Value of 1991 500SL Conv. when new???

[02fanatic]

What would a new 500SL Convertible cost in 1991 complete with optional hardtop? Thanks for any help.

John

[VLayton]

About $85k or so. :)

[02fanatic]

So if my brother-in-law paid something like $150,000 for one new in '91 he either has a poor memory or he got taken to the cleaners right? $85,000 sounds about right to me, but I have little experience re: Mercedes cars. Except my sister owned an '88 560SEC Coupe that I helped sell for her a couple years ago with extremely low miles (and original tires!)...that car sold new for around $85k to $88k. Wouldn't a '91 500SL Convertible run more?...seems like it might. But $150k indeed seems very high to me.

Just so you know, this '91 500SL only has 3,300 miles on it. I'm testing the waters re: "value".

Thanks,

John

[VLayton]

$150k should have gotten him a SL 600 with every toy in the book, euro spec and delivered to the driveway by a MB employee!

A '90 300SL listed at about $73k, the five liter added $10k, and 1992 600SL MSRP is just under $120k.

He's forgetting something... or paid almost double! Unless there is something I can't see or don't know!

Hope that helps :o

[bill streep]

Base price for a 1991 500 SL was $89,300.

There were few significant options: Heated seats, orthopedic seats, ASR. Hardtop was NOT an option - it was standard.

Approximate value? I'd say no more than $30K. If he drove it only 3300 miles, he made a big mistake. A low mileage (say 40,000) can be had for less than $20K. I'm feeling a "brother-in-law-deal" that's not going to be pretty!

[Alex]

I feel what you're feeling, Bill.

[bill streep]

Yeah, I guess I should clarify my comments:

These and the ones made are ONLY my opinion.

I'm currently looking seriously at a low mileage 500SL (93), so I do know about the values.

The 500SL/300SL/SL320/SL500 are NOT rare, nor are they particularly "collectable". It seems that the 107s are more collectable - they certainly are worth as much or more in similar condition than the 129s. I think it's crazy, myself.

Low mileage 129s seem to be readily available - not as low as 3300 miles, but low mileage. Why someone would own and drive (not drive?) a car only 200 miles or so a year, is hard to understand. Due to it's low mileage, it likely suffers from not being driven! The market for the car as a PREMIUM car, due to it's mileage, is VERY limited - you would have to find the right person that really wanted it - and I'm not sure there are any! If it was an AMG car, or an SL600 (they weren't made then), it would be different. Or maybe if it was a '90 - the first year they were made. But heck, they made 6000 for the US in 1991!

[John Hubertz]

My opinion is that later model mercedes like the SL300 - 500 series (V12s are a unique case) and ALL models of sedan newer then 560SELs will suffer from serious long-term maintainability problems. In my opinion a mediocre SLXXX has no value because of this issue - similar to BMWs - if they haven't been garaged/maintained they simply become undriveable due to chronic electrical problems.

The 107s benefit from the fact they are solid, SIMPLE cars that can be maintained and driven indefinetly.

I've had a couple SL500s and both suffered from virtually unfixable electronic gremlins with audio systems, seat and top control electronics that simply defied diagnosis.

What the hobby needs is for one of our tech gurus to come up with "patch" systems to defeat the computer controlled seat and top systems so long-term these cars can be maintained and enjoyed. The control units for those systems are simply unaffordable - and with the tops the mechanisms can be working flawlessly and still false the flashing warning light on the console.

I think the attraction of many Mercedes is the relative simplicity and durability - driveable, maintainable classics.