Thoughts on a 1978 Mercedes 450SL

[Sarastro]

The lady next door to me is getting on in years (I think she is 86 now!) and has finally decided to stop driving. This is probably a great contribution to public safety, although she is surprisingly spry and in posession of all her faculties. She has asked me to help sell her car, a beautiful 1978 450SL. It is in spectacular condition--only 76000 miles, paint and top are original and like new, no exaggeration. She is the only person who has owned the car. Her mechanic says it needs nothing, just needs to be run a little more than she drives it.

So, my dilemma is this: I need to get some idea of a price for it. The NADA on-line guide lists it at $24000 for top condition, but my research shows that this is really a lot higher than they go for. The most expensive one in the last month on ebay was a very nice '76 for $12600, and other nice ones on ebay have gone for $6000-$8000. The asking prices for nice ones on cars.com and local Craigslist hover around $15,0000. So, I have a bit of a dilemma as to what to tell her it's worth.

One more aspect of this situation: I might want to buy it myself. So, I really, REALLY want to make sure she is treated fairly. Of course, I don't want to overpay, either, but I'd rather err on the high side if it comes to that.

Any thoughts, guys? How do you go about determining a fair price for an older used car?

 

[tony barnhill]

Its a 450, the oldest version of the design...I have a 380, the mid-design car with the smallest engine...around here the 380's go for more than the 45o's with the 560's the highest - & 380's only go for 12K or so...FWIW

 

[racingenglishcars]

The european market had 350s

 

[RonMacPherson]

A thought, in the form of a suggestion, based on past experience.

When I worked at Autohaus Montclair in the mid 70's(MB/Honda dealer). We had an employee quit there. He would buy used SL's, good detail and was, drive them up to the Seattle area and earn 5-6K on sale of each car.

Perhaps a weekend excursion to the Seattle area with the car, or at least research their papers to see if the excursion would be profitable.

Was the frame recall performed? If it hasn't been maintained at a dealer I would be curious as to that. MB had a lifetime recall on the engine subframes on a lot of the 107's.