1991 Mercedes Benz 300SEL W126

Description

Dad's car. Time to let it go.
I bought it for my dad when I was working as a mechanic at a local German car dealership and it came in on trade, about 13 years ago. It's been his daily driver since. It's been maintained for functional daily use, good mechanical care. But it's been driven year round, and it's getting rusty and the paint is a little sun faded.
Some work done to it over the years, and other notable stuff:
- I had the cylinder head rebuilt, new valve guides, valve job, head milled flat, when the valve guides had worn out and it was using oil. That was around 40,000 miles ago or so.
- The front and rear crank seals have been replaced within the last year, timing chain cover resealed, all that stuff. Dry engine.
- Transmission has has regular fluid and filter changes. Haven't had to do anything else to it. Shifts well.
- All four shocks replaced with new Sachs shocks about three years ago. Several suspension bushings in the front end have been replaced too, including the lower thrust bushings which are kind of a bear. Steering's tight, no weird rattles over bumps.
- Rebuilt and resealed the power steering pump last winter
- The fuel injection system is a KE Jetronic, and the car runs well. The EHA valve and the idle air bypass is tuned so the computer doesn't have to apply a big correction factor to get the car to run well on 10% ethanol. Starts up fine from cold, don't have to play with the gas pedal, no extended crank time, just fires up and idles fine. Good throttle response, surprisingly quick for how big it is. New fuel pump about 6 or 8 years ago, new fuel filter last year.
- New HVAC air door dashpots last winter.
- New (less used) harmonic balancer two years ago
- New driveshaft coupler (guibo) last winter
- New (less used) wiper linkage a few years ago
- Stock Becker radio. No aftermarket hack wiring in the dash. All stock.
- New battery two or three years ago
- Stock wheels were refinished a few years ago, set of Michelin Premier A/S at that time, still plenty of tread.
- Real European headlights, actual glass Bosch, not aftermarket stuff
It's an old car that an old guy drove around mostly on Cape Cod. Once in a while he'd run up to Boston to ferry someone to or from the airport, but that's about it. No real heavy duty city commuting or really long trips since he started driving it.
The interior is in pretty good shape. The driver's seat springs and seat base pad are worn out but the upholstery's pretty good. The center console sliding top cover needs to be replaced. There's a little tear in the vinyl on the B pillar on the driver's side. The clock doesn't work. The cruise control doesn't work. Look carefully at the photos for rust along the lower edges of the body panels and sun faded paint on horizontal surfaces. The front bumper top trim chrome is rusty and that panel's not easy to find in good shape in New England. My dad got rear ended maybe five years ago, pushed the bumper in, went to the body shop, got a good condition used bumper and while it was in they took care of some rust around the sunroof, and that's just starting to bubble again. The check engine light sometimes comes on during long steady cruises on the highway, then shuts off if you accelerate or decelerate and I haven't taken the time to look into it too far. Might be time for a fresh O2 sensor, though the lambda system is working. No misfires, oil pressure and coolant temp always okay. A/C was converted to R134 before I bought it, and it needs to be recharged at the start of each summer. Have to oil the HVAC blower motor bushings once a year or so or they start squeaking. That's about the worst of it. It rides great, super highway cruiser, a big comfy boat of an S class Mercedes. All the power windows work. The vacuum locks work (all of them, all the doors, gas door, and trunk). The power passenger mirror works. The power seats and power steering wheel adjustment all work. The power antenna works. The rear defroster works. The sunroof works. Brakes are in good shape. It's old enough that it doesn't need to pass the smog test in Massachusetts any more. It got a muffler maybe three years ago. It definitely has a lot of use left in it. Hard to wear out a W126 chassis and M103 engine combo. Has that classic heavy precise WHOOMP sound when closing a door.
Feel free to ask questions. I've done most of the maintenance on the car, and when I haven't been around to do something, it's gone to a neighbor's independent shop in town. Just want to free up some space and see it go to someone who will use it, as otherwise it's just going to sit in the garage.
Local pickup please, face to face to handle the transaction and sign over the title. If you want to ship a car, you'll probably be happier looking for one from a southern or western state where there's no road salt.
Thank you for looking.