1971 Mercedes-Benz 300-Series

3.5 Sedan

3.5L V8

Automatic

10905612007127

Clear

Gasoline

1971 Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 3.5 VIN # 10905612007127CLEAN TITLE - PINEN GREEN. Respray that per previous owner is about 7-8 years old. Note that the car was originally off-white, but per the previous owner who had the car for 11 years, the color was changed around 2005. Color change is throughout, in door jams, engine bay, trunk area, etc. Color suits the car well as it (and the car) is a definite head turner and compliment-getter. - BRAND NEW INTERIOR, including: brand new seat covers in the original MB pattern, front and rear, brand new seat padding, brand new carpet kit throughout, brand new front interior door handles, brand new headliner. The are a couple of small color chips only on the driver's side door panel but these can be easily touched up and made invisible via a dye kit available from worldupholstery.com. Candidly the previous owner spent a TON of money on the interior, maybe even too much given the relative value of these cars. Wood is in good condition in most places. Front dash facia is original with original finish. Veneer is in good condition and would look great if stripped and re-varnished. Two veneer chips in either corner (see pics). Top Dash pad looks crack-free. Minor crack in driver's side pad running along front windshield, minor crack on lower dash pad underneath heater vent on the passenger side (see pictures). Small piece of plastic speaker grille (front dash mounted) missing in front driver's side corner, but grille mounts fine as is. Kangol seatbelts are original (not sure why the previous owner didn't change these since he went all-new everywhere else). Color on the seatbelts is faded but they are in good, usable shape, except drivers' side shoulder strap, which has some webbing wear and should be replaced soon. Steering wheel is 100% original with some cracks but generally in good shape. Car trunk also has brand new carpet kit. - ORIGINAL BEHR air-conditioning unit. Recently serviced and charged per previous owner. Blows strongly and blows cold air. - Aftermarket AM/FM cassette radio, mid 90's vintage but in fine shape - Power steering, power brakes, power windowsBODY & PAINT - The body panels are seem straight, sight lines appear good. No visible pressure dings. - One minor pressure ding (hard to photograph) on rear quarter panel, one on rear trunk. Drivers door might need a small adjustment to the catch plate. Closes and locks fine, but I notice that it have to put just a tad more "omph" to close it securely. - No rust - No signs of any accidents - Clean under carriage, no rust, no rot scrapes, etc. (see pictures) - Missing accessory fog lights on front. Assume they were removed for painting and never reinstalled. - Paint looks very good, but has several minor scratch imperfections, most of which could be improved with polishing compound. Has a deep, rich black base, slightly metallic, looks good in the sun, but not too bright, not at all gaudy. - Three cracks near rear license plate on the passenger side that come through the paint. Not sure if there was a minor dent here or previous owner's paint guy had put some filler on to smooth out the surface before painting but there are some cracks (see pictures), and this is probably the biggest body flaw on the car, IMHO. - A few areas of paint fatigue: a few very tiny bubble near Mercedes logo on rear (see pictures(; two chips (see pictures) on either side of the rear trunk that have been "manually" color filled by previous owner; paint lifting around old fog light socket on front of car (see picture); small chip under driver's door (see picture), etc. The one place where you can see the color change is when you flip the rear license plate to get to the fuel cap, where green paint has been applied, but quiet thinly. I am sure that there are more minor paint issues to note, but I have tried m best to capture what I notice. PLEASE NOTE that appearance and paint flaws are hard to capture and on a vintage car what bothers some folks depends on who you are. Therefore we strongly encourage you to COME AND LOOK AT THE CAR to see for yourself. CHROME & ALUMINUM TRIM - Chrome is generally good with minor pitting throughout. Pitting is most noticeable at 5 ft on both rear door handles. Otherwise, its very minor, typical on a 41 year old car that has been garaged but used. - No dings or dents in bumpers. Bumper rubber looks original and so has a couple of quite small "chew" marks, most noticeably on rear passenger side. -Missing chrome windshield spray nozzle that goes on the hood, but part should be available through Mercedes Classic Center in the O.C. - Aluminum trim is in good condition. Missing top part of front windshield aluminum decorative trim, but this is also available via Mercedes Classic Center in the O.C. - Aluminum trim fit on side of car and rear window is good in some places, so-so in others. Looks like the painter took it off to spray the car and used the original clips to put it back on rather than replace them. The two places that I think the trim needs to be removed and reapplied with new plastic clips are both front doors. Rear windshield chrome could also fit more snug. I would have a good shop remove and refit these with new clips. ENGINE, TRANSMISSION AN BRAKES - Original Engine - Starts at first key turn. -Odometer shows approximately 77,900 miles. The car was sold to my brother with this being the original miles, but the DMV title we received indicated that the mileage indicated "exceeds" mechanical limits meaning something like 177,900 is more likely. The previous owner claims that this is a DMV error, but we have absolutely no proof and so are selling the car "as is" with true mileage unknown. - No smoke from engine or tailpipes. - Smooth shifting transmission, not "mushy". - Recent tune-up and inspection (February 2012) - Car accelerates very well, easily keeping up with modern traffic. - Per February inspection, oil pressure in all 8 cylinders is excellent and within Mercedes' spec. - Brakes work well and are in good shape. No shimming, no