This Mercedes listed on Craigslist near Tyler, Texas, could be a great deal for someone. The seller is asking $15,000 for it, it was his grandfather’s car, who apparently cherished and babied it. The seller says he has no use for it (who doesn’t have use for a babied classic Mercedes convertible?) and it must go. Grandad kept the car in Arizona, but now the seller has it in Texas. Thanks to Zappenduster for the tip!
Made from ’55 to ’63, only 2,722 of these were made in ’58, and of that, only 628 made it stateside. The Craigslist post tags it as an automatic, but that’s highly unlikely, and I think I see three pedals in front of the driver’s seat. Don’t conflate beauty with performance – these were definitely not performance cars, the 1.9-liter 4-cylinder making just over 100 horsepower and with a top speed of only 105mph. It competed at the time with the Porsche 356, which tended to outpace the Mercedes since it was so much lighter (allegedly resulting in the creation of the even rarer six-cylinder version of the car, the 300SL).
These were sold either as hard tops (removable) or soft tops, and this one showcases a nice white hard top over its cream colored body. A cognac leather interior that looks awfully clean surrounds the driver, making the 69,000 mile claim believable. No mention of whether the paint is original or not – the seller spends more time on logistics and intolerance of scammers than details. Some seemingly quickly shot photos leave a pretty positive impression of the interior, and though dusty the body looks pretty solid as well with just a couple of paint chips needing attention. The car is sitting in a dirt driveway and so looks fairly dusty, but really nothing on the car looks off. It’s not said if this was always an Arizona car, or if his grandfather was the only owner. Could this car really just need a wash and a true garage to be parked in?
Part of me fears the seller doesn’t exactly know what Grandad has here. These cars rarely go for less than $75,000, and can creep up to the mid-100s pretty easily if well maintained or restored. If he doesn’t figure it out soon, by the time you read this, there could be a lot of people en route to Taylor to try and pick it up for a song.
I can’t believe $15,000 is the asking price. Did this guy dislike his grandfather to want to sell it so cheap? It might not be his type of car, but it seems like he would have researched the value of it before selling it. Looks like a really nice 68yr old Mercedes to me