1988 Mercedes-Benz

300CE Coupe Coupe

6 Cylinder 3.0 Liter

Automatic

Gasoline

Thanks for looking at my listing. If after reading the entire listing you have questions, please call me Ben at 408-529-6555. I have installed new rear Brakes, both Rotors and Pads (Mercedes-Benz Genuine Parts... they seem to work the best.) I have also repaired the front timing cover gasket that had some seepage. I have replaced the center muffler (only had pinhole leaks, but had sounded a little raspy) with a new Bosal brand. I will be converting the Freon based AC to the newer R134a charge and fittings. I have transferred the ownership to my name. The title will likely be a couple of weeks before I receive it. Rest assured the registration and California DMV record reflect my ownership with clear title. In transfer of the vehicle the car required a smog certificate, and the car passed with flying colors without any alterations or adjustments needed! :) *** This is a GREAT CAR! No suprises... I have had several great calls from some very great eBayers. This one is almost gone! Thanks to all you Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts for the encouraging feedback!! *** For sale is the hard to find 300CE Coupe. It is based on the same chassis as the 300E Sedan, and the original mid sized coupe. It would be the precursor to the CLK which has been remaned the E350 coupe in the 2011 model. This car has always been driven in the mild California climate and (I kid you not) owned by a school teacher. I have all of the service records, and both Carfax and AutoCheck reflect both service and registration records. Everything is consistent on this one. While there has been some cosmetic paintwork, there has been no reportable accidents, and no evidence of chassis or stuctural damage. I HAVE MORE PICTURES I have 44 high resolution pictures in www.flickr.com eBay only allows 20 picture for private party listings. For your confidence, I have placed all of them on a photo hosting site owned by Yahoo. You may click this direct link http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhellmol/sets/72157625558176310/ or search "eBay item number 250735367162" or even my user ID in on Flickr. You should be able to find the pictures. The leather was covered by sheepskin covers, and there were florrmats in the car. All of the rubber trim and suspension bushings are soft and in excellent shape as the car was garaged (entremely important in older Mercedes as the bubber bushings and links that ride on them are what provide the great ride. While the leather is indeed 22 years old, it is clear the car was garaged and is still pliable and clean. The engine in this one is the super reliable straight six cylinder, single overhead cam engine. While it is not a super sofisticated engine it is a great performer with a repuation of lasting 100s of thousands of miles without issues. I have personally seen many 300SELs (the big body S-Class from the same vintage) still chugging around with 200-300K miles. Certainly an engine that would propel this much smaller car for many, many years and miles to come. NADA Classic Car Values WITHOUT respect for mileage (in other words, if most late 80s cars even driven lightly... say 6K miles per year would have 140K miles... 12K per year 280K miles... this one was driven 3k miles) NADA lists the car... but not additions for low milage or subtractions for low miles. Low Retail: $3,800.00 Average Retail: $4,425.00, HIGH RETAIL: $7,350.00. Since NADA does NOT account for miles, and most of these have 150-200K miles on them... this one should CLEARLY be selling in the high 7K range. YOU CANNOT LOSE ON THIS ONE!! Dont miss out! FULL SERVICE RECORDS AND HISTORY Bid with confidence, you will know everything about this car! TERMS OF PAYMENT Please read the ENTIRE listing before commiting to buy. In the eBay community we adhere to a strict ethics code. That means, if you bid it is to finalize the sale... you are not bidding to have the 'option' to buy. Any inspections or reviews required should be completed before making a purchase commitment. The seller is charged the listing 'fee' when the buyer sellects Buy it Now, or makes an accepted offer. Please see the end of this listing for more details. ABOUT THE CAR Offered for sale is one super clean 1988 300CE. This car was lady owned and garaged, clearly one of the cleanest cars in the country being a California native and garaged. There are some nice cars on eBay.... but frankly, many were RECONDITIONED or heavily detailed to get to look