1971 Mercedes-Benz 200-Series

280 SE 3.5 Convertible

Automatic

Clear

Gasoline

On Dec-13-10 at 22:32:47 PST, seller added the following information: ORIGINAL 1971 MERCEDES BENZ 280 SE 3.5 CONVERTIBLE, SECOND OWNER This unrestored Classic is in great condition with a working clock and the original locking gas cap using the original ignition key! This beautiful car was purchased as a birthday gift for a major Southern California developer in September 1970 and registered as a 1971 model. It was purchased from Jim Slemons Mercedes Benz in Santa Ana, California. This car has remained a Southern California native since it was sold. I purchased this car directly from the previous owner at his ranch in 1988. At that time the car had about 97,000 miles on the odometer. The car was being kept at the ranch and was not being driven daily. I bought the car with the full intention of restoring it one day. I have enjoyed this car for 22 years and 64,000+ miles. It is a wonderful automobile and in great shape for its; 40 year old age. So, what works and what doesn't? All the guages work and the fuel reserve light. All windows operate properly. The top is like brand new with the original German Brown cloth used when I replace it. The headliner was also replaced with the light beige cloth that was used originally. The Cognac leather interior really must be replaced. After 40 years it is time however, it is still servicable as you can see from the pictures. The paint is original with the original pin stripping that was done at Jim Slemons. The only area that does not have the original paint is the hood. When this car had 89,419 miles, a fuel injector leak caused a small fire in the engine compart-ment. The insurance paid almost $5,000 to repair this damage. So, the damaged hood was repainted and possibly replaced. The paint on the car shows its age and although it looks good from a distance, must be repainted. There is a lot of crazing on the top surfaces. At 68,311 miles the car had a valve job. The AC compressor leaks freon and needs to be replaced. If it were charged, it would work for awhile. Unfortunately the previous owner and I have done this several times before a good AC man determined the problem. The transmission is original and still works fine. I have had no work done on the engine other than replacing the fuel injectors. I guess when the original ones were replaced after the fire, they installed the incorrect red injectors. The car did not run well. I had the yellow injectors installed and have never had a problem. The dash and windshield wood is in great shape for its age. The wood on the dash and the glove box needs to be refinished. After exposure to the sun the clear coat is pretty dull and has a rough texture. I am showing pictures of everything on this car and you can see that there is a small amout of rust at the back rear wheel wells. This is not a major issue and there is not any rust in the trunk from the top or bottom. There is no indication of rust in the interior floor pan. The heater control valves are stuck. I understand that this is a problem for many of these cars although my 230 SL does not have this problem and it has similar controls! I have plugged the hose so that heat stopped coming into the car when I was driving it in the summer. This car was driven primarily in warm dry weather. The original compensator was replaced with a spring. I did not like this and had another original compensator installed. It has not failed. The exhaust system is fine and the muffler appears new. The radio that was installed when I purchased the car is still installed with the speakers. However, it is disconnected. I installed a custom Alpine Stereo system with multiple speakers, remote CD player, amplifier and removable Alpine 7618 Tuner. The tires are relatively new and the new spare has never been on the ground. If you have any questions, please send me an email. If you wish to speak to me, please send me your number and I will be happy to call you back. I was finally able to add the additional photos for this car today. As you can see there is a lot of documentation and original Mercedes Benz Owner's information. This includes the original metal imprinted owner's record. I wanted to be certain to show the pictures of two slightly damaged areas of the car. An 80+ year old lady backed into me while in a parking lot. This was done in the early 9o's and I never had it repaired. I was going to restore the car so, I never saw the point. I just did not realize that I would never get around to the restoration. The car has been stored in many garages over the years. While in one of these garages, someone dropped something on the right front fender. I tried to take a picture to show the indentation. There are two dents where something fell and hit the top of the fender. The car was always covered while stored in a garage so I don't know if the culprit knew he damaged my car. Thanks again for taking the time to check out my car and this listing.On Dec-14-10 at 08:22:13 PST, seller added the following information: Sorry for the second description. When adding the self-hosted photos and doing exactly what eBay staff told me to do, the original description disappeared. I found it but did not find all the computer