Another rusty car and its not a Merc!

[Vlad]

Spent the day down at the auctions at Blackbushe and was specifically checking out what was going through the Top Car auction.

They had a black 1997 Bentley Turbo R long wheel base with just 42,000 miles from new and full service history for sale....the amazing thing was that on the passenger side there was rust blisters forming just where the tops of the doors meet the weather strip guarding the windows....and very obvious they were to.

Listening to the blurb from the auctioner, it transpires that the car cost £148k when new and had just had a service that cost £6k.....car sold for £25k.

So its not only Mercedes with its rust problems.

On the positive side I also saw two W210 estates go through the general auction, one an S reg with 86,000 miles...no rust but had had a hard life, ie trashed interior and numerous dents and dinks and heavily corroded alloys, the other a R reg with 68,000 miles and no rust....no rusty door tops, tailgates, cross members, wings etc

I also noticed that the rear tailgates on these 2 were slightly differently shaped around the rear window compared to my S reg W210 240 which is suffering from rust. The tailgates on the two cars at auction had a much better design.....are these replacements with a re-design to avoid the rust trap?

 

[Thmsshaun]

Listening to the blurb from the auctioner, it transpires that the car cost £148k when new and had just had a service that cost £6k.....car sold for £25k.

Wow that is some serious depreciation

£15375 Per year annual depreciation

 

[Will]

I knew somebody who sold a Bentley Turbo R (96/97 also) back in 1999/2000 for something ridiculous like £40Kish, and that had something like 16K on the clock

That's some heavy depreciation!

Will

 

[mark little]

What did the two W210 estates fetch?

 

[Vlad]

Off the top of my head, the S Reg E320 Advantgarde with 86k went for £6800 + buyers premium of say another £100.

As I say this car was no beauty, despite having one owner from new... scuffs on all bumper caps, scuff along rear passenger door below trim level, heavily corroded alloys, numerous car park inflicted door dents, filthy interior.......in my opinion £6800 was strong money for a car in this condition.

To bring it into perspective, I bought an immaculate E240 estate, S reg December 98, Classic spec with Air, Auto, Self Levelling suspension etc with 105k on the clock, full service history, immaculate black cloth interior, no dents or dinks or scratches on the body for £4450 + buyers premium of £100. Car does have two small spots of rust on the rear tailgate in the corners of the window and my local dealer has submitted a rust claim on my behalf.

 

[Vlad]

Sorry, should also have mentioned the R Reg SL500 with panaramic roof, 68,000 miles, FSH, clean body, although the bonnet had a number of stone chips and could have done with a re-spray if you were being critcal. That went for £11k + premium.......not bad in my book!

Nice looking car, although the colour may have put off superstitious punters as it was a green colour.....kind of blue/green actually.

 

[jeremytaylor]

They had a black 1997 Bentley Turbo R long wheel base with just 42,000 miles from new and full service history for sale....the amazing thing was that on the passenger side there was rust blisters forming just where the tops of the doors meet the weather strip guarding the windows....and very obvious they were to.QUOTE]

Not at all surprised by this.

My sister-in-laws father just traded in his 1997 Bentley Turbo, with a similar low mileage and the same rust problems. His replacement car?

A nearly new CLK500 from MB Direct in Hemel.