R107 Potential Purchase

[Panzerwagen]

Hello everyone, hope all is well.

I'm interested in purchasing a (specific) '73 450 SL, and was hoping to receive some input as to the value of the car.

What is the ball park price of an early 450 SL currently, assuming it is in excellent cosmetic and mechanical condition, with full service history?

There are only three examples of this model on Carsales at the moment, and the price difference between each car is significant. Redbook suggests between $13K and $18K, but their pricing is not always accurate. Hence, it is difficult to put a figure on what they are worth as of 2017.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

[CraigB]

Welcome. My argument is that a cars value/cost should be in relation to how much that car owes you after say 5 yrs of ownership. So its hard to say "all 450sl are worth xx dollars", although browse through forums and there is usually a chorus of people who will categorically tell a seller they are asking too much. But looking at those 3 on carsales, I take your point! I doub't the $55k car will sell, but when you look at the price of W113 you can see the logic that maybe these cars should be worth this sort of money. There are a lot more of them produced though so supply and demand rules don't work as well in favour. $17k car is LHD and that will always negatively impact on values in Australia. Some people don't mind it though and if you want the experience of an SL then might be worth considering, but will always affect resale value in Australia i believe. $30k for a not perfect but respectable and nothing needing to do car (if that's what the other one is) in my mind is about right - but that's just an opinion.

I haven't seen one for a while but i have seen cars for $10k or less, but all will have rust or poor paint (budget $10k) and or engine/trans issues (budget say $8k), cracked dash (1-2k depending on how much work you will do), seat issues/leather (probably $5k or so depending on what you do), roof etc etc. So its not hard to justify 30-35K for the car you hand over cash, turn the key, get serviced and enjoy. I don't even think $55k is outrageous but I haven't seen any evidence of cars changing hands for that eg. at auctions etc. I think they will though and that a good one is a good investment.

'The experts' will always gravitate to the cheapest car they ever saw advertised. When i see a nice car I will often ask the owner how much they spent on it if they don't mind sharing that. I can't think of one example of a car that someone has fixed up that has cost them less than what you reckon a really nice car is selling for. An SLC, but a few weeks back looked at a asking price of 15k car that had over 20k in receipts. It still had issues to spend money on (not to mention a non-original metal flake paint job that wouldn't appeal to all).

Another big consideration is what you want the car to be like and say in 5 yrs time. If you just want the top down experience and don't care if a ratty interior and peeling paint, then you might find the right car for you cheap (assuming mechanicals ok so you can drive it) and if you then resell you probably won't lose anything. Just don't underestimate the cost of doing stuff.

If you want a car right now and those three are the only ones available and you want to keep it for a reasonable length of time, I would have the 55k car checked and offer around $40k cash and if they are keen to sell and took it, you would probably never look back!

But that's just my opinions and hope that helps your thought process.

And i think redbook is useless on classic cars. It works for up to 10yo cars where there are sufficient sales to get data and condition doesn't have a huge range.

[T-Modell]

Donald,
why don't you buy your "old" car ... i. e. Ivana's car? It's on sale here ...
http://www.swr.de/swraktuell/bw/karlsru ... index.html

Regards
Thomas

[Panzerwagen]

Thank you kindly for taking the time to reply Craig. Your information is very helpful.

Nice find Thomas, I have always been a man of taste.