1993 500SL or "I might have messed up"

Nice! I'm so happy to hear how well it's turning out. My mother had a 1995 SL500 and sold it in 2003 with over 120k miles due to the frequency it was going into the shop. I recall the radiator was having issues (similar to our family's '98 740iL around the same time). The SL was a blast to drive and had a ton of low end torque. The funniest part was when going around a corner too fast, the rollbar would automatically go up. Not sure if it was funny in hindsight if the car was close to flipping over, but it always felt planted to the ground.

I still love the looks of the 1999+ SLs with the AMG bodykit (bumpers, sideskirts, and mirrors) and projector headlights. The updated interior was nice, too, but it was more the outside that looked sharp. Maybe one day...

 

Looks like you haven't "messed up" yet. If I did something like that, it'd be a basketcase.

 

These cars really are superb value for money. Excellent build quality. And the fixer uppers are great value as long as they're clean. Just finished fixing the top on mine. It's a clean car, needed the top seals replaced, and a few interior plastic bits of course. But all told I'm in it for about $7500. Total cost of fixing the top was $1500 stole the car at 6 grand last spring. Car has 110k on it, interior is in excellent condition, and I drive it all the time with no remorse. Looks great with the hardtop on on. I had a 450sl prior and this is 100x the car, and equally as pretty if not more.
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The SL looks great, but please tell me more about the 740!

 

For all that is holy, sell me your e38 if you decide to part with it. I love mine.

 

My father has a 98 sl and an 04 sl. Wants to sell the 04 and is keeping the 98

 

Love the looks of that blue ferrari.

 

Great work so far.

 

Haha. Absolutely. I don't plan on getting rid of it anytime in the near future, but if the day ever comes, you'll be the first one I'll call. I'll send you a PM here.

I grabbed it out in Los Angeles about 3 years ago. I had been unaggressively pursuing an imola sport short for about 5 years, and finally caved on that one. It's fully sorted and the paint is near flawless. 206k miles and rising. It's the 2001 final year and is an M sport short. There's other cars out there that I wouldn't mind using as a daily but I don't think I could ever part with it. It's just too pretty and exudes finesse!

 

What a great thread, and great you can do so much stuff yourself! Once shes running better/ready for quick rides, hopefully you fully flush the brake system and put some new tires on it (as long as you can steer and stop safely, the rest is secondary ) I love this era 500SL (and the last 5 and 7 series BMW before bangle per the prior comments as well) 80-early to mid 2000s = some great years for BMW/Mercedes.

 

Make sure you have the cylinder latches reattached to the top properly. If one of the latches with the switches is on backward it will throw off the sequence and not work properly.

Yep. Bangle was a terrorist to that company from within. BMW was on a prolific roll from about 1995-2002. Every car they made was gorgeous and a blast to drive. The bangle butt came in to play, and everyone fled over to Audi. They gave their market share away! Pretty insane. These SL500s are timeless. They're 20+ years old now and haven't aged a day. They would definitely have shown their age by now. They'll always look good no matter what era we find ourselves in. The R230 is a very pretty car, but it has began to show its age already. The tops on those cars cost a fortune to repair from what I've heard.

 

Nice. You had much better luck than I did. Is the roll-bar working? And is that a 928 S4 I see hiding back there?

 

Excellent! Is it a manual?

 

Congrats the R129 are very reliable and superb when maintained properly.

 

Nice! You brought that thing back to life in a hurry! I'd drive her as a daily for awhile. Can't be a happy car after sitting so long!

 

Excellent progress! That was quick!

 

updates?

 

I had a 1991 sold new to my mom. I regret selling it in 2010 or 11. Great car for cruising in.

 

nice color.
good thing you are handy.
reviving one of those can run 5-10k.

 

Combing back through this thread and I'm glad to hear this as I just bought a 1990 that was pretty well maintained but has been sitting in storage for the past six or seven years. It runs and drives but I'm sure I'm in for about 5 grand in service. A new wiring harness would not be fun. Are the 600 harnesses exponentially more expensive that the 500? I chatted with a broker in Indianapolis once who claimed that the 600 wiring harness was pushing 10 grand. Sounded high to me. I have two of these now and I really don't want to part with my black one. It's very clean despite the higher mileage (it's at 126k now).