Last year, I started to tackle some things that had been nagging at me for 15 years, but never got around to doing (e.g. new retractable seat belts, firewall pad etc.). I also had it into the shop for an new brake booster last fall, and was surprised when my mechanic said that my car is worth $30k. Then this spring, I wanted a new brake master cylinder put in, and he said the market is increasing for these W113s, and my car is pushing $50k. Wait... what???
So looking for some feedback from you experts - I'm pondering selling it sometime in the future, as we're downsizing out of our house at some point, and will lose my 2-car garage. I have a ton of pics, but here's a recent one from last summer. I'm the 3rd owner, but the second owner had it for 6 years and only 300 miles in that time. Bad for me, as I spent a considerable amount of time and money getting it running properly - all new ignition wires, plugs, points, condenser, fuel pump, cold start valve, idle air valve, thermostat time switch, and then finally had the fuel tank coated. All of that headache occurred over the first 5 years, and for the latter 10 years, nothing... and I mean nothing - just oil and gas. Until last year when I found that depressing the brake pedal caused the idle to increase (booster) and then this year the master cylinder (on my mechanic's advice). It's given me >10 years of excellent mechanical performance, and it has been a joy to drive (4-speed manual).
But it's still a "driver" - I have all of the service records, and there were two accidents during original ownership... a front-ender and a rear-ender. The quality of the repair/paintwork isn't awesome, but you have to be <10 feet to see it. But when I do my annual 2-stage polish/wax on it, it is so shiny that you don't notice the imperfections. Pretty much everything else is original or OEM replacement, and anything I have done has been good or better than it was (e.g. new Timevalve stainless exhaust), and maintained originality (e.g. removed bumperettes). Since it was never going to be a show car for me, I didn't bother with some stuff, but over the last year did a bunch of cosmetic things, like repair a couple of 1 cm tears in the vinyl seat, and had the door dings professionally removed. The passenger seat back adjustment knob had been broken off, and the turn indicator assembly had a crack, so I glued it together rather than replace the entire stalk.
I have only had the hardtop on 3 times - only to move storage locations. It has the classic headliner foam breakdown issue, but since I never use it, I haven't had that replaced. The soft-top is in great shape, with no leaks. Some of the chrome is scratched, and there are a couple of spots on the bumpers where small areas of chrome have flaked off and I have filled, primed and used chrome paint as a temporary fix. We have something here in B.C. called "collector" status - which means you have to keep the car in essentially original state. Mine had no stereo, so I hid an amp and subwoofer, tucked a couple of speakers deep into the footwells (not permanently mounted nor did I cut any panels for speakers) and then put in bluetooth connectivity.
So experts - what do you think this kind of car is worth in today's market?
