1967 Mercedes Benz 230 SL For Sale
We don’t find a lot of legitimate Pagoda SL ads on Craigslist very often anymore, but this seems to be a real car with a real owner. We found this Mercedes Benz 230 SL for sale on Craigslist in Louisville, KY. The owner’s asking price is completely delusional… but let’s see what we can learn from the basic info supplied in the listing.
The exterior color of this 230 SL appears to be White Grey (weissgrau), Mercedes color code 158 or perhaps Light Ivory, color code 623. The interior looks like Bamboo MB Tex, ad states the soft top is dark brown. It’s got an automatic transmission, Air conditioning and power steering. There is an aftermarket radio in the dash as opposed to a correct, Becker unit.
The owner doesn’t mention how long he’s owned the car, but it does appear to be a generally ‘unmessed with’ example. A pretty complete set of books and manuals is pictured. I like the fact that it’s got a correct locking gas cap instead of some aftermarket piece.
The engine bay looks like a driver, a little grubby, some light oxidation on various parts, just what you’d expect from a 50+ year old W113 SL. The ad lists an odometer reading of 39,000, which we can comfortably assume mean 139,000, if not more.
The bumper over-riders are a bit puzzling, as they were not mandated by the US DOT when this car was new, they must have been added at some point.
The owner tries to make a case that this Mercedes 230 SL is a ‘rare’ car. Despite the year, there’s nothing rare about a 230 SL.
About that absurd asking price… $84,000 for a driver quality 230 SL that we can assume probably needs $3,000 – $5,000 worth of deferred maintenance work, because THEY ALL DO unless there are lots of recent receipts, one would hope there is some serious room for negotiation.
My guess is that this person ‘saw one sell for $100,000 at an auction and figured their car must be worth $80,000+. A 280 SL in this condition would be hard pressed to bring $80,000. Even in today’s strong Pagoda SL market, I think this car would have a hard time reaching a sale price of $60,000 if it were listed on Bring a Trailer.
