1992 Mercedes-Benz 500-Series

500SEL Sedan

5.0L 8 Cylinder Gasoline Fuel

Automatic

WDBGA51EXNA021585

Gasoline

Power Windows

Thanks for looking! 1992 500SEL with 78K miles - Averaged 4K miles per year! NO RESERVE- THIS CAR WILL SELL TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER! Please do not attempt contact to close the auction early. Likewise, please carefully consider your bid, and agree that once your bid is placed, you will not... in any circumstances retract you bid. This creates headaches for the me the seller, and will place fellow bidders in a pickle should they think they got outbid, and buy something else. I AM OFFERING MY NON WAVERING COMMITEMNT TO COMPLETE THE SALE please respect this and do the same. New Bidders welcome, but please understand that your bid is a legal agreement to buy based on ALL terms. PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE AUCTION: While I am alwasy happy to answer questions I took hours writing this, and it is likely your question has already been answered in the listing. It pains me to sell this car. This car was garaged up until the date I bought the car. I bought the car as a daily commuter, and drive it for about 2 of 3 years owned (I have a long highway commute.) I am a professional in the automobile industry, and this is my personal car. My background and knowledge permits that I see many cars... this was picked of litterally hundreds of car to choose. I have a boit of a problem presenting all of my qulifications, and what makes me a good Mercedes-Benz owner, so I have placed all the information about me at the very bottom of the listing. Take a moment to read, hopefully you will find the information not only informative but entertaining. Here we have one 1992 500SEL. Purchased by me in July of 2008, prior to my purchase the car had been used only one month of each year by a local Bay Area couple who drove the car one month out of the year, each year for 16 years. The rest of the time the car was stored in their garage with a trickle charger (There is a high quality battery disconnect to prevent battery drain on the Genuine Mercedes-Benz battery.) Their full time residence outside the United States, their Bay Area home was a second vacation home. So, when I received the car it was preserved much like a collector car. With only effectively 1,695 miles per year. BID AND BUY WITH CONFIDENCE While I know there are sellers who are embellishing how their cars ‘drive or look like new, this one is clearly one of the top 2% in the country. With 120 pictures, rest assured the car is what it is! Inspections, and visits to look at this one are not only acceptable, but encouraged. The car drives (or glides) impeccably and is both tight and smooth. It is a true joy to drive. The odometer cluster is black, and the needles are Orange. Most of these cars have lost color, but this one is like new… sort of like stepping back in time. When you sit in the car, you get a smell of leather… much like a new car… not the old aged smell you would get in a 20 year old car. The leather is firm and supporting, yet soft to the touch. Looking around the car you would see all of the lettering as bright White on soft matte finish black as you would on a new car. No overly shinny slicked up plastic over coated by Armor All, only the natural sheen. The original wood is all consistent and dark in color. Even the top surface is free of clear coat haze and swirl marks from over aggressive polishing. It is optically clear and as new. The car pets are all original and still charcoal/Black as new. There was no need for any shampooing as the carpets were well preserved and kept clean. ALL MERCEDES BENZ PARTS, NO COMPROMISE When I acquired the car, I went through and provided both a radiator flush, brake flush, and of course oil change. The car passed the strict California smog test without fail. I do not think that it makes a whole lot of sense to put anything other than genuine factory parts on the car, as there is a reason most of these cars seem to last 20-30 years. Make sense? NO ACCIDENTS Being an older couple had owned the car, there were a couple of small scratches, and a decent sized dent in the left fender from what appears to be someone backing into the car in thier garage. (The dent was more of a wave, similar to … there was no underlying damage – it was only outer body sheet metal damage.) (This statement can be confirmed my Mike, thos owner of the Mercedes-Benz Certified Restoration and Collision Center that had performed the repair. They are called Eurotech in San Carlos.) Innitially, there was suggestion that a dentless repair might take care of the issue in an acceptable manner. Being the highly detailed person I am, I wanted it perfect! Since I have access to Genuine Mercedes-Benz parts at wholesale, and being a very detail oriented ‘fix it right’ person I am elected to replace the fender with a new Mercedes-Benz Geniune part for about the cost of what the straitening and bondo (gads) would have cost, and would be out the refinishing cost of painting and mounting the new fender. CLEAN CARFAX and AUTOCHECK Right before I was to list the car, on my way to the dealership to have the car detailed for sale, a rather unfortunate event occurred. In the lane I was in, as piece of what appeared to be plywood had been kicked up in the air. Rather than slam on my brakes on the freeway, or swerve into another lane, I had no choice but to avoid it as best I could. The wood hit the front right corner of the car, and glanced off the fender and just lightly scuffed the door. The damage again was only cosmetic, but knew the buyer of myself would only be satisfied with 100% proper repair. (Read: cosmetic refinish, no deep bondo or 'filler' involved.) This is where having AAA auto insurance was a true blessing, as