I ran across an '82 380SL with 58K miles today. Asking price is $9300.
It seems low-mileage and pictures show the exterior looks great -
interior is not so great (leather is cracked, carpet looks old, but
dashboard seems fine).
It's been garaged for 6 years. Owner says master brake cylinder was
recently replaced, but front end ball joints have cracked seals and need
replacing.
Obviously before I would have it checked out by a reliable mechanic
before making such a purchase, but thought I'd seek some opinions online.
From looking at prices of others, this seems like an okay asking price.
He's honest enough to admit to the cracked seals, so right now I'm
assuming there's nothing else wrong with it.
What sort of things should I look for when I go for a test drive?
Should I be concerned about the timing chain in an '82?
I also found an old article from 1994 in Road and Track which says 3,000
mile servicing can run $200-400. WTF kind of 3000 mile service costs
that much? That's a hell of a price to pay for an oil change. I'm
having trouble believing that's for real.
I may be able to get some help from a friend on replacing the ball
joints and if I can spare myself the labor expense, it wouldn't be too
expensive. I'm actually tempted to buy it, fix the ball joints, drive
it a bit and put a "For Sale" sign on it and my current car (ask for a
profit on the 380SL; more reasonable price for my car) and see what
happens.
I'm concerned though that I might be buying a money-pit and red isn't my
favorite color for a car (although that might help its resale value).
I just checked blue-book on my current car and it was $9300 - exactly
the asking price for the 380SL.
....
And just a couple questions about the hard-top.
How user friendly is it?
Is it a simple process to remove and store? How heavy is it? Is it
easy enough for one able-bodied person to lift off? I have visions of
struggling with 150 pounds of awkwardly shaped metal and dropping it and
horribly scratching the paint and possibly denting the top so it didn't
fit right anymore. That would really suck.
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