1984 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class

380 sl Convertible

Automatic

wdbba45a8ea000584

Gasoline

I purchased this car two days ago.. I was not in the market for a 2 seat convertible, but the guy was only asking $3600 for it (and NADA average retail was like $12,000) so I bought it. It was purchased new by the doctor I bought it from It has both soft and hard tops, the soft top is less than a year old and until I got the car had never been up. The car had a reciept in it from 1/18/2011 where the tie rod center link, and shift bushings were installed. It also had a transmission service performed at that time. There is also some other part that he showed me that was replaced under the car by the right rear wheel. It looks like it has something to do with the suspension. I don't know what it is and the guy couldn't remember, except that he paid nearly a $1000 for it. He couldn't find the reciept for it, but it is very obvious that it is new. I have included a picture of it. The body has absolutly no rust. All the chrome is in excellent condition, as is all the rubber on the bumpers. The car has been garage kept since new. The only flaw in the interior is a small rip in the passenger seat which I did when I sat in it with a screwdriver in my back pocket that I had forgotten to take out after putting my tag on the car. Tires are at least 80%, and brakes seem to work fine. Oil pressure stays up near the top of the gauge around 25-30, and the car has never gone beyond 80 on the teperature gauge. These are metric numbers and I'm not sure what they equate to in american, but as I said the oil is near the top and the temp is right in the middle or a little below the middle of the gauge. The engine runs good, and does not have any unusual noises or smoke. Original radio is still in the car and works well. He told me that he had the original wheels replaced with 15" (Mercedes, not aftermarket). Those are all the good things. On a nearly 30 year old car there are some bad things. Here is what I have noticed wrong with the car in the 2 days that I have been driving it: 1)The airconditioning does not blow cold. The car has never had the old R-12 system changed out to R-134. I looked on the Mercedes website "BenzWorld", and saw a post where several 380 SL owners had purchased a retrofit 134 system at WalMart, with good results. I bought one of those kits, but after reading the instructions decided that it was beyond my limited mechanical ability. I will include this kit with the car. 2) drivers side window does not work. You can raise and lower it about halfway manually. The motor for the window is available @ http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/1984/mercedes/380sl/body_mechanical_-ar-_trim/window_motor.html for $64.95, and 3) there is a transmission leak. Since the car had a receipt in it for transmission service less than 3 weeks ago I took the car back to the garage that performed the service. The mechanic who did the work ,in a roundabout way, indicated that he may not have replaced the transmission pan gasket with a new one.He said he couldn't remember. Since I was not the person who had the work done he would not fix it for me at no charge. The guy was jerk (I stood at his counter for about ten minutes before he even acknowledged me). I also called the guy I bought it from and he said it had no leaks prior to having the transmission serviced. The pan gasket is available at the same place that has the window motor for $5.95 4) Paint. The paint on the car is original, and about a 5/10, except for the hood,trunk and hardtop, which are faded.I was going to paint the car before I sold it, but a friend of mine who restores cars professionally for a living advised me against it.His logic behind this was that whoever ends up with this car might want to put an "Earl Scheib" $300 paint job on it and use the car as a daily driver, or they may want to spend $2000 and make it a show car, so I'm leaving it as I got it. The bottom line is this: I'm selling this car with a low reserve (what I paid for it) and a five day auction. I only bought this car because I think it was priced way low and I could make a few bucks. I purchased it with cash that I really couldn't afford to part with for long and need to get it back quickly before a bunch of bills come due and catch me short. This is a very nice car, that with a little money spent on it will be extremly nice. If I could afford it I would keep it in a heartbeat. There are not a lot of 28 year old, one owner cars out there. Here's your chance to own one. I reserve the right to cancel this auction early, as I have it advertised locally as well.On Feb-02-11 at 07:13:09 PST, seller added the following information: Prior to a divorce I had an ebay account "Fishkillerxxl", that had 100% positive feedback on over 20 items (boats, autos, high-end marine electronics, etc). Since it was associated with a credit card and address that I no longer have, I had to open a new account.On Feb-05-11 at 16:12:46 PST, seller added the following information: Someone has pointed out to me that the car is not a one owner, which, I guess, in the strictist interpretation of the term "one owner" is true. I purchased it from the original owner and drove it approximatly 2 miles to my home where it has sat in my driveway since. Also the car will not be available for pickup untill Wednesday Feb 9th, as I will not be back in town until then.