New boy question re SECs

[Breadboy]

Firstly, hi to everyone, this is my first post here, having been newly registered.
I have been looking for a nice w126 SEC for a while now and have narrowed my search to two cars. I would really appreciate some help in choosing between the two. I have no mechanical experience, but have a great Merc specialist garage nearby, and will want to run the car as my main vehicle - I don't do more than about 6000 miles a year - I just want a nice ride and I love the SECs.
Car 1) 500 SEC 1990 H plate. Blue/black with flawless grey leather. 90k miles 3 owners. FULL history. This car is in good nick with no rust anywhere that I can see. It is on for £5950 GBP and I have driven it. It feels very nice.
HOWEVER, it pulls slightly to the left and it is being sold by a dealer - they deal mainly in higher-end motors and he said he didn't usually touch SECs but this was a particularly good one.

Car2) 420 SEC 1988. Same colour, same interior no rust, no rust under back window etc. This is 114k miles and the private seller has had it from 18 months old. It was his company car and he bought it outright when he retired and it has been garaged most of the time. I haven't driven it but he seems like a nice, honest sort of a bloke. It has full history - mostly with main dealer but last 7 years with specialist who "Looks after it much better." I realy like talking to this feller and when I see it tomorrow, I am sure it will match his description of 'flawless'. On for the same price.

So...Car 1 has the bigger engine, less miles but pulls a bit to the left. Is this significant?

Car2 has longer miles, older but I trust the seller and like the history.

They LOOK the same, so I can't choose on that level. So I put it to the panel...comments would be appreciated.

Seb.

 

[Bobthebuilder58]

Firstly, hi to everyone, this is my first post here, having been newly registered.
I have been looking for a nice w126 SEC for a while now and have narrowed my search to two cars. I would really appreciate some help in choosing between the two. I have no mechanical experience, but have a great Merc specialist garage nearby, and will want to run the car as my main vehicle - I don't do more than about 6000 miles a year - I just want a nice ride and I love the SECs.
Car 1) 500 SEC 1990 H plate. Blue/black with flawless grey leather. 90k miles 3 owners. FULL history. This car is in good nick with no rust anywhere that I can see. It is on for £5950 GBP and I have driven it. It feels very nice.
HOWEVER, it pulls slightly to the left and it is being sold by a dealer - they deal mainly in higher-end motors and he said he didn't usually touch SECs but this was a particularly good one.

Car2) 420 SEC 1988. Same colour, same interior no rust, no rust under back window etc. This is 114k miles and the private seller has had it from 18 months old. It was his company car and he bought it outright when he retired and it has been garaged most of the time. I haven't driven it but he seems like a nice, honest sort of a bloke. It has full history - mostly with main dealer but last 7 years with specialist who "Looks after it much better." I really like talking to this feller and when I see it tomorrow, I am sure it will match his description of 'flawless'. On for the same price.

So...Car 1 has the bigger engine, less miles but pulls a bit to the left. Is this significant?

Car2 has longer miles, older but I trust the seller and like the history.

They LOOK the same, so I can't choose on that level. So I put it to the panel...comments would be appreciated.

Seb.

I think car two sounds a lot better:-D You can't bet better than a virtually one owner car and it has been garaged most of it's life
The price is on the top end though
If you don't know much about these type of cars I would recommend that you get a independant inspection AA/RAC etc I have just bought a one owner CL 420,the model that came after the SEC,and it was so nice to able to talk to the owner of it and get a feel as to how the car had been treated all it's life:-D There is plenty of power in the 420 engine.

Bob.

 

[television]

The 420 engine is big enough to pull the car well, but the 500 will do it better, not quite so economical. Do check out the air con on both cars by turning down the temperture to min and they should be icy cold.


We have quite a few people here with them,see what other answer come up and give the other one a test drive,then let us know your gut feelings.

Malcolm

 

[Breadboy]

Update.

Ok, quick update.
I have since driven Car 2. and here are my impressions.

Beautiful inteterior, comparable to car 1.
Drives very tight and smooth. Gear changes are hardly perceptable.
Exterior very nice, the guy had the wheel arches replated in '99. Looks lovely.
The owner has had it from 15,000 miles and has really babied it. It gets serviced every year regardless of mileage, which, judging by service book, is every 3000 miles.
The guy is very nice and I trust him completely.