they did not fight me along the way. The bumper, fender and drivers door panel were properly stripped, and finished by a Mercedes Benz Certified Repair facility in San Jose called Pan American on Burke Street in San Jose. It is possible this insurance claim will show up on the CarFax or Autocheck after the listing is completed. The only existing issues in the paint that may need attention is to refinish the rear bumper. The left rear corner has a small nick in the top corner, and the lower rear right coner has some fairly deep scratches, two that are about 3-4 inches long. I will attempt to create a link to photos of the car and post them to the auction for you. HAS THE CAR BEEN RELIABLE? During my ownership I have only had two issues. One was the Bose 7 channel amplifier which systematically was losing power to each amplifier. I had a very good shop who specializes in rebuilding or remanufacturing the more expensive parts in a Mercedes rebuild the amplifier for me. The other issue was the fabled Air Accumulators in the rear suspension (again, only new Mercedes-Benz Geniune Parts we used.) I replaced those about 6 months ago. My recent tire replacements were, of course, not cheap knock off brands. Anyone who knows Mercedes, knows the cars can ride load or rough if you do not carefully select proper tires. About a year ago I installed a new set of Michelin MXV4 Primacys. WAS THE CAR DRIVEN HARD? The car was owned by an older couple. and myself. I think it unlikely they drove teh car hard as not only did the car drive like new when I got it, but they just did not seem the type, and it appeared very well preserved. The mileage I put on the car since purchase were highway miles. I drive the cars with respect allowing large following distances to reduce wear and tear on the suspension, brakes and driveline. I and really intended to keep the car for many, many years, and recognize that one of the cars driven nicely would last decades, rather than years. I loved the car SO much, that realizing I was piling on the miles in my daily commute started looking for a second car. I found a nice 1983 Diesel that would be my miles driver that I know could pile on the miles for some ten years, and keep the 500SEL for weekends and special occasions such as sightseeing, going out to eat and such. WHY ARE YOU SELLING THIS CAR IF IT IS SO NICE? My detailed and meticulous nature, got the best of me on my daily driver, the 1983 Mercedes-Benz 300SD. Ironically... I bought the 1983 Diesel specifically to keep the miles and wear off of this one. Since acquisition of that car, I have refinished the entire car, installed a full new leather interior, and remanufactured the entire front suspension. The remanufacture of the rear suspension is nearly completed – and I have come to the realization that I cannot have TWO favorites in my life… or at least that economically speaking I should really keep just one of the car. Having a LOT of money wrapped up in the Diesel, I am electing to sell the 1992 S-Class. WHAT ITEMS NEED ATTENTION RIGHT NOW? There is a ding in the left door. It is abou the size of a dime, and is easily removed through dentless repair. The rear bumper has some scratches that are visible and certain (lower) angles on the right rear, and a 1/2 inch rough glancing divit top left rear bumper (see pictures.) While all of the wood is in excellent condition, there is a switch in the passenger rear door, and front center consules that has fallen through. There are some scuffs in the leather here and there... notihng that a little touch up dye wont fix. I will have everything but the rear bumper fixed if you give me 5 days after you final payment. If you do not want to wait, there will be no credit for unperformed repairs. You will not likely find another 90s era car in this condition both appearance and mechanically. That being said you could buy one of the less well cared for cars, and spend some $20-30K making the car as nice as this one. I have seen other cars that appear to have the same mileage (I cannot speak to condition, as I have not seen them in person) asking from $15-17K. While I have seen the cars that need reconditioning… the overhead would be impractical in comparison. The choice is yours. This is a rare find. This car is the one you have been looking for! Pre Purchase Inspections I will have very limited access to email. Arrangements for pre purchase inspections should be arranged via email 72 hours prior to action end. PAYMENT TERMS I will provide the car and title once all funds are clear and irrivocable. This means payment by cash or bank wire only. I will not accept personal checks, or bank drafts as they have long clearing times. I will accept PayPal for only the $1K partial payment at auction end. Ben GENERAL OVERVIEW PHOTOS Item Photos ABOUT ME My name is Ben Hellmoldt. I work in the eBay sales department at one of the larger Mercedes-Benz Centers on the West Coast. I have the unfortnate task of listing my own car for sale. This is NOT a dealership listing... it is indeeed titled to me, and is my persoanl car. Gone are the days that a sales associate, Internet Sales Mnager, Sales Manager, or even Genral Sales Mnager will get a demonstrator. Don't feel too bad... I am sure there are many people who dont get cars to drive as a perk. From time to time we will get a really special car in trade-in - you know the type, low milage, emacualate condition... driven nicely, and everything works... and I will take advanatge of my position at the dealership and buy the car. So, you say, this is no big deal. So waht? So you bought a trade and now your selling it! Until you look at how I approach my cars. Until you know how passionate I am about every little detail. Then perhap, you would say, "Gee, if this guy bought it... maybe I should seriously consider it."