Would this be a Bad Idea or a Very Bad Idea? 380SL

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/302533589597236/  I've always though these were cool cars.

A definite *No* to those wheels, but I bet the right buyer would pay the cost of the car for them.

Is the lack of a title a big deal in your area?

In Oregon it is an absolute dealbreaker 

I've always been drawn to these cars as well, so I understand your affliction.  Eight hundred bucks is right cheap, but the 380's of that vintage don't bring a whole lot anyway, and I can't help but feel that the difference between 800 and a nice example would be used up very quickly.

How long sitting?

Is the mileage correct?  12k?  Remarkable if true.

Edit:  I see the asking price on decent runners has gone up lately, along with everything else.  For 800, I might be tempted to roll the dice.  Get it cleaned up and see if I could actually get it running. 

Trent said:

Is the lack of a title a big deal in your area?

In Oregon it is an absolute dealbreaker 

Lack of a title is a complication, but not a deal breaker. I had a business obtain a "court order title" https://www.titleworkbysharon.com/ for a Porsche 914 that had no records other than a hand written bill of sale.

I think the front and rear wheels don't match. Not a big deal when they're coming off anyway, but might be a big deal if trying to sell them.

VBI  A friend whose cars I help maintain has a '80 450 SL that is in nice driving condition. Very Bad Idea.

I'd pass

How do you feel about that color? 

I've been told they are built like tanks. I never worked on a tank, so I don't know if that's good or bad. I suspect it was a statement towards durability rather than service ability.

I just looked at all the pictures. 

I'd run the other way as fast as I could. Looks like it's been sitting at least 10 years which means the cooling system is nasty, the brakes will need a total rebuild, the rings might be stuck, the seats are about as destroyed as they can be and remain seat shaped, the steering wheel is a major red flag. I see 3-4 grand to get it roadworthy plus title fees and then you end up with the worst of the SLs. I'd bet you can find a driver for 5-6k

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

I've been told they are built like tanks. I never worked on a tank, so I don't know if that's good or bad. I suspect it was a statement towards durability rather than service ability.

TMercs of the 70's and early 80's are neat. They are constructed in such a way that makes them very repairable and adjustable. The window regulators for instance have adjustable guide blocks so that, as they wear you can take the slack out. This makes the regulators very complicated and chunky and they take hours to set up correctly, but they work very nicely if you are willing to sacrifice the time and frustration to do so. Build a whole car like that and you wind up with a very stout, heavy, complicated car. 

They'd be a great car for a tinkerer. Paying someone to do the work on the other hand is madness.

Trent said:

I just looked at all the pictures. 

I'd run the other way as fast as I could. Looks like it's been sitting at least 10 years which means the cooling system is nasty, the brakes will need a total rebuild, the rings might be stuck, the seats are about as destroyed as they can be and remain seat shaped, the steering wheel is a major red flag. I see 3-4 grand to get it roadworthy plus title fees and then you end up with the worst of the SLs. I'd bet you can find a driver for 5-6k

Who do you think you are, some high-end vintage European-forcused restoration guru?!!?!  Pshhh. 

<This was sarcasm> 

Trent said:

I just looked at all the pictures. 

I'd run the other way as fast as I could. Looks like it's been sitting at least 10 years which means the cooling system is nasty, the brakes will need a total rebuild, the rings might be stuck, the seats are about as destroyed as they can be and remain seat shaped, the steering wheel is a major red flag. I see 3-4 grand to get it roadworthy plus title fees and then you end up with the worst of the SLs. I'd bet you can find a driver for 5-6k

I don't think 3-4 grand would start it.

To me (and more importantly to my bank account) that's a parts car/parts car price unless you really love those things and have the bank account to properly fix everything.  Can't imagine a world where that car makes financial sense, but if it tugs at your heart, well that's different and I get it.

Great comments, thanks. I just did some checking of 'solds' on eBay and there's not much demand or profit to be made from parting it either. I think I'm starting to understand the seller's "Never had the motivation to fix it."

re David's comment about color - Probably my least favorite color for these, but if it was a decent buy at the $800 asking I could have lived with it.

Running away now....

My wife had a thing for that body style.  A friend had a 560SL in strong driver condition that he was selling.  I thought it was just awful.  A numb, floating boat of a car.  

Incredibly, my wife drove it and declared she loved it.  She was convinced I could manual swap it!  Thankfully, I found a little rust to use as an excuse to talk her out of it.  She eventually bought a new Cooper S convertible.  Phew.

AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:

Great comments, thanks. I just did some checking of 'solds' on eBay and there's not much demand or profit to be made from parting it either. I think I'm starting to understand the seller's "Never had the motivation to fix it."

re David's comment about color - Probably my least favorite color for these, but if it was a decent buy at the $800 asking I could have lived with it.

Running away now....

Yeah, why I asked about the color: Even if it ran great, would you still be excited to own and drive it? 

NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) said:

Trent said:

 I see 3-4 grand to get it roadworthy plus title fees and then you end up with the worst of the SLs. I'd bet you can find a driver for 5-6k

I don't think 3-4 grand would start it.

I was trying to not be too much of a downer . That thing is scrap. Resuscitation of the D jet would blow most of my theoretical budget

 

At that price, it's a good starting point for an engine swap. I wouldn't bother reupping the M116.

The problem with the 380SL is the existence of the 450SL, really.  The 450SL wasn't all that powerful and the 380 was less so.

A really, really nice 380SL can be had for far less than repairing one that needs work. IIRC.  I was looking into these a little bit ago because I don't care that much about slow as long as it's interesting, and these cars check a lot of boxes for interesting.

I have been chasing a nice one for a while. My wife has decided that she wants one. 

I despise the idea.

I have a friend who briefly had a 560sl that he bought maybe 10ish years  ago for I think 8k. It was fun in a drop top cruiser kinda way, but not sporty or fast. We drove from Ft. Lauderdale to key west a few times and it was a blast in that context. It ended up costing too much (in time and effort) for him to maintain and sold it to one of our other friends who is merc enthusiast. In guess my point is that you gotta love these cars to get them right and even then you might find it less fulfilling than you expected. 
 

Engine swap candidate, otherwise it's an expensive paperweight.

I've always had a thing for the boxy W115 cars. Found a very solid one in a junkyard here years ago and toyed with buying it to do a swap on. Just a few cursory measurements revealed it would be a challenge above my paygrade. The crossmember was ill-suited for a lot of oil pans, IIRC.  I still liked the idea of one looking bone stock but carrying 'Murican V8 power under the bonnet.

My dad was a grey-market Mercedes importer for a while.  The first car was a 500 SEL, then a 500 SL, which is the first car I drove solo after I got my license, so I have a soft spot for them.

If this car was solid, I'd swap in a GM 2.0t or LFX and enjoy.

The US spec 380 engine isn't great either because of the timing chain issues.  I think aj OM606 swap in one would be cool though.