Bad points.
Has a tow bar which I want removed. He pulls a small trailer to get logs and take gardening stuff to dump - no caravans. Removal will leave two small holes in rear bumper. Will I need new bumper or can this be touched up?
Has the dreaded rust under rear sill. He was horrified when I showed this to him and he had no idea it was an issue with this model. My mech. says no problem, the rear window will be removed, resealed and replaced and the rust will be treated so it won't spread. The rust isn't flaking or anything, the metal just feels rough and it is brown. He says his guy will sort this out,

In the meantime I have drives a third SEC, a 500 with 79K miles and it was shabby, smelt oily and had bad interior and faded paintwork. The difference between that and Car 1 and Car 2 were incredible.

So...Car 1 or Car2????

Seb.

 

[Bobthebuilder58]

Ok, quick update.
I have since driven Car 2. and here are my impressions.

Beautiful inteterior, comparable to car 1.
Drives very tight and smooth. Gear changes are hardly perceptable.
Exterior very nice, the guy had the wheel arches replated in '99. Looks lovely.
The owner has had it from 15,000 miles and has really babied it. It gets serviced every year regardless of mileage, which, judging by service book, is every 3000 miles.
The guy is very nice and I trust him completely.

Bad points.
Has a tow bar which I want removed. He pulls a small trailer to get logs and take gardening stuff to dump - no caravans. Removal will leave two small holes in rear bumper. Will I need new bumper or can this be touched up?
Has the dreaded rust under rear sill. He was horrified when I showed this to him and he had no idea it was an issue with this model. My mech. says no problem, the rear window will be removed, resealed and replaced and the rust will be treated so it won't spread. The rust isn't flaking or anything, the metal just feels rough and it is brown. He says his guy will sort this out,

In the meantime I have drives a third SEC, a 500 with 79K miles and it was shabby, smelt oily and had bad interior and faded paintwork. The difference between that and Car 1 and Car 2 were incredible.

So...Car 1 or Car2????

Seb.

Hi Seb,I'm not quite sure who is going to do the sill repair for you.Is it the current owner,or will you have to foot the bill?

My gut feeling is car two:!: I still think he is asking way to much for it though

Bob.

 

[Breadboy]

Just spoke to owner of car 2. He says he took the car straight to his mech to look at sill rust and said his mech looked at him like he was nuts and said he sorted the sill out five years ago during a service. He has now found the bill for it. He said the rust is hardly noticeable. He wants me to call his mech myself to be reassured.
Car 1 has no rust. Going back tomorrow to look at car 1 in better weather than first viewing.

Seb

 

[Speedmaster]

I was reading a buying guide for these recently and they said the 500sec is the one to have. I like the sound of car one but get them to fix the pulling

 

[Hibbo]

I think Speedmaster (good name!) has a good point, the 500s are more sought after and will be worth more in the future. As it's from a dealer get them to get the car perfect before going any further.

Bob also has a good point about (practically) one owner cars.

Hmmm, what a pointless (despite using the phrase 'good point' twice!) post, it'll really help you decide!

 

[mattsurf]

Have you seen this one

http://www.wdmcarsmercedesspecialist.co.uk/GetDealer.do?did=12400&pageid=1

A bit expensive though - even with 37k miles

 

[Speedmaster]

It was my username when I was on the BMW forum (reckless days ) but I like to think I am much more relaxed and calm piloting my Mercedes!
(plus I have points now for speeding)
So now I am just "Slow-lane-master"

 

[telletubby]

I have owned three of these monsters in my time and a friend of mine had a 420. - I had an early (84) 500 and then two late 560s.

Imho the rules are, always take the later cars as they're prettier and better.
Avoid gold and red, preferably go for grey and black. Always go for leather.
Always avoid any rust. The 560 was certainly the nicest car and the engine never did any work so it showed no wear even after 250k. It's like going for a ride in your living room.

Despite everything you say therefore I'd go for car 1.

 

[Breadboy]

Hi.
Thaks to all for advice. Unfortunately Car 1 was found to be riddled with rust on second inspection - I'll never view another car when it's raining.
So car number 2 is still ion the running. However all this looking has convinced me there's a really good one out there somehwere and I'll keep looking.

Seb.

 

[jibcl500]

Seb

Get the 500 or 560, get the best you can for the money, mechanicals can be replaced, body work and paint can be expensive, time to buy, NOW!!!!!!, when looking at motors always take someone with you thats knows the cars your looking at, take the cash with you and let the seller see you have the dosh on you that way a 6k car can be bought for 5k.

jib