My good friend and stalwart SCM 1000 supporter, Allen Stephens, has owned his 1972 Mercedes-Benz 250C since 2013. He has been a fastidious and thoughtful caretaker of the car, and it is now listed on Bring a Trailer here.
I’ve had my own experience with a 250C and managed to learn slowly and painfully just what happens when you pour money into the wrong car. Wrong, in this case, means out of favor with the market. It tickled my fancy at first, but then, partly because of the pile of greenbacks I kept stuffing under the hood, I decided to cut mine loose.
Oddly enough, that 250C was one of my son Bradley’s favorites. He has tales of many memorable four-person trips to the Oregon Coast in it.
What might have been a fun car at $15k was like termite gnawing on a wooden wallet at $45k.
I’ve thought about this a lot, and come to realize the big-ticket items like the conversion from Zeniths to Webers, the Pertronix ignition, the rear end swap and suspension refresh didn’t really deliver satisfaction given what they cost.
I have wondered what I would do if a good car showed up in a typical price range, between $15k and $20k.
Well, now one has. Allen’s car is on BaT with no reserve. It’s solid and honest car, let down by a cheapie older paint job (by Earl Scheib!) in the wrong shade of blue.
It’s a solid driver that has just been serviced. The factory A/C is not working, but we are all sure it “just needs a recharge.”
I have always found these cars to be tremendously attractive. Allen thinks this is a classic just waiting to be recognized by the market. My experience makes me think the market just doesn’t care.
Bradley actually pointed out this car’s listing to me and asked if we could buy it. I asked if he wanted to sell his Volvo wagon. Showing he has the spirit of a true SCMer, he replied, “Who said anything about selling?”
Allen’s Mercedes is a great car for the money, and if I were at a different stage in my life I would buy it, throw a Bluetooth stereo into, “recharge” the A/C (with a new $2,000 compressor, no doubt), and just drive it.
Sadly, I don’t have a place to store the car. And I’m still trying to get the Porsche 996 C4 sorted out and the 1975 Porsche 911S Sporto has yet to be sold.
What do you think I should do? Have Bradley sell the Volvo (that we just spent $3,500 on for maintenance) and buy the 250C because he loved his experiences with the one we owned? Just throw caution to the wind, buy the 250C and put it in storage until school is out? Or do nothing, let someone else get this great bargain, and just keep doom-scrolling W114/115s on BaT?
I look forward to your thoughts in the comments below.
Read my previous blog posts here.
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