Holy Grail...question for discussion.

[mdsalemi]

In the wanted to buy forum now, there is a query from South Africa looking for a rust free Pagoda (good body) but mechanical condition unimportant.

Question: has anybody ever found, in recent memory, a 30-50 year old car with a good body, uncrashed and or rust free, but a fixer upper because of a bad engine and/or mechanicals?  Aside from some bubble barn find, do they exist?

[49er]

Only on HD theater's "Chasing Classics"! Wayne sure seems to find 'em

John

[Garry]

Actually there is one in Melbourne Australia at the moment 280SL with a really good body but a smokey engine even though they say its rebuilt.  Mechanic that worked on it indicated that it was shot.  Asking $52,000, offered $30,000 but not interested.  Sad thing is that they will probably get that price.

http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?Cr=0&R=9930738&keywords=&trecs=5&__sid=12961A1CA6BD&__Ns=pCar_RankSort_Int32|1||pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__Qpb=true&tsrc=allcarhome&__Nne=15&seot=1&__N=1216%201246%201247%201252%201282%201090%204294961748&silo=1011

[Richard Madison]

Michael:

The gent that runs the fix-it garage I use for my Pagoda, takes care of a lot of vintage MB's BMW's etc.

The owner always wanted a Pagoda and asked me to look around.

As he can take care of the engine but not the body, his wish was for an inexpensive 113 with a nice body but needing engine work.

I told him, "You will look forever. You have to accept body rot in a lower priced car."

After looking for two years, he broke down and bought a 230SL that needed a fair amount of body work and a complete interior restoration...as well as some engine work.

He used my car as his standard. He'd open and close my doors several time to get the feel and fit of a "correct" car (ha).

Took him over a year and $$$ but with the help of some body shop friends, his bright red 230SL is now in pristine condition.

Richard M, NYC

[mdsalemi]

I have always suspected that your story here is typical.

Precisely what people look for and simply can't find--particularly about the "low cost" portion.

Adding Mercedes to the mix (as opposed to the same quest in say, an MG or Austin or Triumph) you have very robust mechanicals which are likely to last longer than the sheet metal.

I'm waiting to hear of the holy grail.

John--HD Theater is just that, theater...

[domingo_santo]

Hello Michael,  look in Brian Peters's web site "motoringinvestments" you will find the holy grail.
best regards.

[mdsalemi]

Oh, I've seen that story, and a good one indeed.  Yes a great find.

However this is not the "Holy Grail".  It is merely a rare find--a highly if not all original, never wrecked, never re-painted Pagoda.

The Holy Grail is what some people look for, and is, this SAME CAR with a "wrecked engine", that is being "given away" at a low price.

It is hard enough, as Brian Peters conjectures, to find a car with a body in this unwrecked, untouched condition.  But to add "mechanical problems" and then a give away price because of them, well that is the Holy Grail.  Everyone seems to be afraid of body work but willing to tackle an awful lot of mechanical work.  I can tell you from having to deal with both, that work is work and it all costs money.

If Brian got the car for $2,500, well perhaps that is the Holy Grail.  However, with the seller holding $20K in service receipts, I'm not sure that happened...

I can tell you this with certainty: if he did get it for a song, or very cheap, he would not have been concerned about a gummed injector pump or a transmission that needed a rebuild!!!

[badali]

I bought my car for a good price and consider it my holy Grail.  In the fall of 2008 I was looking on ebay and found mine less than 15 miles away.  It needed and needs some mechanical work but cosmetics are good and rust free.  I paid $15k and have a nice drivable car.  The car sat since the mid 1980s before the person I bought it from awoke it for a quick resale...

[stickandrudderman]

the trouble is that there are plenty of people around who fancy "having a go" without realising what's involved and so paying too much for the car. Quite often their attempts render the car as scrap and another one is lost.
I know where there's two 230SL for sale, both have been sitting in an exposed yard for 20 years and are good for parts only (and some of those are missing), but the guy wants £10,000 for them "because they have a verifiable identity".....

[JamesL]

Roger Edwards told me years ago that anything more than £3k on the donor car is too much - never get your money back. This from a chap who could do pretty much everything on the cars himself