I am a long-time lurker and rarely have anything to offer, when I
even get the chance to read the list digests. The posts on first
cars has been very interesting.
When I was in college, in 1977, I bought my first car - a 1953
Mercedes 300S Cabriolet. I had no idea how rare the car was when I
bought it, neither did the seller, though. My education began 6
days later. I just bought it because it looked cool, and a friend's
father had one similar to it.
I paid $2,500.00 for it. It was in OK condition, but for a lot of
rust in what was left of the floor pans. The engine ran OK. It was
loads of fun to drive, especially with the top down!
I repainted the car and replaced the leather interior. In addition,
I "fixed" the rusted out floor pans with fiberglass (what did I
know, then?). When I bought the car, it had been painted British
racing green and the leather, apparently original, had been painted
grey. I changed it to, well, you'll see in the link below.
Because I could not afford to maintain the car, and I needed
something reliable for long-distance driving (which the car may have
been, but I really didn't want to drive it 125 miles a day), I sold
the car two years after I bought it for what I had in it:
$10,000.00. I think a properly fully restored at that time was
selling for $17,500.00. Mine was nowhere near restored, much less
"fully" restored. It did look good, though.
A couple of weeks ago, I was watching the replay of the Barrett
Jackson Scottsdale auction and saw a 1953 in the exact color
combination go across the block. It sold for $643,500.00! Here's a
link for the sale showing that car:
http://www.timesunion.com/carsense/slideshow/Hottest-cars-from-Scottsdale-auction-101332/photo-7405937.php
I have no idea if the car that was auctioned was the one I sold,
since I don't know anything about the car after I sold it, except to
whom it was sold.
Back to lurking...
Mark
P.S. I'm also reading with interest about the 126 suspension. Mine
rides like a truck! It's time to get back to the ride it had when I
bought it in 1993. (O.K., now back to lurking!)
____________________
Mark E. Peneguy
1988 420SEL, 271K
Wow! some car! Too bad you didn't keep it!
Bilstein shocks and new rear subframe bushings may help a lot.
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