If there’s anything we’ve all learned over the past couple years, it’s that things can always be worse. I’m trying to take care of a cool old five-speed luxury car in New York City without my own garage, and I’m constantly wondering how I’m going to pull that off. Again, it could be worse—the bastard could be full of mold.
Up for grabs on Nashville Craigslist is this 1995 Mercedes-Benz S600 Coupe. It’s the one with the flagship 400 horsepower V12 engine and probably a lot of luxury options that would surprise you even in 2018. This was a fast and opulent car in its time, and still an impressive ride today. And it’s for sale for just $4,000.
Lord knows these old super-luxe Benzes usually require either costly and exhaustive routine maintenance or a lot of work up front, or more likely, both. Somewhat encouraging is the fact that this one only has 78,000 miles, which isn’t bad at all for its age.
But probably the reason this one is so cheap is what you find inside:
Ughhhhhh. Sorry to show you that so early in the morning. I hope you’re able to keep your breakfast down.
And yes, in case you’re curious, it’s pretty extensive:
And some rust, because of course:
I don’t know what happened here, exactly, but my guess is it was in a flood or in a garage that leaked a ton of water and had been left to sit there for a long time. The seller says it’s been sitting in their garage for three years; it must not have been a very dry one.
It’s truly sad to see such a cool car in this state. Normally four grand would be a decent price to make this a strong candidate for restoration, but considering you’d have to de-mold the entire thing—and who knows what’s lurking in the HVAC system, let alone the state of the engine—this one may be a total write-off.
Bring a trailer? More like bring a respiratory mask.