like they do. This one was LIGHTLY cleaned... but is AS I RECEIVED otherwise!! I wanted the next owner to find a reputable detail facility to take the proper care to clean the vintage car in such a manner that satisfies themselves. With VERY little work you could have a NEAR PERFECT car... as most the major stuff has already been done (look at service history.) While the car has a couple things that could use attention, it's core is, in my opinion, a car that could be driven for many years reliably, and enjoyably. What could use attention? The Rear Sun Shade is slow to move up and down. I don't know if the tracks need lubricating, or if the motor is tired. It works... just slow. The AC does not seem to be cold. I do not know if the car simply needs a recharge, or if there is something else that needs attention. Two of the tires are fairly new, the other two (front) are 'safe' but would likely need replacing soon (based on visual inspection appearance, I would say the front tires have 30% wear remaining.) The drivers side seatbelt presenter does not extend. Based on what I have read it is likley a relay that is not triggering, but I have not had it diagnosed. I would really like to keep this one myself... but my wife freaked out a little when she found out I bough ta third car right as I am finishing my 1983 W126 restoration. Funny things is, after I did some cleaning on the car (it was mostly stored for the last 6 years and needed a layer of dust removed) she was asking me if there was a way to keep the car. Some more details: The character flaws are few and far between. There is a scratch on the front left fender near the corner lamp. There is also a larger scratch on the front right fender. Both are about 3-4 inches long. The left side is on the edge of the fender lip, the right side is dedicated to the area about the right turn sigbnal, and about 1/2 inch by 4 inches. The owner was an older lady, and had a little problem with negotiating her garage. There are a couple of light scratches, and some paint chips here and there. More than likely the next owner would touch up most or all of these items and have a dentless repair done for the right fender. At worse case, most high quality paint shops could repair the panel for about $400-600.00. Then the car would be near perfect... really. Overall the paint condition is excellent. Most cars of this vintage have weak paint. This cars paint is "thick" and glossy. It does not appear to been cut and buff. (I cleaned the paint with clay and applied wax.. no heavy detailing to make the paint look good. THIS IS ACTUAL CONDITION: I DID NOT HAVE TO: I did NOT shampoo the carpets!! With exception of some spot cleaning I simply vacuumed the car. Carpets stay soft and do not 'pill'. This is a clean original condition. I did NOT wet-sand, or 'cut' the paint!! This car was garaged, the paint is shiny and clear without swirl marks or evidence of cut and buff. While you can cut and buff a car to look shiny and new... but the problem with it si you do not know how much good paint is left when you are done. I simply deep cleaned the pain with clay bar and waxed it. I DID NOT dye or treat the seats. Sellers will often make leather look nice by dying the leather where color is missing. Since they cannot duplicate the tanning process, the dye is effectively a paint. While it will look nice now... in a year or so the color will where off. This car has the original and un touched seats. I DID NOT used any glossy 'rubber and vinyl protectants: I did not use that cheap glossy stuff to make tired old parts look new. These 'protectants' are only surface preparation that will where off in a few weeks... of worse... cause glare and cannot be removed. They have also been known to harden the surface and cause premature cracking. I have been buying and driving older cars for quite a few years now. I would keep this one myself, but I already have a restored 1983 300SD and a 1992 500SEL I am driving now. I came upon this one through a recent business transaction, and could not resist. Unfortunately I cannot garage the car... and I cannot justify keeping it. I made a commitment to buy the car before really thinking it out... and have decided it would not be fair to make a commitment and back out. So... I am selling the car instead. ORGANIC MATERIALS like Rubber, Paint and Leather are the things that will wear out or age on any older car. It is KEY that the car not only be well maintained, but GARAGED. A 22 year old car will age sitting still if in extreme hot or