garble in some of the paragraphs! This unrestored Classic is in great condition with a working clock and the original locking gas cap using the original ignition key! This beautiful car was purchased as a birthday gift for a major Southern California developer in September 1970 and registered as a 1971 model. It was purchased from Jim Slemons Mercedes Benz in Santa Ana, California. This car has remained a Southern California native since it was sold. I purchased this car directly from the previous owner at his ranch in 1988. At that time the car had about 97,000 miles on the odometer. The car was being kept at the ranch and was not being driven daily. I bought the car with the full intention of restoring it one day. I have enjoyed this car for 22 years and 64,000+ miles. It is a wonderful automobile and in great shape for its; 40 year old age. So, what works and what doesn't? All the guages work and the fuel reserve light. All windows operate properly. The top is like brand new with the original German Brown cloth used when I replace it. The headliner was also replaced with the light beige cloth that was used originally. The Cognac leather interior really must be replaced. After 40 years it is time however, it is still servicable as you can see from the pictures. The paint is original with the original pin stripping that was done at Jim Slemons. The only area that does not have the original paint is the hood. When this car had 89,419 miles, a fuel injector leak caused a small fire in the engine compart-ment. The insurance paid almost $5,000 to repair this damage. So, the damaged hood was repainted and possibly replaced. The paint on the car shows its age and although it looks good from a distance, must be repainted. There is a lot of crazing on the top surfaces. At 68,311 miles the car had a valve job. The AC compressor leaks freon and needs to be replaced. If it were charged, it would work for awhile. Unfortunately the previous owner and I have done this several times before a good AC man determined the problem. The transmission is original and still works fine. I have had no work done on the engine other than replacing the fuel injectors. I guess when the original ones were replaced after the fire, they installed the incorrect red injectors. The car did not run well. I had the yellow injectors installed and have never had a problem. The dash and windshield wood is in great shape for its age. The wood on the dash and the glove box needs to be refinished. After exposure to the sun the clear coat is pretty dull and has a rough texture. I am showing pictures of everything on this car and you can see that there is a small amout of rust at the back rear wheel wells. This is not a major issue and there is not any rust in the trunk from the top or bottom. There is no indication of rust in the interior floor pan. The heater control valves are stuck. I understand that this is a problem for many of these cars although my 230 SL does not have this problem and it has similar controls! I have plugged the hose so that heat stopped coming into the car when I was driving it in the summer. This car was driven primarily in warm dry weather. The original compensator was replaced with a spring. I did not like this and had another original compensator installed. It has not failed. The exhaust system is fine and the muffler appears new. The radio that was installed when I purchased the car is still installed with the speakers. However, it is disconnected. I installed a custom Alpine Stereo system with multiple speakers, remote CD player, amplifier and removable Alpine 7618 Tuner. The tires are relatively new and the new spare has never been on the ground. If you have any questions, please send me an email. If you wish to speak to me, please send me your number and I will be happy to call you back. I was finally able to add the additional photos for this car today. As you can see there is a lot of documentation and original Mercedes Benz Owner's information. This includes the original metal imprinted owner's record. I wanted to be certain to show the pictures of two slightly damaged areas of the car. An 80+ year old lady backed into me while in a parking lot. This was done in the early 9o's and I never had it repaired. I was going to restore the car so, I never saw the point. I just did not realize that I would never get around to the restoration. The car has been stored in many garages over the years. While in one of these garages, someone dropped something on the right front fender. I tried to take a picture to show the indentation. There are two dents where something fell and hit the top of the fender. The car was always covered while stored in a garage so I don't know if the culprit knew he damaged my car. Thanks again for taking the time to check out my car and this listing.On Dec-15-10 at 21:26:02 PST, seller added the following information: This car has been made available to other interested local parties. I reserve the right to end this eBay listing early if someone other than an eBay buyer offers to purchase this car from me directly. I am surprised at the interest that this car has generated. I had made contact with several local buyers prior to listing this car on eBay. Thank you for your interest and understanding.