Bought on impulse

teabag

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I've been looking for a new project to keep me busy now that I have brought the 320CE Cabriolet up to the standard where I can't justify doing any more to it. Two weeks ago I spotted a 1995 R129 SL280 at a specialist dealer in Newcastle which was advertised at a bargain price as it required a little bit of "TLC".

The guy was honest enough when he told me the car had been taken in part ex but he didn't really have the time to complete the work required to bring the car to the standard his business demanded, however, he felt the car was to good to go to the auction block and would rather see it go to a good home.

It is begining to show the usual rust spots in front of the front wheel arches and the bonnet is marked where it had had been in conflict with the previous owner's garage door (the "SpecSaver" advert springs to mind) but the damage is very minor, also the soft top is tatty with a couple of splits to the rear screen and the front bumper is heavily marked from stone chips.

Aside from these faults the car drove well and had a good service history, most of this from the last owner of 8 years with receipts for almost £8,000 during this time, so I thought what the hell, there's nothing that can't be fixed relatively simply and after a bit of haggling I bought the car as a "Trade Sale" and drove it the short journey back to Sunderland; only one more fault became apparent which was the heater permanently blowing hot air but I'll post this as another question in the correct forum.

I've now had the car for 12 days and have driven about 400 miles during this time, I've had it up on my friends ramp and given it a thorough going over and I can't find any major problems so I've decided to keep it as it is so nice to drive.
I've cleared all the mud and salt from the front wheel arches and they seem to be in pretty good condition apart from the bits just above the bumper which I can cut out and weld in a couple of patches before having the front end resprayed.
I've ordered a new soft top cover from a company on the west coast of America http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-...ccessories&hash=item41659fb9e8#ht_1675wt_1164 which should arrive in a couple of weeks, but as I've never fitted one of these before I would appreciate some help as to the best way to go about doing the job.

Unfortunately this means I now have three cars at my door, W246 B180CDi (everday transport), W124 320CE Cabriolet and now the R129 SL280, sadly one of them has to go and although it breaks my heart it has to be the Cabriolet.
Can anyone suggest the best place to advertise it to it's best advantage.
 

MBDevotee

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Dreaming of a CL55k - one day maybe....
Must confess that Autotrader is the only reliable place to sell a car...

I advertised my old CLK everywhere (this forum included) and got all my enquiries and eventual sale from the Autotrader - not one enquiry from the forum (in fact I think it's still on there as I can't find how to delete it!).

You could also try Top Marques if it's worth more than £8k - that is ideal for specialist stuff.
 

toby1

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Sold my last 2 cars on PistonHeads - HTH
 

DSB SL AMG

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Auto trader every time for me...interesting about the Ebay hood supplier, please post results after fitment...
 
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teabag

teabag

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interesting about the Ebay hood supplier, please post results after fitment...
I've just been looking at the videos on youtube showing the method for replacing the soft top, I must say it looks pretty daunting.
I expect the new hood to arrive at the end of next week but I am now in two minds as to attempting to fit it myself.

As far as the supplier goes they have been in business for 24 years and seem to have a good reputation on ebay so fingers crossed it should be ok at a very competitive price.
 

DSB SL AMG

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I would definitely post in the body / trim section regarding fitting process...I would also speak with someone like the SL shop for fitting tips...http://www.theslshop.com/


I've just been looking at the videos on youtube showing the method for replacing the soft top, I must say it looks pretty daunting.
I expect the new hood to arrive at the end of next week but I am now in two minds as to attempting to fit it myself.

As far as the supplier goes they have been in business for 24 years and seem to have a good reputation on ebay so fingers crossed it should be ok at a very competitive price.
 

discoking

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Peter the 129 is an amazing car,they really are.I still get just as excited looking at mine and driving her as I did the 1st day I bought her nearly 6yrs ago and the one you just bought will come up a treat when you've finished.

As for your dilemma,well as good as the 129's are and imo way better than a 124,I feel the 124 will be the more valuable car for some time to come and having seen both your 124 and 129 your 124 is a real beauty and the shame of it is that no matter how good you get your 129 looking I fear it's never going to worth half as much as your 124.

My head says keep your 124,my heart says enjoy your new 129 as there is nothing quite like them.Plus we can have mini 129 meets :)
 
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teabag

teabag

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Thanks for this Justin,
I've made up my mind to sell the 124 as I can't keep both of them and the 129 is so much more of a drivers car so it can be enjoyed rather than wrapped up in cotton wool.

The SL is booked into the body shop on Monday and I'm expecting the new roof to arrive sometime next week so it shouldn't be too long before we can have a natter over a coffee.

At the moment I'm just trying to find time to have some good photographs taken of the 124 before I advertise it for sale on some of the classic sites, I just hope the weather holds out until I can sell it.
 

television

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Peter the 129 is an amazing car,they really are.I still get just as excited looking at mine and driving her as I did the 1st day I bought her nearly 6yrs ago and the one you just bought will come up a treat when you've finished.

I can remember you posting when you bought it, and that little bracket in the drivers door, and that was 110,000 post ago for me :D
 

discoking

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I can remember you posting when you bought it, and that little bracket in the drivers door, and that was 110,000 post ago for me :D

Heh thanks Malcolm,I remember sending you it and then finding out MB sold it for about £1.20 lol.

But about the 129,I'm a car dealer,have been all my life and I'm now a few months shy of 40 and have worked in and now own the family business which was started in 1966 by my dad and as such have owned,driven and had lends of all sorts of cars but quite honestly even today there isn't a car to match the ride,build quality and overall look and feel of the 129.

I'd had loads of Mercs before the 129 as I've always loved them,especially the 124 coupes but like most dealers they were bought to use for a bit and then sell on and the 129 was no different except from the 1st drive back to the garage i knew she was a keeper.

And Peter I'm quite pleased your keeping the 129 and getting the work done cos as soon as you turn up again in it and it's looking gleaming I just know I'll have to get the few jobs done on mine which I've kept putting off as I really don't want to be without her for any length of time :)
 

Tug

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Hi I sold my Scimitar on Car and classic (free advert) good luckfrom Tug.
 

DSB SL AMG

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Did you fit the new soft top roof? how did it go?
 
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teabag

teabag

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Did you fit the new soft top roof? how did it go?
As I said earlier, I bottled out of fitting it myself and gave it to a local trimmer who has fitted 8 R129 hoods this year. He inspected the top before taking on the job and in his opinion the top was among the best he had ever seen including the OEM MB top he fitted for a customer last year.

The car went in last Tuesday initially for two days but he kept the car for three days as he was not satisfied with the fit of the rear section, I went to have a look on Thursday morning and could see the trailing edge of the cover was not sitting correctly and was flicked up rather like the tail of a blackbird. The trimmer said the fabric section which contains the window had been cut about 3mm short and would need to be stretched between the final bow and the rear rail but he was going to remove the rear cover and re-glue it to the rail in order to gain as much as possible.

I collected the car on Friday morning and the "Flick" was still apparent but not nearly as bad as it was the previous day. The trimmer demonstrated the roof as working ok but advised me to leave it up for a couple of weeks to try and stretch the material as he is confident it will settle through time. He may be right as it is better now than it was a week ago.
It has rained heavily over the last few days and there are no leaks, the fabric is good and taught as are the windows which are optically very good without any distortion.

I have my doubts as to why the fabric was short but without any proof of who was to blame I will just have to "Suck it and see" but hopefully it looks as if it will get better with time.

I'll post some pictures when the weather clears up.
 


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