Mercedes-Benz E430 - $12k

A good friend of mine who I worked with for over 10 years in Canberra has just put up this ad for his Merc.


http://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/Mercedes-Benz-E430-1998/SSE-AD-3713945/?Cr=9




I'm going to put in a plug for it just because I know the seller so very well, and part of buying a second hand car is to trust the seller.  Martin is a 55 year old car nut. I would not be out of order in saying he is obsessive about his cars.  The car was great when he got it 6 years ago (the previous owner only sold it for family reasons) and has only gotten better in the time Martin has owned it.  He is genuine when he says it has never been driven on dirt, and the time he spends polishing it. He hasn't visited me since we left Canberra because it would involve him driving on 4km of gravel road - so I've visited him! Martin has been just as fastidious about his previous cars, and his BMW 635 Alpina was featured in many car magazines. To be brutally honest, Martin spends far too much (IMHO) on making cars pristine than he should but who am I to make judgements on someone else' passion. But I can confidently say you would not find a fault with any car Martin sold that wasn't disclosed at the time of sale, and this Merc will not disappoint. Whilst we were working together Martin replaced the headlights simply because there were a few small chips in them (ie, normal wear and tear).  I know he is genuinely regretful in his comments about the stone chips on the bonnet but I'll bet you can't even see them.

I am very happy to provide a "referee's report" on the seller.

The bottom line is, if you know someone who is after a car in the $10 - $15k bracket, this car should be a contender (provided you want a Merc of course, and are happy with the mods). I wouldn't recommend it to friends unless I knew it to be genuine.

And I should have mentioned the reason Martin is selling the Merc - all text is quoted (and it provides an insight into the soul of the man):

"The car was owned by the man (Sean) who runs Bosskraft - THE place to have Boss Mustangs restored. He has a worldwide reputation as one of the very best. In fact he the only person outside the US who has credentials to judge at US elite level concourse events. The car has been bare shell rotisserie restored with every single component rebuilt to factory standard (including paint runs and overspray underneath). It is therefore almost certainly the best 1970 Boss 302 in the country and one of the very best in the world.  Finalising a few things I want on it and so won't have it for about 3 weeks yet. Here is a full description (the wheels will be replaced with period option 5 spoke chrome wheels)  http://www.bosskraft.com/70-boss-302-yellow.html

The Merc will be going and the Boss will go in the garage."

Nice machines..........

That's a lot of car for the $$$, 2nd hand Benz's and BMW's can be real bargains at times.

I loved reading the add, after reading your post i had a pre conceived idea he is another just like a mate of mine who is fastidious about his HSV Monaro spending up to 8 hrs detailing it before shows and/or events, I keep telling Aaron to stop wasting his time on something with more than 2 wheels . After reading the add I think your mate Martin might nearly take it to another level.

I think some of the customers I've had would give them a run for their money .
I once re-trimmed a ( new )BMW from cloth to leather for a guy who had just bought it and as it turned out  he was friends with the owner of our local BMW dealership & one thing led to another & we were asked if we would like to do the same for them & they could sell the cars with some other after-market bits as a special edition ( ended up doing dozens of them over the years ) The first one we did for them was to be picked up from us by the owner ,so we made sure everything was spot on & that there wasn't any dust or anything on her car.She arrived about 10 minutes later & went over it with a fine tooth comb ..................her comment ................beautiful job & she loved it ........but......... it was just a pity about the dust on her car ( 10 minutes worth ) I know if you're paying big money for a new car you would naturally be fussy , but quite often we would have to  open the boot only to find a feather duster in there    . Must have done something right though, we ended up doing the same for  the Mercedes , Audi , etc dealers as well . Their customers were no different t  but it was worth the extra effort & P.R. you had to put in .

paul wrote:I think some of the customers I've had would give them a run for their money .
I once re-trimmed a ( new )BMW from cloth to leather for a guy who had just bought it and as it turned out  he was friends with the owner of our local BMW dealership & one thing led to another & we were asked if we would like to do the same for them & they could sell the cars with some other after-market bits as a special edition ( ended up doing dozens of them over the years ) The first one we did for them was to be picked up from us by the owner ,so we made sure everything was spot on & that there wasn't any dust or anything on her car.She arrived about 10 minutes later & went over it with a fine tooth comb ..................her comment ................beautiful job & she loved it ........but......... it was just a pity about the dust on her car ( 10 minutes worth ) I know if you're paying big money for a new car you would naturally be fussy , but quite often we would have to  open the boot only to find a feather duster in there    . Must have done something right though, we ended up doing the same for  the Mercedes , Audi , etc dealers as well . Their customers were no different t  but it was worth the extra effort & P.R. you had to put in .

Did he (or his family) own a servo near Parafield Airport? If it's the one I'm thinking of, Bone Leather? Even the ceiling and parcel shelf were done?

Chook wrote:

paul wrote:I think some of the customers I've had would give them a run for their money .
I once re-trimmed a ( new )BMW from cloth to leather for a guy who had just bought it and as it turned out  he was friends with the owner of our local BMW dealership & one thing led to another & we were asked if we would like to do the same for them & they could sell the cars with some other after-market bits as a special edition ( ended up doing dozens of them over the years ) The first one we did for them was to be picked up from us by the owner ,so we made sure everything was spot on & that there wasn't any dust or anything on her car.She arrived about 10 minutes later & went over it with a fine tooth comb ..................her comment ................beautiful job & she loved it ........but......... it was just a pity about the dust on her car ( 10 minutes worth ) I know if you're paying big money for a new car you would naturally be fussy , but quite often we would have to  open the boot only to find a feather duster in there    . Must have done something right though, we ended up doing the same for  the Mercedes , Audi , etc dealers as well . Their customers were no different t  but it was worth the extra effort & P.R. you had to put in .

Did he (or his family) own a servo near Parafield Airport? If it's the one I'm thinking of, Bone Leather? Even the ceiling and parcel shelf were done?

This bloke was from the south coast ,  generally it was just the seats & door trims , not the headlining .

Well Martin's Merc has gone to a new home. A Merc enthusiast in Sydney bought her.

Someone did all right for themselves then .

Geez - not long on the market. The new owner obviously knew what they wanted, had the coin and snapped it.
Good Job.

Damn !  I was just about to book a flight down. 

I am so bamboozled, over the price of second hand Merc`s.

They just don`t hold their price.

A lad I used to work with, got me looking at the things all the time, as that`s all he drives. When he told me the price of them, I always watch them on car sales, and they are CHEAP.

I can only point the finger at parts being the main reason, and possibly a 10yr old car, is starting to get close to certain services, or repairs, that are going to cost an arm and a leg.

Other wise I`d go one.

BMWs and Audis are also good value 2nd hand

Chook wrote:BMWs and Audis are also good value 2nd hand

Until you have to repair them

madmax wrote:

Chook wrote:BMWs and Audis are also good value 2nd hand

Until you have to repair them

An Audi are just a VW in another body