Picked up my 300SE on Friday. A former Honda S2000 owner, I went to an Alfa 156 when I unfortunately had to sell the S. They say you have to own an Alfa at some point in your life and as I could only afford a beater, the 52 plate 156 ticked the boxes.
All was going fine until a Golf GTI decided to plough into the back of me at a red light earlier this month. Car was a write off but Direct Line made a decent settlement. I was all set to buy a £3-3.5k Jap box but spotted a 1988 300CE up for £1,495. I knew that Mercs of that vintage can run and run and so my search focused on similar cars. The 300CE was actually a bit tatty and with 12 owners in its 20 year history, I chose to walk.
However, I then found this 1990 300SE with 2 previous owners and 119k on the clock. The second owner took it on in 2004 but has only done 3k miles. The test drive was fine and so I took the plunge, (probably over) paying £2,100.
Pics from the dealer website ...
Somewhat worryingly, its last service was in 2004 by the first owner. The only saving grace is the light mileage put on by the second owner. However, for my own piece of mind, and for the sake of the car's health, I'm going to try the Merc specialist near Ibrox that got good write-ups on another thread here and get them to give it a service.
Of the gizmos, only the sunroof doesn't work and I doubt I'll get it fixed. The only issue so far has been intermittent stalling when engaging drive or reverse. Quite unnerving if it happens at a junction or in busy traffic so I'm having to nudge it into neutral to keep it running when I stop.
The other feature of the car is that it's had an LPG conversion but this is currently disconnected due to problems. I've yet to decide what to do with the system but that's for another thread. Trust there are some experts out there ...
I scratched the Alfa itch, and now it's the Merc itch. Loving it so far ...
All was going fine until a Golf GTI decided to plough into the back of me at a red light earlier this month. Car was a write off but Direct Line made a decent settlement. I was all set to buy a £3-3.5k Jap box but spotted a 1988 300CE up for £1,495. I knew that Mercs of that vintage can run and run and so my search focused on similar cars. The 300CE was actually a bit tatty and with 12 owners in its 20 year history, I chose to walk.
However, I then found this 1990 300SE with 2 previous owners and 119k on the clock. The second owner took it on in 2004 but has only done 3k miles. The test drive was fine and so I took the plunge, (probably over) paying £2,100.
Pics from the dealer website ...
Somewhat worryingly, its last service was in 2004 by the first owner. The only saving grace is the light mileage put on by the second owner. However, for my own piece of mind, and for the sake of the car's health, I'm going to try the Merc specialist near Ibrox that got good write-ups on another thread here and get them to give it a service.
Of the gizmos, only the sunroof doesn't work and I doubt I'll get it fixed. The only issue so far has been intermittent stalling when engaging drive or reverse. Quite unnerving if it happens at a junction or in busy traffic so I'm having to nudge it into neutral to keep it running when I stop.
The other feature of the car is that it's had an LPG conversion but this is currently disconnected due to problems. I've yet to decide what to do with the system but that's for another thread. Trust there are some experts out there ...
I scratched the Alfa itch, and now it's the Merc itch. Loving it so far ...