cold... that's what a mild climate car is always the BEST. This one comes from Northern California (mild climate) and was garaged. All of the rubber and leather is in excellent condition. The leather seats: not only was the car in a mild climate and garaged.... but the leather seats were covered the whole time the car was owned! I removed the sheepskins. (I wanted to show the condition of the leather, and frankly would not keep sheepskin seat on a car if I was keeping it, so call it a judgement call.) VEHICLE HISTORY Purchased: July 18th 1990 Autohaus Brugger (now called Autobahn Motors) 19,015 Miles December 8th 1992 Autobahn Motors 31,812 Miles Replaced Poly-Belt Windshield Wipers Lube Oil Filter Replaced Motor Mounts Replaced Flex Disc Lamba Sensor Oxygen Sensor April 10th 1995 Autobahn Motors 45,016 Miles Replaced Cam-seal Valve Cover gasket Water Pump Pass Hose Thermostat Housing Lube Oil Filter 45K Service Kennedy Autobody in Redwood City September 1995 Customer scratched car while backing out of her garage. Has both front fenders and left front door refinished. No chassis damage, only refinish and paint work performed. $626.40 labor, $691.20 paint, and $185.55 materials. Stuttgart Motors Redwood City Independent shop Mercedes-Benz trained technician September 5th 1995 47,735 Miles Replaced valve guide seals Valve Cover gasket Spark plugs Klima Relay Partial Charge Air Conditioning Stuttgart Motors Redwood City Independent shop Mercedes-Benz trained technician January 15th 1996 49,242 miles Mount and Balance 2 Tires 195/65/VR15 HS Oil Changers Full Service Oil Package February 2nd 1996 49,479 Miles Changed Oil and Filter Flushed Oil System Checked all fluids and filters Stuttgart Motors Redwood City Independent shop Mercedes-Benz trained technician November 26th 1996 53,096 Miles Oil Change Oil Filter Change Replaced Battery Check and top off all fluids Transmission, Power Steering Coolant etc. Stuttgart Motors Redwood City Independent shop Mercedes-Benz trained technician February 22 2000 63,856 Miles 30K mile Service (interval) Inspect and Report Belt Condition, tire pressure, suspension, fluids, cooling system, brakes Shocks, replace Spark Plugs, fuel filter, transmission fluid and filter. New alternator Belt Door Lock mechanism Replace front Brake Discs/ Rotors Replace front Brake pads Replace Rear Pads Repack (clean and grease) front Wheel Bearings Cooling System Flush Brake System Bleed Replaced Center or Drag Link Two Wheel Alignment Replace Transmission Filter and Fluid Replace Air Filter Fuel injector Service Replace Distributor Rotor Change Coolant Changed Fuel Filter and Seal Changed Power Steering Pump Filter Replaced Electrohydraulic Actuator Stuttgart Motors Redwood City Independent shop Mercedes-Benz trained technician December 20th 2000 66,385 miles Unknown service Only Credit Card Receipt attached to closing RO total. $732.00 AutoCheck Score 89 Above Range vs. similar Upscale - Luxury Similar 1988 Upscale - Luxury Typically score between 21-43 The AutoCheck Score factors show the top reasons why a vehcile is scoring above, below or within range for similar vehicles. Check vehcile history report by clicking on Vehicle History tab above. Report provided by Autocheck a part of Experian. If after reading the entire listing you have questions, please call me Ben at 408-529-6555. Please do not place an offer to buy unless your finances are in order, as I expect full payment within three business days. I will NOT accept Cashier’s Checks as there is too much fraud, and they are too difficult to verify. I will work with you to complete the transaction, but payment must effectively be by your bank by bank wire, or cash in person. I have the Clear California Title in hand. I will need to process the transfer from the prior owner's name to my name before I can provide you the title. Unless you are shipping outside of the United States, you will be able to ship the car as soon as clear funds are received by me, and the title will be FedExed to you as soon as I receive it from the California DMV with my name on it. I would be happy to scan and fax a copy of the title and California Form 262, but the prior owners name will be blocked on the form to protect their privacy. I have been informed that an expedited (rushed) title will take from 10-14 days… If any of these terms make you uncomfortable, you are welcome to call and we can discuss it further. Please do not bid until you are satisfied with these terms, or have spoke with me to belay any concerns of questions you might have.