Underneath Pictures - Does this look allright?

[Andres G]

I was checking out one of the 280 SLs available on ebay (this auction actually ended on 08/04) and came across one I found interesting, until I saw these pictures of the underneath of the car. I'm not quite sure, but there seems to have been a lot of welding going on down there... what do you think? If it's been repaired, is this how it's supposed to look?







Something just does not seem right...

The complete listing is available here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260268541322

Andres G

[ja17]

Hello Andres,

You are correct. There has been some serious rust repair on these floors. Might be ok for a driver, but I would take a serious look for more rust damage or repair. I would also doubt that the actual mileage is really 54,000 miles. Buyer should insist on proof of mileage supported by a documented service history. This kind of rust damage is not normal for a low mileage car unless they only used it on snowy days!  I question how this can be described as a "rust free" example.

[Andres G]

Joe, I guess "rust free" is a description based on the principle that says that "what you can't see is not there"... which should never be applied to rust in the first place.

I used this car as an example since I've started looking for my SL about 2 or 3 months ago and have been literaly horrified by the things I've seen. I sincerely hope that most of the cars I've been able to check on, finaly land in the hands of people that know what they will be dealing with, otherwise, the reputation of the SL as a nice, classic yet dependable driver will probably be heading down the drain.

It's just incredible to see what people list and even dare to show in person as cars with minor or no rust! I've driven more than 1500 miles combined to diferent locations to check on several cars, and I've even had people tell me things like "The car should be an 8.5 in a scale from 1 to 10"... only to get there and find that the hardtop was stuck in place, the footwells were rusted through, and so many other things gone wrong with the poor car that the 8.5 quoted by the seller made me think about the magnitude of the earthquake the car had lived through!

Anyway, I'll keep looking. There's plenty of these out there.

Thanks for your reply.

Andres

[graphic66]

The rust was all cut out and replaced with weld,thus the term rust free. Did they mention the broken rubber exhaust hanger in the ad? Probably plenty of surprises here.

[Benz Dr.]

How many times do I have to tell you guys that a 113 is NOT a classic car! It a Milestone car and also an antique car by most descriptions.  

Classic cars were built during the late 1920's and 1930's during the '' classic area '' of car building. Just because some dumbass with a '57 Chevy thinks he has one doesn't make it right. I expect that from that crowd but we shouldn't fall into that kind of thinking.

[Andres G]

Hey Doc, my apologies. Being the "newbie" here, I am still catching up with the correct terminology regarding these cars and I promise to do my best  :mrgreen:

It would also help if these cars weren't listed for sale in magazines like: Classic Auto or online sites with names like classicsonline.com , usedclassics.com, etc.

Cheers and thanks for the input.
Andres

[Benz Dr.]

Yeah I know....

It goes back to the days when some cheezy used car sales guy would try and fob off a real piece of junk by telling your dad how it was a real '' claasic '' The whole thing just sort of expanded since then.
 
It would would also help if the not so '' Classic Centre '' didn't use that as their name either. Shame on them, they should know better.

[Mike Hughes]

Yup, Dan, I agree with you completely!  The problem is that it is mostly only folks who either belong to, or have more than a passing interest in, the affairs of either the Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) or the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) who even know or care about the distiction between "Vintage,""Classic" and "Milestone" cars.  For everyone else any old car is "classic."  I won't even try to go into the fact that the newest Pagoda is older today than the oldest "Classic" car was when the CCCA was first formed and its rules were written, or that not every vehicle made in the "Classic" era is allowed by CCCA to be called a "Classic."

What makes it worse for "We Who Follow the Star" is that M-B in its infinite wisdom has decided that any Mercedes-Benz vehicle that is more than 20 years old is designated by M-B a "Classic" Mercedes-Benz, and we all find ourselves being referred to the M-B "Classic Center" at one point or another for parts, etc.

Sort of muddies the waters, doesn't it?

I don't think that you or I are going to convince M-B to rename their "Classic Center" so for the forseeable future we are going to have to endure having Pagodas and other older Mercedes-Benz vehicles referred to as "classics."