my dad has an 89' 300E in smoke silver color. he asked me what he should ask for it, so i'm looking for a little help.
car only has 90K on it, it has never seen snow, it has rarely seen rain. it has always been kept in a heated garage and is in unbelieveable condition, the paint, under the hood and interior are perfect.
what do you think?

 

pics?

 

It would be more beneficial to know what is wrong with the car than to know what is good about the car.

 

by what you describe, this car will soon need a head gasket, a/c work, maybe the water pump, alternator, ect., ect. what I'm trying to say is the mileage is about where these things start asking for attention... Tranny serviced regularly?, or does that go on the list.....
If these things were already replaced recently, the value would be higher, due to the confidence of not needing to do these, if not, then that gets factored in the equation.just to throw out #s...everything above done & new shocks/brakes....6-7k, nothing done, 2-4k, because the work will be 4-6k...very rough #s.....but in the ballpark I think.....guys?

 

i would say 6k, maybe 7k tops regardless of how much work has been done.

 

no more than 5500, if it's mint

 

I recently paid $7k for mine with 156,000 miles, slight damage to right rear corner where some Bondo is falling off, worn driver's seat and questionable stereo system. They were asking $8k. My car broker was going to track one down for $6500 and add a finder's fee of $500. I think $7 -8 sounds good. I would pay at least $7k for yours if I didn't own one already.

For me, the problem with pre '93 is the old R-12 refrigerant in the A/C system. That makes A/C repairs or even service almost ridiculous. Also, the M103 engine is about 40 HP short of the M104 used in '93 and later. Still, a very respectable car and should fetch at least $7k. Keep it for about 4 years and I'll buy it!!!

 

good lord... 7 grand for that?i suddenly feel a lot less terrible about how much i paid for my car... thanks man!

ps post pics

 

$4500 for the car as described. Age is the issue, not the mileage. It'll take $2000 to get her up to snuff.

 

I think it depends on where you live, as well. In Florida and Texas these cars are everywhere it seems. In Omaha, an area of about 650,000 people or so, I might see one W124 a month. I would guess there might only be a couple dozen remaining in the whole area. Actually it's somewhat rare to see any car more than 10-12 years old here that's not a complete junker. The salt they put on the roads to melt the snow eats the cars like crazy so after they start to rust, people stop caring and just let their car fall apart. My car came here from Texas in 2004 so it doesn't have any rust yet. This makes it very rare for the area. If I wanted to take a plane to Florida and burn my vacation time I probably could have gotten a better deal, but I just don't want to work that hard.

I took a trip to Portland, Oregon a couple years ago and I couldn't believe the number of cars from the '80s that were still on the road with no rust! It was like a museum or something. In my area, if you keep a new car for 5 years you are considered frugal. So consider the location and what's on the road. If these cars were everywhere then I'm sure I could have gotten mine much cheaper.

 

just make sure you hose as soon as you can after it gets the road salt on it... nothing worse than a rusty 124! mine is a florida car, i know what you mean about them being everywhere down there...