Jekyll1776

Hello my names Steve,22,NY. Just signed up to the forum hoping for some help.
I work at a dealership and we happen to have a Merc on wholesale. I ask the salesman how much? 2500 bucks.
Its a 98 CLK 320, 160k miles. dark blue.
Today, after work, i took it out for a spin to see what it needed. And holy crap does it need some work.
-The engine and trans seem to be in good working condition.
-A/C doesnt work due to massive dent in condenser, i can live with that since its winter now.
-No sound, im assuming the last owner of the car took all the speakers before handing it in. Im guessing by the ton of wiring for subs in the trunk.
-And this is the serious issue with the car. When letting off the gas, the car dogtracks to the side very bad. Worse than any car ive driven by far. Anyone with some experience have any idea what this can be? Or how much of a mess im getting myself into.
I know its gonna be a project car, i dont mind. Just want to know how much of a project.
Thank you to anyone who read this post I really appreciate it. Anyone with any experience or opinions please comment. Thanks again.

clk430convert01

He should pay you $2500 to take the car off his hands. Bring it to an MB dealership for inspection. In all seriousness, without knowing the 10+ years of maintainence history of this car and with that high mileage, your doing some high stakes gambing. Altho the cost to purchase isnt much, the cost to repair could be far greater. Buy it if your willing to live with the worse case scenario of replacing an engine, transmission or accident/flood damage. Sorry i'm not being positive but this car can drain you if you get a bad one. Good luck.

MarcusF

The most expensive car in the world, is a "cheap" luxury car. If you can do some (a lot) of the work yourself, and the drivetrain is solid, then this may not cost more that a good runing CLK320. If you're going to pay someone to do all the work, it will cost far more than a running CLK. As you were advised, a pre-purchase inspection at a Mercedes-Benz dealer may be the best starting point. It'll be between $100 and $200. If you can't stomach $200 for an inspection, you may be very surprised at what other things will cost.

Any number of things can cause the car to dogtrack. The pre-purchase inspection will reveal the problem. If it's due to accident damage, forget it.

The AC condenser is $170 at Autohaus AZ, and about $425 at many dealers. If the stereo has already been hacked, installing an aftermarket deck/wires/amp/speakers will be fairly inexpensive.

Serndipity

The dealer you work at should be able to pull up the car fax report.

Knowing more about the car's history might be enlightening as well.

Jekyll1776

Thank you all for all the input. Today i learned it has a salvage title, yikes. And I asked some of my fellow techs what the dogtracking problem could be and they say its most likely rear suspension, which does sound like **** over potholes. AND, most likely was crashed into or something along those lines.
Salesman wasnt in today so im gonna talk to him tomorow. Try to get a carfax. And try and see if hes willing to shell out the money for an inspection at the MB dealer down the street from us.
I really dig the car and im willing to put some work into it, i dont mind too much. I just want to know how serious this is.
Do any of you guys recommend any sites for parts? OEM or performance. Anything at all?
Thank you all again.