hesitation. - Exhaust system is in good shape, no rot, rust or wear. ELECTRICAL - Electric door locks presently not working. Have not tried to sort out why and instead have just been locking the doors manually. - Electric sunroof works well. - Electric windows all work, but rear window either need some adjustment or a look at the motors. Front windows go up and down crispy, rear go down easily but need some manual help to go back up. - Interior and exterior lights seem to work fine. - Horn currently isn't working but should be easy to sort out. - Aftermarket cruise control, dash-mounted TIRES Car is running on 4 BRAND NEW (literally the bar code tag is still on one tire) USA-made Michelin 175/75/R14's. Spare tire is present and in trunk but looks to be older/not new. CAR HISTORY Per Mercedes-Benz USA, this car was purchased new on July 17, 1971 from a MB dealer in Virginia by its original owner (I can supply the name to any interested parties). Much more recently (late February 2012) the car purchased by my brother, who works for the US government overseas. The car was purchased via a classic car broker representing a collector in rural Virginia who had several of these Mercedes 300 SEL's in different configurations. Per the broker, he recently has been selling the collection as he is getting on in age. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get any service records from him. All we have been able to ascertain for sure is that he has owned the car for approximately 11 years and he does have a large estate with lots or MB's. WHY ARE WE SELLING THE CAR? My brother purchased this car with the intent that it serve as an investment and a fun thing to have when he returned to the US from overseas. But candidly, I think he realizes that this was too much of an impulse purchase. Given the cost of storage, the fact that he might be overseas for another two years and this car -- any car -- needs to be driven. The broker for the car also marketed it as having 77,000 original miles, which again, will not represent to anyone as accurate as we ourselves have nothing to back that claim up and believe the mileage to be greater. Finally, I want to sell it for him because the burden of looking after the car will otherwise fall on me!! :) That said we are not looking to liquidate it at any price, even though the reserve on the car will be low relative to others on Ebay. All the above said, this could be a great car for someone who wants a usable, head-turning daily driver (this is not a show car though). It's a big car with lots of acceleration and enough modern conveniences (e.g.: air conditioning, automatic transmission, massive trunk) to be driven often and enjoyed. PLEASE contact me if you would like to look at and/or inspect the car for yourself. I can easily drive it to work (I work in West LA near Santa Monica), and will do my best to try to show it over the weekend (I live in the Fairfax district). NO WARRANTY OR GUARANTEES - Car is 41 years old and it is being sold on an "as-is" basis with all of the above to be verified by the buyer or his/her agent. There are no warranties or guarantees expressed or implied. I have given as much info as I am aware of on the car, and have tried to identify any flaws I have noticed or found, but again, I am no expert and can make no promises. - With the above said, any inspection is welcome (and ENCOURAGED!) but only BEFORE the end of the auction as your bid is a binding contract should you win this car. So PLEASE contact me if you would like to see the car. AND feel free to ask questions. Again, I am not an expert on this car (this model car) but I will do my best to answer your inquiries or find someone who can. Plus, I live within walking distance of at least 3 different independent Mercedes shops all of whom deal in vintage Mercedes repair, so there are plenty of places for you to take the car with me and have a mechanic give it a once over. - The title of this car is clear and NOT a salvaged title. It is ready to be transferred. - $500 USD deposit via PayPal is due immediately after the end of the auction, the balance (cash, bank check, wire transfer) is due 3 days later, but please note that payment must CLEAR via my credit union before I can release the car to you if you pay by bank check. Can't go through Pay-Pal because the fee on a purchase of this size is too great. - The shipping of this car is available to ANYWHERE in the world, and within reason, I can coordinate with the service or shipper of your choice for pick-up. - Please note that the car must be picked up within 10 days of winning bid OR you will have pay storage of $125. Know that this isn't us/me trying to make $ on storage, but rather the actual amount of money we are being charged to garage and store the car right now on a monthly basis and I am unable to pro-rate that fee as again, it's coming from a third party, not us. Thank you for looking & happy bidding! On Jul-08-12 at 11:55:48 PDT, seller added the following information: SAVE MONEY ON SHIPPING! uShip is the first and largest auction style marketplace for shipping and transportation services. Learn More SHIPPING PRICE ESTIMATOR Delivery ZIP Code: MORE RESOURCES: uShip Guides and Articles uShip Provider Directory Other Useful Tools & Links On Jul-08-12 at 12:25:01 PDT, seller added the following information: Addendum: all gauges in the instrument cluster are currently in working order, except for the car's quartz clock. On Jul-09-12 at 10:09:25 PDT, seller added the following information: Addendum # 2: Driver and front passenger sun visors also appear to be new. On Jul-09-12 at 22:25:14 PDT, seller added the following information: Addendum #3: A bidder requested more pictures of the underside of the car and the rocker panels. Here is a link with a dozen pix: http://www.fileswap.com/dl/Ldrgo2MM9s/undercarriagemerc300sel.zip.html On Jul-11-12 at 10:28:16 PDT, seller added the following information: Addendum # 4: Here are more pix of the floorboards, rocker panels, wheel wells, etc. that may be downloaded to your desktops: http://www.fileswap.com/dl/FzC7OAq8Pa/MB_undersides,rockers,_etc..zip.html