1996 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class

SL500 Convertible

8 - Cyl.

Automatic

WDBFA67F3TF131637

Gasoline

I have the title history from the state of Texas for this car. This sold new in July, 1996 to Dr. Dennis Birenbaum, M.D., a well-known Obgyn in Dallas. It had about 3,000 miles on it (I assume it was a demonstrator). He paid $92,000 to Park Place Motorcars (the Mercedes dealer) for it. He kept it for about a year and then traded it back in to Park Place with about 10,000 miles on it. In 1997 it was purchased by Kathy Nicol of Dallas. She paid $82,000 for it and kept it about 18 months. It had 35,000 miles on it when she got rid of it. In 1998 it was purchased by Don Robinson of Dallas for $64,000. He kept it until 2006 when it had 95,000 miles on it. In the fall of 2006 it was purchased by John Hill of Sherman, TX for $15,900. In the fall of 2007 it was wrecked and totaled. In the spring of 2008 it was purchased by Henry Skowronek of Flower Mound, TX. Mr. Skowronek had the car fixed and kept it for about 18 months. I bought it from him in October, 2008 with 108,000 miles. Because the car had been totaled and fixed, it has a Rebuilt Salvage title. The entire car has been repainted. It is shiny and there is no rust. The color of the hardtop is a very slightly different shade of blue than the rest of the car, but that is only noticeable in just the right kind of light. I suspect this is not the original hard top for the car because the color of the fabric on the inside of the hard top is a different shade of tan than the rest of the interior. The seats and carpet are in fairly good condition. About 5,000 miles ago I put 4 new Michelin Pilot Sport tires on it (about $250 apiece). Note that while this does not have the AMG package, at some time in the past, someone put AMG wheels on it. Those are pretty expensive. The 4 tires and wheels are probably worth $2000. I've also had an A/C hose replaced and the steering gear rebuilt. The soft top is about 3 years old and is in excellent condition. I have the bill from when it was replaced. The transmission shifts fine, the radio works. The windows go up and down. The top goes up and down fine and the hard top latches and unlatches correctly. The engine needs to be rebuilt. It smokes badly when pulling away from a stop. But it runs fairly well. I drove it about 150 miles on the highway a couple weeks ago and it ran fine, but did go through a quart and a half of oil. Previously, I had the valve stem seals replaced in the hopes that would stop the smoking but it didn't. I say the engine needs to be rebuilt, but there's a chance that may not be the case. Last summer I discovered one of the crankcase vent hoses was cracked, so I decided to replace all of them. Mercedes designed this engine WITHOUT a pcv valve. All of a sudden, after I replaced the hoses, it started smoking badly. I know I got all the hoses hooked up correctly (there's really only one way they can go in). But it's hard to believe it's just a co-incidence that it started smoking badly when I replaced the crankcase vent hoses. Nonetheless, it could be. If someone knew how to make sure the crankcase venting system was working properly that might be the way to start. I have the diagrams that show the flow of crankcase fumes for when it's at idle and when it's off-idle. It might possible to use those to see if it's not venting correctly. When the car was repaired after the wreck in 2007, they didn't quite get the front end fixed correctly. It can be brought very closely into alignment, but not completely within specs. Thus, it pulls slightly. I have a repair bill from when I took it to Service King to have them check the frame measurements. It shows the frame is straight (actually, it's the floorpan, as this is a unit body). I also took it to Caliber Collision to see if they could correct the pull. They tell me the front crossmember needs to be replaced (that's why it can't quite be brought into alignment). That is welded to the floor pan, so it's not just a matter of losening some bolts and repositioning it. This car is worth considerably more in parts than sold as a whole car. The front crossmember is welded to the floorpan so replacing it means breaking the weld and welding in a new one. Someone would also need to be willing to rebuild this engine. Or, I suppose, you could put in a used engine. At any rate, given the work the car needs and that a great deal of the car is solid, you could actually part this out for a lot more than what the car is worth whole. But don't care to do that. Or, if you have another one of these, this would make a great car to have on hand to use for spare parts--certainly much cheaper than the dealer. $500 deposit via Paypal is due within 48 hours. I would prefer the rest in cash, but will accept Paypal if necessary. This car is sold as-is where-is, with no warranties, expressed or implied.