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Long time lurker, new member here. Should I save this car?
Long time reader, first time poster. Hello to the MB community-you guys have helped me out many times with knowledge on repairs for friends MB. Thanks!
I just bought a 1992 500 SL to part out. I am going to come out dead even after I sell Engine and tranny + top front clip and wheels and tires. My question is-should I save this car? I didn't expect it to run and drive and be in great condition when I bought it sight unseen. I bought it because I knew it was under 100K miles on the engine and that the prior owner was an executive.
I would be pretty much be dead even on the price paid + what I can sell now, but this will also provide me with shop fees so I am making money on labor while I part it out/install engine + tranny. But the thing is this car is nice and I am having second thoughts about cutting it up.
I will have paid about $6,250 for the car+shipping and storage by the time it is all said and done to get this car to my shop in St Louis. The car has a very slight hesitation and the soft top cylinder is bad. Other than tiny (pencil eraser size) ding and a rough spot in carpet-theres nothing I can find wrong with it, and it is a pure joy to drive even though it's almost winter in St Louis.
What would you suggest I do? I love the car but can't really just keep it, my wife would kill me (even though she loves it too). Should I start cutting or get some wax?
I say follow your heart my 1992 500SL had a ton of problems that took a year or two to fix. EVERYONE told me to get rid of it but I couldn't bring myself to do it.
However I bought another 1992 500SL and traded to even though it was hard to do...
You can't save them all so if you want to make the commitment to the car do it but sometimes the smarter thing is to pass it on... I'd feel bad cutting any car up even something like a yugo
Take it from a MB owner.... that has had numerous MB cars over the years... remove the headlamp washers.... put clear MB OEM (euro) front corner markers and take new pics... you will sell it fast for a profit.... 129's look dated with the wipers on the headlamps.... remove them. the parts under the headlamps are abs plastic... fill the holes with abs plastic weld, sand them and paint with online rattle can paint (many online places to match the factory paint), and be done...I did this 3 years ago, and got 4K profit from a 97 sl500.... with 3 hours of work... cleaning, removing the headlamps, sanding and painting the strips under the headlights.
I was going to fill and paint the headlamp washer holes, but until I got the ambition to do so I applied strips of that 3M adhesive backed faux chrome strip (3/4" wide)--that was over a year ago and now it's sort of grown on me:
12-06-2014, 12:51 PM
