Posts Tagged ‘w126’

More Unicorn, Please – 1982 Mercedes 280S

July 30, 2015

It’s cliched, but there’s really nothing like the feeling of an older Mercedes from the time they were engineered to be heirloom cars, passed to the next generation and treasured like an old painting or piece of furniture. When they were in production, they were panned for having rather boring, if safe, handling, and for having rather unpleasant manual gearboxes. Speaking of gearboxes, if you thought a manually shifted Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon wasn’t enough of a unicorn, how about a W126 Mercedes S-class with carbureted engine and a 4-speed manual transmission? Check out this 1982 Mercedes 280S for sale for $1500 in Auburn, CA.

1982 Mercedes 280S right front

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What Is Wrong – 1983 Mercedes 500 SEL

October 2, 2014

If you’re an old car nut who spends a significant amount of time scouring the various online listing sites for deals, interesting cars, and some combination of those, you probably think you have a good general grasp on the values of, say, an R107 Mercedes SL versus a Renault LeCar. But occasionally, a car pops up to shake your confidence – where apparent condition and price do not add up. Mostly this is on the high-price/poor-condition end of the scale, but in some cases the price is lower than the condition. One example of this is this 1983 Mercedes 500 SEL for sale for $1200 in San Francisco, CA.

1983 Mercedes 500 SEL left front

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Autobahn Bruiser – Gray Market 1983 Mercedes Benz 380SE

October 8, 2013

European market cars of the late 1970s and 1980s still have a forbidden fruit quality to them that makes them especially appealing (and for that matter, any newer car that wasn’t sold here), and that characteristic makes cars that otherwise wouldn’t merit a second glance worthwhile. While we here had to contend with outsize bumpers, sealed beam headlamps, smog-strangled engines, and in some makes’ case, the same style of wheel on every model (think 1980s BMW and Mercedes in a general sense – bottlecaps and bundts were near-universal), the Europeans had trim design, a variety of accessories, and power! For a good example of forbidden 1980s fruit, have a look at this 1983 Mercedes 380SE offered for $3400 in Millstone Township, NJ.

1983 Mercedes 380SE left front

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