Considering buying a R129 500SL - what to check?
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OP
IanT
Active Member
Ian, thanks, yes - I have seen both cars. In fact my going away for a week precipitated in the first car landing up on eBay here: Mercedes sl500 1996 face lift model convertible | eBay
The seller is a dealer and is local to me, the car Is let down really by the scuff in the front bumper (pictured) and some cracks at the bottom of the front valance (not pictured, but less noticeable). The hood looked to be brand new and the history (apart from the last 4 years while he has owned it) looks to be good. The engine sounded very slightly clattery at idle but seemed to have good oil pressure, so I would consider it might be due for a chain replacement. The paint was really excellent though, probably just machine polished as the were no swirl marks, colour lovely in the sun and a great combination with the beige leather. The flaws were a small patch of painted rust on the front wing where they all seem to go and the beginning of some bubbling around the inner edges of the rear arch.
The silver one hasn't got the scuff, nor the cracks in the bumper but has at some point been repainted, with a good finish. The main clues being a slightly poor blend on the wing (and I mean slightly) and the addition of the rubbery stone chip treatment under the paint around the wheel arches, initially feeling bubbly until I looked more closely. Add to that a period phone antenna on the OSR wing and some flaking of the new paint inside the grille where the front wing meets the door behind the front wheel arch and a small hole in the bolster on the drivers seat back, there was pretty much nothing I could see wrong with it, apart from the air con intermittently hissing like it was running low on gas. The history pointed to it having been regularly refilled, so It might be that nobody has truly got to the bottom of that despite a compressor replacement a few years ago.
Head says buy the silver one, heart wanted the much cheaper blue one. Heck, what do do?
Ian.
The seller is a dealer and is local to me, the car Is let down really by the scuff in the front bumper (pictured) and some cracks at the bottom of the front valance (not pictured, but less noticeable). The hood looked to be brand new and the history (apart from the last 4 years while he has owned it) looks to be good. The engine sounded very slightly clattery at idle but seemed to have good oil pressure, so I would consider it might be due for a chain replacement. The paint was really excellent though, probably just machine polished as the were no swirl marks, colour lovely in the sun and a great combination with the beige leather. The flaws were a small patch of painted rust on the front wing where they all seem to go and the beginning of some bubbling around the inner edges of the rear arch.
The silver one hasn't got the scuff, nor the cracks in the bumper but has at some point been repainted, with a good finish. The main clues being a slightly poor blend on the wing (and I mean slightly) and the addition of the rubbery stone chip treatment under the paint around the wheel arches, initially feeling bubbly until I looked more closely. Add to that a period phone antenna on the OSR wing and some flaking of the new paint inside the grille where the front wing meets the door behind the front wheel arch and a small hole in the bolster on the drivers seat back, there was pretty much nothing I could see wrong with it, apart from the air con intermittently hissing like it was running low on gas. The history pointed to it having been regularly refilled, so It might be that nobody has truly got to the bottom of that despite a compressor replacement a few years ago.
Head says buy the silver one, heart wanted the much cheaper blue one. Heck, what do do?
Ian.
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OP
OP
IanT
Active Member
Jay: thanks - I have found some places selling newly made aftermarket hoods and find it hard to remotely judge the quality, prices range from £400 for supply to well over £1k for supply and fit, window replacement seems to be as steep as the cheaper end of that range.
Is a replacement hood easy to fit?
Cheers,
Ian.
Is a replacement hood easy to fit?
Cheers,
Ian.
It certainly is not a DIY thing, it's a skilled job. I would never attempt it as incorrectly fitted they will look shabby and may not function as it should. Hood fitting is all about alignment and correct tensioning, it takes years of practice. Personally I wouldn't bother with the cheaper hoods, you can buy the best ones for around 600 from cabrio.de (khm) Fitting is around 5-600 usually
OP
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IanT
Active Member
Ok, thanks Jay, guess that really does make it a £5k car then, worth knowing that I shouldn't attempt fitting myself. I read a little about it and likened some of it to model aircraft covering, where you fit the covering and then shrink it to fit (using an iron for a model plane) using a steam accessory. The R129 hood appears to be a lovely thing really, as it is insulated and has a headlining, so I suppose that is where the complexity comes from.
IanA2
MB Enthusiast
Ian, thanks, yes - I have seen both cars. In fact my going away for a week precipitated in the first car landing up on eBay here: Mercedes sl500 1996 face lift model convertible | eBay
The seller is a dealer and is local to me, the car Is let down really by the scuff in the front bumper (pictured) and some cracks at the bottom of the front valance (not pictured, but less noticeable). The hood looked to be brand new and the history (apart from the last 4 years while he has owned it) looks to be good. The engine sounded very slightly clattery at idle but seemed to have good oil pressure, so I would consider it might be due for a chain replacement. The paint was really excellent though, probably just machine polished as the were no swirl marks, colour lovely in the sun and a great combination with the beige leather. The flaws were a small patch of painted rust on the front wing where they all seem to go and the beginning of some bubbling around the inner edges of the rear arch.
The silver one hasn't got the scuff, nor the cracks in the bumper but has at some point been repainted, with a good finish. The main clues being a slightly poor blend on the wing (and I mean slightly) and the addition of the rubbery stone chip treatment under the paint around the wheel arches, initially feeling bubbly until I looked more closely. Add to that a period phone antenna on the OSR wing and some flaking of the new paint inside the grille where the front wing meets the door behind the front wheel arch and a small hole in the bolster on the drivers seat back, there was pretty much nothing I could see wrong with it, apart from the air con intermittently hissing like it was running low on gas. The history pointed to it having been regularly refilled, so It might be that nobody has truly got to the bottom of that despite a compressor replacement a few years ago.
Head says buy the silver one, heart wanted the much cheaper blue one. Heck, what do do?
Ian.
I think what would worry me is the last four years of ownership. I don't mind a patchy history, as long as the most recent years have been done. Four years of neglect would worry me a bit.
Scrapes and scuffs can be put right. Minor cosmetics are not half as important as sound mechanicals. One chap rejected my SL on cosmetic grounds. In fact, according to my Indie, who's a long time specialist, he thinks that mine is the best mechanically that he's seen. So I guess what I'm saying is make sure the skeleton is ok, it's more important than the flesh.
Aircon; some folks disagree with me, but I think the 129 ac is pretty cr@p. On both of mine I had them tested, fine, re-gassed, fine, but they were not much good. I was convinced until recently that mine wasn't actually working. But it is, it's just cr@p. I do wonder if different years have different systems
My general feeling is that you should go with your head on this, the silver one has a better history, these cars can cost you a lot of money if they go wrong, really. That said, in nine years of ownership they've probably been the cheapest cars I've had, needing very little doing other than servicing.
Buy carefully and good luck
IanA2
MB Enthusiast
It sure ain't..
Sp!ke
Administrator
The aircon in mine is really cold. Cold enough and powerful enough to get significant benefits from it even with the roof off.
Yep the A/C on R129's should be ice cold... mine is freeeeezing.
But at this age most really want a condensor change if not already done...
But at this age most really want a condensor change if not already done...
