The seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice E320 wagon claims it comes from “The golden era of Mercedes.” We’ll have to decide if its price tag is just as haughty as that embellishment.
Chris Farley’s SNL character, Matt Foley, created the image of “living in a van, down by the river” while at the same time imbuing it with negative implications. Remarkably, it’s now a sought-after opportunity for many an active adventurer. Entire industries have sprouted up in the support of these activities, including companies doing van conversions outfitting the likes of Mercedes Sprinters and Ford Transit vans to create “overlander” mobile base camps.
The 1995 Ford Aerostar conversion we looked at yesterday was an old-school riff on this theme. Its 4WD system wasn’t intended for off-road heroics, but the rest of the idea of a van converted for a weekend or longer getaways proved totally spot on. Not quite so much on target was its $16,500 price tag. The Ford’s age and lack of modern conveniences like solar backup or WiFi were called out in the comments, and that mindset drove a 75 percent No Dice loss under which the Aerostar pulled up camp.
It’s been said that there are no poor people in America, just millionaires, and billionaires that are down on their luck. One of the ways that many think they’ll strike it rich is by making savvy investments in the stock market, catching the wave of some particular entity right on the cusp of it hitting big.
There are plenty of examples of this sort of investment strategy in the automotive world, too. Sometimes, those pay out big — as in with people who bought and held onto pretty much any Porsche 911. Other times, the investment goes belly up. Such was the case for those who bought 1976 Cadillac Eldorado soft tops, believing General Motors’ marketing that touted it to be the last Caddy convertible in history.
It’s hard to say which way the prospects will go for those owning older Mercedes wagons like today’s 1995 Mercedes-Benz E320 three-row, but if the preceding W123’s trajectory is anything to go on, then this is one car to hitch your investment wagon to in the anticipation of future appreciation.
If you’re going to invest in a car — any car — you’ll want to get a good one, and this Benz looks to be a solid contender. The car has 142,000 miles on the clock and, per the ad, has been well-maintained and carefully cared for. The ad lists a number of new parts for the car, including consumables like shocks and suspension pieces, as well as unexpected fixes such as a window regulator. The ad also notes the replacement of the failure-prone engine wiring harness.
That harness hooks into the 3.2-liter M104 straight-six for which the car is named. That DOHC engine makes 217 horsepower and 229 lb-ft of torque, and that is routed through Mercedes’s own four-speed automatic to the independently-sprung rear end. According to the present owner, the car still runs “silky smooth.”
It looks pretty good too. The elegant black paint still holds a shine, and there’s no evidence of weather wear in the plastic on either bumper or the rocker trim. The phone dial wheels also appear to be in solid shape, with no evidence of curbing and wearing tires with plenty of tread.
Things are similarly well situated in the cabin. The MBTex upholstery is in great shape, as is to be expected. Less expected is the decent condition of the warm wood trim covering the console. Overall, there doesn’t seem to be anything amiss here, and the car even comes with the desirable third row in the back.
The seller touts the clean-title wagon as a “Coming of age classic,” and says it’s both “Super rare” and a “Beautiful car.” This aligns with our expectation that the W124 line might be on the rise, value-wise. The question of the moment is what it might now cost to “get in while the getting is still good.”
To that end, we’ll now need to address this wagon’s $9,999 asking price. What do you think? Does that seem like a fair — and potentially savvy — investment in this old Mercedes? Or does that price imply that the crazy train may have already left the station?
You decide!
Central New Jersey Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Whatsupdohc for the hookup!
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