1972 Mercedes-Benz 200-Series

4.5 V8 Sedan

8 - Cyl.

Automatic

10806812006714

Clear

Gasoline

This car pretty much sat around for about six years. It was started up each summer and driven around the owners property.The guy I bought it from last fall inherited the car from his father, who was the original owner. The father always took really good care of the car, but when it was passed down, the son lacked the enthusiasm to look after it. So it sat outside in New England for quite a while.The car starts and runs pretty well. The brakes are not good at all. They don't seem to leaking any fluid, but the pedal is very low. Feels to me like the calipers are just not creating pressure on the rotors or the master cylinder is weak. If someone wanted to spend a long weekend fooling with the brakes, the car could probably be put back on the road. It does run pretty well. I haven't done a compression test, but the car is under a 100K miles, and for most of it's life it was well cared for. The pictures show the rust that is at each end of the rocker panels. The rust is beginning around the headlights. The floor is solid as is the trunk.The interior is intact, but the leather is very dry and the driver's seat is badly cracked. The dash isn't real bad except for the wood trim at the bottom of the windshield,which is pretty bad at each end. The tires are very old and are weather cracked. A couple of them do not hold air for more than a day or so. I changed the oil and filter and put in a new air filter. I have a fuel filter for it, but they can be kind of a pain to change, and I haven't had the motivation.Just for the heck of it, I did take a crack at a little rubbing compound and wax. The results were actually better than I anticipated. Personally, I wouldn't bother restoring this car, better to just get it road worthy and just enjoy touring about in an early seventies Mercedes 280 4.5.These were pretty cool cars in their day. I've seen people restore far worse cars though. I'll try to answer any questions quickly and honestly. I wish I could justify keeping it myself, but my dump truck needs new tires and my excavator needsunder carriage work and...well, you get the idea. Car will need to be trailered or transported. Brakes are in no way good enough to drive on the road.