Morning all, hope you are all keeping safe and well.
I think i'm just after a bit of sense check here!
I have my daily driver which is a W211 E240, totally happy with it.. looking for a weekend cruiser..
My grandma is currently in a care home and opposite the home is pretty derelict house with a number of old mercs on the driveway, the tastiest being an F reg 500 SEC with some AMG bits on it, anyway after a lot of thought and admiration, i decided to knock on the door for a chat and see if he would be willing to part with it so i could give it a new lease of life (in a pretty bad way), long story short, he said, "its my pride and joy, i don't plan to sell and i don't plan to restore", a bit of waste I thought but nothing anyone can do about that.
Essentially I've wanted an old coupe of sorts for some time, mainly as a weekend car, i love the SEC but sorted examples are silly money now and ones like above are probably a wallet bomb waiting to happen! Q the 124, looks great, can be purchased for a bit cheaper, parts, maintenance etc is all a bit easier. budget about 5k, but i love tinkering with my cars, oddly i like the idea of buying an unloved driveway queen and giving it a lease of life, i'm mad i know! The wife made a new friend at some baby sensory club, so we went to see them and a few doors down i spotted a E320 N-reg W124 (facelift), checked online for MOT, last done in 2015, a few failures and only rust advisors appears to be the front left wing (i'm dead certain there is more obvs) FYI, i don't go around cruising the streets checking out peoples driveways lol, just happen to come across them by happenstance, anyway knocked on the door and the man says he is looking to sell, apparently it starts and drives (doesn't look that way tbh!) but needs TLC, sat for about 3 years, no accidents, paintwork needs attention but no cracks/dents, and the interior doesn't look too bad, nor rips tears on the leathers etc, 130k, no evidence that the wiring loom issue has been sorted and he wants £1k for it, he is very very keen to sell (pressure from the missus lol), so i could bag it for less, maybe even half who knows
Anyway am i mad to consider this? Given the potential work involved. Appears the general consensus prefers the prefacelift but i quite like the post.
I have looked online and prices for these things appear to be going up, i saw the same car on eBay ( first hit if you type in E320 W124 coupe if you want to see it) with 162k, clearly a cleaner example, but again did the MOT check and again a fair few of rust advisories, has a nice set of Monoblocks on it and is up for £4,995, pretty shocked, and some are going for even more !
I have to be totally honest and say as this is a car waiting to be scrapped, if i was to get it, i'm afraid it would be getting some Monoblocks too, possibly lowered a bit etc (mainly as i would be looking to overhaul the suspension and brake set up so she may as well sit nicely), yes i'm probably going to be "that" guy ! sorry!
Look forward to any thoughts or experience anyone has had doing this and anything i should really know about
All the best
Hosh
I think i'm just after a bit of sense check here!
I have my daily driver which is a W211 E240, totally happy with it.. looking for a weekend cruiser..
My grandma is currently in a care home and opposite the home is pretty derelict house with a number of old mercs on the driveway, the tastiest being an F reg 500 SEC with some AMG bits on it, anyway after a lot of thought and admiration, i decided to knock on the door for a chat and see if he would be willing to part with it so i could give it a new lease of life (in a pretty bad way), long story short, he said, "its my pride and joy, i don't plan to sell and i don't plan to restore", a bit of waste I thought but nothing anyone can do about that.
Essentially I've wanted an old coupe of sorts for some time, mainly as a weekend car, i love the SEC but sorted examples are silly money now and ones like above are probably a wallet bomb waiting to happen! Q the 124, looks great, can be purchased for a bit cheaper, parts, maintenance etc is all a bit easier. budget about 5k, but i love tinkering with my cars, oddly i like the idea of buying an unloved driveway queen and giving it a lease of life, i'm mad i know! The wife made a new friend at some baby sensory club, so we went to see them and a few doors down i spotted a E320 N-reg W124 (facelift), checked online for MOT, last done in 2015, a few failures and only rust advisors appears to be the front left wing (i'm dead certain there is more obvs) FYI, i don't go around cruising the streets checking out peoples driveways lol, just happen to come across them by happenstance, anyway knocked on the door and the man says he is looking to sell, apparently it starts and drives (doesn't look that way tbh!) but needs TLC, sat for about 3 years, no accidents, paintwork needs attention but no cracks/dents, and the interior doesn't look too bad, nor rips tears on the leathers etc, 130k, no evidence that the wiring loom issue has been sorted and he wants £1k for it, he is very very keen to sell (pressure from the missus lol), so i could bag it for less, maybe even half who knows
Anyway am i mad to consider this? Given the potential work involved. Appears the general consensus prefers the prefacelift but i quite like the post.
I have looked online and prices for these things appear to be going up, i saw the same car on eBay ( first hit if you type in E320 W124 coupe if you want to see it) with 162k, clearly a cleaner example, but again did the MOT check and again a fair few of rust advisories, has a nice set of Monoblocks on it and is up for £4,995, pretty shocked, and some are going for even more !
I have to be totally honest and say as this is a car waiting to be scrapped, if i was to get it, i'm afraid it would be getting some Monoblocks too, possibly lowered a bit etc (mainly as i would be looking to overhaul the suspension and brake set up so she may as well sit nicely), yes i'm probably going to be "that" guy ! sorry!
Look forward to any thoughts or experience anyone has had doing this and anything i should really know about
All the best
Hosh
