Star Gazer and anyone else interested in the Mosman 560SEC.
I did a detailed inspection of this car about 3 weeks ago.
I'd been meaning to post my "illuminating" experience for some time but other commitments prevailed.
Forgive the long winded tale but In respect of recent replies deserves to be told.
As is known,(I started this post) I am also in the market for a reasonable condition 560SEC, aware of all the pitfalls of the marque at this age,now getting on for 30yrs old.
As background, living in Sydney, there are very few of these cars left that (a) have not been trashed,(b) have not been thrashed and (c) have not been "pimped" to the point where before you start on the usual you'd have to spend serious dollars to return car to spec.Most of the drug dealer staff cars have gone to the burn out grave, 5yrs ago they were plentiful.
It appears a few good ones end up in WA (I know of at least one genuine 120,000km superior example from QLD that did in the last 18months) more natural wealth...
The market, across the board is seriously down now.Only extremely low k's examples and those that have full dedicated service history are moving.
I digress.
I rang leaving my contact details to arrange an inspection of the Mosman 560SEC. Only 40mins from home,why not check it out, fully expecting a basket case... I got the basket case but it wasn't necessarily in the form of the car...!
An elderly gentleman with a Scottish accent returned my call a day later exclaiming, "Yes, very unfortunate about the interior, you could grow potatoes in the boot...!" He played dumb with any further detailed knowledge of the vehicle. We bantered on briefly and arranged an inspection time for a day later.
The next day, I received a phone call from the lady owner/wife/partner... sounding like a cross between Lillian Gish (1930's star actress)and someone out of "Arsenic and Old Lace", (great old 1930's flick about 2 eccentric old nutcases that poison unsuspecting guests...!)
"Oh yes she said,... my son had an episode in the car..." I was sensitive to her frankness about what had happened, we all have our moments.
When i turned up, after a good 5 mins practicing her name in my W210 E320 in a local car park, she seemed a little nervous, "taken aback", "put out", uncomfortable....
Doing my best to make her feel at ease, I thanked her and proceeded to check out bodywork overview. All seemed ok on the surface. She took great pains to point out the scratches on the boot lid, and yes, they were there, and deep too.The usual beginnings of rust under LHS rear window, rust also on extreme LHS upper boot lip.The rest seemed ok.
Then, the dreaded interior... Well, from an initial glance it actually wasn't too bad. Sure there was some discoloration of bits of trim and carpets etc but most was intact and repair/serviceable.
I was getting quite excited and started to think... "I really want to buy this car" this is before opening the hood or a test drive.
The true test of a 560SEC owner is the technique of opening the bonnet... well, she had it down pat. I played dumb, fumbling around under the grill when she confidently nearly knocked me for 6 to get to the tags either side of the grill. The engine bay looked in fine shape. No weeping rocker gaskets, all clean and correct lube/etc levels. no corrosion,"this engine has been looked after" was my overwhelming thought.
I showed her my drivers license thinking she'd let me drive a few km's and the said, "Oh no... I'm coming with you" Ok no probs... it was then I found out the passenger seat belt floor fitting was cactus. Unable to wear the seat belt she ignored it... saying "It doesn't matter dear... we're not going far...my son had a turn you know... the belt doesn't work.." I started to feel as nervous as I thought she was. Ironically, her confidence seemed to rise as I gently put the 560 through it's paces, (as much as you can in a suburb like Mosman, near Taronga Zoo). "It's never been in an accident you know"... she exclaimed half way through the test drive. all seemed ok except on full lock I could her a banging noise coming from the front suspension. I repeated full and half lock several times and sure enough it happened every time. Something was amiss. Control arm, bushes... suspension component, who knows. It was a serious bang/thud from the front end. I quizzed the owner to the repeated,"It's never been in an accident". Gearbox was reasonable to not great. A strong thud going into reverse/drive from repetitive selection.Changed ok on the road,kick down ok. Still really keen on buying we did a few more laps around Taronga Zoo whilst my host fielded calls from psychiatrists about adjusting medication for her son who'd had the "episode" in the car. As we pulled in to the driveway I sensed, something is just not right about this car. Couldn't put my finger on it...
Anyway time to haggle.Well, she was having none of it... "$12,500 is the price... and that's it...!We're on the pension you know..." "Oh", I said, "what about taking off the $400 you said you'd had a quote for the seat belt fitting? At least I'll be able to then take my wife for a drive in it". We finally agreed on $12,150.00 (she had to get that last $50...) It was then that I asked to peruse the "extensive" folder of repair invoices that she had mentioned on the test drive. Her partner came out with a rather large folder full of invoices dating back over 20 yrs, most in the last 10yrs.Hidden in the middle I found an invoice from 2010 from a local smash repairs for $8,500 worth of front end collision work. New radiator, replaced panels, fans, suspension components, repainting etc, etc.I asked her about the obvious front end smash work and she replied,"My son scraped the bumper a bit..." Turning to the partner who had brought in the file, he said, "Don't you remember,he totally smashed his own car and then smashed yours to even it up...he did a good job of it too.." At which point I said, "I can't buy this car.... it's had a serious front ender" and walked away. Sooo close but to be honest, I couldn't ever buy a car with such front end damage, even repaired.I'm sure that was the source of the front end knock/bang heard on test drive.
To be honest, the car drove reasonably well. Little play in the steering, brakes (new rotors/pads etc) all good. Air con/climate control worked fine (rare). Sunroof all ok.The car has had some serious money spent to keep it on the road. I wouldn't buy it on principal, being in serious front end collision.Aside from that the owner lied to me... forget it...!
Apologies for the rambling tale.You meet some interesting people out there...! (" I only buy cars to meet people"....)
I'm soldiering on negotiating on a, thankfully, not publicly advertised 205kw very clean hk import with 135,000km on the clock.Fastidiously maintained, a good example with no "Arsenic and Old Lace" overtones.
As previous poster suggested, "Don't be in a hurry"
James
Statistics: Posted by 230EW123er — Thu Nov 14, 2013 2:15 am