Purchasing help for newbie

[n/a]

Hi guys,

Have previously owned a W108 280S sedan and loved it.  Am currently looking at a 1965 230SL in white with red interior.  Motor is smoky, missing a few trim bits, chrome strip between the rear lights, etc.  What should I be looking for?  Car is a 4 speed manual, how rare are the manuals?  

Where do I look for rust?  

Cheers

Marty
1925 Dodge Brothers Tourer
1930 Austin 7 Brooklands Special
1951 Bentley MK VI Freestone & Webb
1955 MG ZA Magnette
2004 PT Cruiser Company Car

[Douglas]

Tons of information here. Use the search function and pore over the previous threads. You'll be rewarded for the time you invest.

Also, I've always found this link helpful:

http://silverstarrestorations.com/113SL.htm

Nice summary of details with a very good diagram of areas to check.

Douglas Kim
New York
USA

[Cees Klumper]

From the technical articles, here's some prior discussion on the topic:

http://www.sl113.org/articles/engine/buying_a_car.asp

Cees ("Case") Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[n/a]

Thanks for the links.  How long bumper to bumper is a 230SL?  Got to see if it fits in the corner of the shed.

Cheers

Marty

[Kenneth Gear]

Manual transmissions are not particularly rare unless its a 5-speed manual.

Ken G
1971 280 SL
Silver/red

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by Marty

Thanks for the links.  How long bumper to bumper is a 230SL?  Got to see if it fits in the corner of the shed.

Marty,

Hi.  As suggested, the Search tool works great:
http://index.php?topic=5747

quote:Originally posted by Marty

Car is a 4 speed manual, how rare are the manuals?

The manual transmission was more common in the 230SL.  In later years (280SL) it was much less common, but still not rare.  The rare transmission is the ZF 5-speed manual.  VERY expensive to purchase and repair.

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[JamesL]

Kinda sad, when pretty much any question a newbie asks, has been asked before. Perhaps we should just shut the boards....

Welcome Marty, you'll find a wealth of info and new friends on here. As for length of a car...

http://index.php?topic=5747,long[/url]

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by Tosh

Kinda sad, when pretty much any question a newbie asks, has been asked before. Perhaps we should just shut the boards....

I'm not trying to bash on Marty, just trying to guide him to the promise land of the Search tool.   It's great!

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[dwilli3038]

Hello Marty,

Welcome to the 113 club. Looks like an impressive collection of cars you have. I am glad you are now ready to purchase the "centerpiece" of your collection .

For rust you can look at all the ovious places such as the trunk, floor boards, wheel wells etc, but the place rust can hide is in the air intake to the pasenger compartment, under the cowl. Hard to see. And PLEASE......don't ask how I know this

Daryl
'64 230 SL Buckeye Benz Scarlet interior and Grey top Serial # 508
'77 280SE