Questions about a 1971 280SL I'm considering

[icebone]

Absolutely, I will post it to the PPI thread shortly as well.

It was Rene at Burlingame motors near San Francisco airport.

[Pawel66]

Looks ok for the price, I think.

Depending on how far you would want to go with originality and cosmetics: I think the steering wheel has cracks and someone glued a cover around the outer circumference on it and also these horns - not sure if they are not to be replaced.

Looks like some work has been done on the body - more than just re-spray, but if the body is ok from rust perspective - that is fine.

The door - maybe it is just a question of not putting back the insulation board inside...

Is the engine SE or SL? Does it look like Taushaggregat - a dealer's replacement engine, as suggested above? By the way: on my cylinder head I see: 280 SE/SL moulded.

[Cees Klumper]

Pretty good outcome, particularly in the rust and engine departments. i would negotiate it down somewhat, citing the cost to put these things right (the hardtop is a pain to work on I understand, particularly the glass and seals). Things add up quickly, what with the price of the parts these days. If it were say $65K I would think it's a good buy. Good luck,

[Shvegel]

I believe horsehair pads are NLA(no longer available) the new replacements are foam.  Figure about $800 a seat installed.

[icebone]

Deal is underway. Thanks all! (You’ll notice that as promised, the first thing I did was transition to full member.)

[Jonny B]

Please keep us posted on your journey with the car.
And of course, photos too!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, and hope all goes well with your new car!

[john.mancini]

Good morning Icebone. I don't know if your purchase has gone through or not, but a car with a color change, engine swap, and evidence of previous body damage whether by rust or accidents, would scare me away at that price. I've owned 12 Pagodas and they are marvelous cars. I don't think that there was a finer mass produced sports car from that era.

That being said, there are quite a few 113's out there for sale, in California, that don't seem to have those issues. Plus, the issues that this car has are very expensive fixes.

Maybe I'm out of touch price wise, but I would look for a car that has as much originality as possible with regards to its body and engine.

[TheEngineer]

So I see on the website that the car is shown as "sold" Did you buy it? And how do you like it? Find any more things you did not anticipate? You may not know this, but these cars are not new any more. New, they sold for about 8 Grand of real money, Well, more real than nowadays. When they were a-current I bought a 230SL for 3K. But, in my very humble opinion, they are still the best looking car of them all, well, maybe the Rolls Corniche Convertible looks almost as good, but parts are harder to get. So, in appreciation of what all the participants did for you on this forum, let us know how you are getting on.

[csjose]

What is a PPI ?

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

What is a PPI ?

It is “Pre Purchase inspection .....

We have a write up in our Technical Manual that provides guidelines what one should look for and inspect before purchase.

Dieter

[john.mancini]

I am very curious as to how your purchase turned out. I have been looking at a car (on line) from Fantasy Junction and I wanted to get your opinions about your experience and the dealership in general.
Thanks,
John