Price of parts for old Mercedes

[VYBerlinaV8]

Hi All,

Given the knowledge base here, I thought I'd throw out a quick question on behalf of a guy I work with.

How expensive, relative to a locally manufactured car, would parts typically be for a mid '70's Mercedes. The car is a standard mid size Merc sedan, with no mods or any thing special. I understand it belongs to an old fella who has hardly driven it, and my workmate was thinking about buying it as his own car.

Thoughts?

Cheers.:)

[zorro]

in short exspensive. I have owned 3 and still own one late 70's early 80's 323i BMWs.

Older Mercs are good solid cars, but do suffer reliability issues. Same with any 30yr old car though.

I find a lot of well priced parts from the US, some cant be used but things like pumps, switches, drivetrain, electrics etc are interchangeable. New gear is generally from Europe (Walloth & Nesch) and there are a few Aussie forums for the euro cars.

I believe Uncle Tone had an early model Merc at some stage, if he comes into the thread he may be able to point you in a good direction.

[gmeup]

You will be looking roughly 4 x times the price over australian made car parts. Quite an investment to make you would have to really love the Merc :P

[German Statesman]

Depending on the model you are looking at - some of the older S classes had hydraulic windows and pneumatic suspension which can be a real assault on the wallet.

Import Advantage up here in QLD are the definitive non-gen Merc parts experts

[planetdavo]

There are a number of specialist Euro parts importers around Australia that bring in quality Euro made parts, often considerably cheaper than genuine.
Not all parts are available though.

[VYBerlinaV8]

Thanks heaps for your responses - very helpful information.:)

[KingClifton]

Potentially quite expensive. Depends whether it was a wear-and-tear item or something that shouldn't break but did - and then, how rare the part was. Gearboxes - ouch. Mate of mine bought a mid 80s C-Class and had to spend a fortune on gearbox replacement. Often some parts are particularly expensive, others less so.

As a rule, European cars will last longer (and perform at their optimum) as they are engineered to last longer - provided you service them according to schedule. So some parts will wear, but this is as-designed: you want brakes working at maximum efficiency? Sure, but replace the rotors every 80,000km. A 20yo Merc should feel almost like new - try that in a 1990s Commodore or Falcon.

I'd be keen on a nice W124 Merc (now known as E-Class) but in Australia they are still fetching ridiculous prices. A typical example in the UK - say 100,000 miles on the clock, full service history - could be had for around A$5,000, or as little as A$2,000 with a few more miles. Here, you're talking $20,000 and upwards.

And then there is the 1997 528i that I nearly bought for $26K - 70,000km, fully optioned, full service history. Would have been nice not to have a car loan for once :)

[Uncle Tone]

Thanks heaps for your responses - very helpful information.:)

I wouldn't be buying a mid 70's Benz to use as a daily, cheap as it might be.