Lincoln

I got this car from my father on Thursday (he got an 05 SL500 Sport), by Saturday afternoon I had the 19" AMG replicas with Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tires installed, front bumper repaired and repainted, and 20% tint done. I still need to have 3 dents removed (paintless) and have a few paint chips airbrushed but it looks pretty good for a 9 year old car. I wasn't really planning on buying his SL and was really looking for an 02-04 911 cab but it was just too inexpensive to pass up and I know the entire history of this car.

All pics are in the SL500 album at the bottom of the page here: Picturetrail

before:


after:


after (top up):

superduper

What a difference those new wheels make, Looks like a totally different car, Very nice!!!

mebeJOE

Wow! What a difference the new wheels make. If you have the money, might I suggest the AMG body parts? I think they are the icing on the cake.

But your wheels are GREAT! Some of the best I've seen, I think.

My car is silver also, compare the photos to yours to get an idea on the AMG lower body parts.

joe1388

Lincoln; those wheels really look good. I have a 98 with identical color scheme as yours. I also have a few small areas that need air brushing but other than it's perfect.

Bigdot

thats a very nice looking 129 my friend.

Mark

Lincoln

I could just shoot my dad for not getting the sport package, he did get sport pack on his new SL. He even told me he regretted not taking my advice on this about a year after he got the car. I wish mine had a black interior like yours. I have the money and I've considered doing the AMG panels but at over $4K for just the parts it's not worth it on a car this old when you consider what it's current resale value is. Now if it gets damaged and requires a new front bumper, I wouldn't mind kicking in the difference to upgrade then I will keep looking around for salvage AMG panels on ebay, etc but they don't seem to pop up too often. At least, when I'm done with the car, I can throw the 16" wheels back on and put the factory stereo back in and sell the aftermarket parts and get some of my money back or use what I can on the next car (likely only the amp, head unit and maybe the speakers).

Lincoln

I forgot to mention this in my last post.

Thank you all for the compliments. I'm very happy with the new look.

b4mmy

That looks absolutely gorgeous Lincoln. I half fancied a black interior for mine, as I have grey just like yours, and at first I really didn't like it. I think black is too heavy to be honest, so what I did was retrimmed the front seats black and left the rest grey, I'll be doing the back seats in the spring... it's not great, but enough to convince me that I wouldn't want the whole thing to be black.

mebeJOE

Linc: I have the black interior, but I think the silver looks great. I almost bought one with a sliver interior. It was beautiful, but an hour before I went to finalize the deal at the dealership, the owner, who had it on consignment, changed his mind and picked it up.

The sliver interior looks great, but if I had to redo the seats or something in the silver, I might do them like the "Silver Arrow" seats, which are black with significant silver inserts. They look super sharp.

b4mmy

agreed

Lincoln

I like the Silver Arrow interior alot but after looking at quite a few used ones over the past few months I've found a few things that should have been done differently. The gray "insert" color on the seats and steering wheel is just too light in color and shows dirt. Not a huge deal on the seats, but every one I looked at had a nasty, dirty looking steering wheel (even the freshly detailed cars). I love the darker stained wood and aluminum looking accents on the gauges and shifter but also found an issue with having the wood trim around the console cupholder bin. I use the cupholders in my cars, the condensation drips onto the wood around the rolltop part of the console and causes cracking on this thin veneer, very quickly. I was using only styrofoam cups in mine since you get alot less "sweat" on these cups over plastic (disposible or not) but in a convertible as soon as the cup is nearly empty the styrofoam cups want to blow out of the holder on the highway, where the non-disposable plastic ones have enough mass to stay put when empty.

I still like an all black interior the best. I've had all black (or dark charcoal) on my last 4 cars (M3, M3, CLK55, and M5) and my truck has the darkest interior color available (also very dark gray but not as dark as the R230 charcoal). I guess I'm kinda of Henry Ford when it comes to interiors...I think you should be able to have any color you want as long as it's black. Funny since I'll never buy a car with a black exterior...I don't hate the look, I hate the work required to maintain the look.

Jayhawk

Lincoln: I'm looking at a car like yours for my son, and if you don't mind my asking, What did you pay your dad for it? Is that a realistic price for non-parents?

Lincoln

This particular car is a 97 w/ 83K miles. It's in nicer condition then most at this age. I see lesser cars asking about $18K on Ebay which jives with the trade-in offer of $14K from the dealer with the used 05 he was purchasing. Another local dealer didn't appraise the car, per se, but stated that they thought they would offer $14-15K for the car. This dealer didn't have a car that dad wanted. I gave him the trade number and many, many years (I'm 37) of being his personal home/car repair service and consultant As a matter of fact, it was very important to him that I stop by tonight and see if I could fix a loose trim piece in his 05 SL. So, I stop by at 7:45pm, on my way home from work and a haircut...Dad's already stopped by the shop to have to repaired but has failed to call me and tell me this Sometimes I wonder if he is the cause of my gray hair??? Dad's really a great guy and has given me many cars in past, the amount I gave for his car will never come close to the car expenses he paid for my car habit thru high school and college (84 Trans Am, 84 BMW 323i euro, his beloved 76 Corvette which I was given and just recently sold, 88 Supra, and about 1/2 of a 92 325is...plus all the mods to every one of them Tires/brakes for autocrossing which he never has seen me do or cares to. I could break 'em too, never wrecked one not even curbed one until after I was I in charge of paying, but broke lots of stuff!!!). Dad's not a car guy, I am. He likes nice cars and has owned many desirable cars but doesn't know a darn thing about what he drives. Like I said, Dad's a great guy!!!

Jayhawk

Thanks for all the information Lincoln. I am talking w/ a guy about a '97 w/ 68k miles, in "good condition," but virtually no service or ownership history--he bought it from a Toyota dealer--and is asking $20k "firm." Not sure I want to buy a "pig-in-a-polk," but if I could get more ("good") information, I might offer him $15k. I just don't want to stick my son w/ a money-eating hog.

Maybe he could get a Carfax... I wonder if a MB dealer could run a computer check on it? I ran the VIN #, but it told me nothing.

Thanks again,

Lincoln

If the cars shows well and you can arrive at a price...then Carfax it first. I would avoid any used car right now from LA, MS, AL, FL since it's easy to hide water damage (why risk it???). If Carfax checks out then find the best MB independent shop near you and have a complete PPI (Pre purchase inspection) done. These inspections usually run $75-250 depending where you take it and how much they check. I recommend finding a shop that does a complete inspection (exterior, interior, mechanicals, suspension, etc) including a compression test. If it checks out then buy it.

Jayhawk

Excellent advice! Thanks.

mebeJOE

Ramp:

You should see this thread for more advice on buying R129's:

https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-r129/122618-r129-buying-advise.html