognised as classics with the coupes generally having higher values than the equivalent saloons ( although conversely 123 estates seem to be the most valuable of the lot as most were used as workhorses and GOOD , unmolested 123 estates are now as rare as hen's teeth and thus highly collectable ) .

You certainly won't get a reasonable 123 coupe for less than a couple of grand now , and really good ones are selling for much more . Prices of ten to fifteen grand are now being realised for the best examples .

Mark C did an article in a recent M.B. Club Gazette re this .

 

[popuptoaster]

well i didnt make them adverts i linked to up ya know, you just have to look in the right places for cheap cars, as always.

 

[Mark Zygadlo]

Check: steering adjustment is not entirely taken up, that is the adjuster screwed right out. Take the carpets up along the sills below the doors and as far as the back seat. Vacuum system for central locking and the seat locking. Rubber trims around windows.
I disagree with your other replies about the manual box; preferable in my opinion.
Price. I saw this car on ebay a while ago. Don't pay over 600. Good luck.