1993 Mercedes-Benz 500SL 2-Door Roadster w/2 Tops - Needs Repairs - NO RESERVE!!

1993 Mercedes-Benz 500SL 2-Door Roadster w/Two Tops:

Due to a non-paying bidder, I am relisting this car for the last time (I hope...) SELLING AT NO RESERVE WITH A STARTING BID OF $1! IT WILL SELL TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER AT THE END OF THIS AUCTION!

If you're looking for a FUN car to drive, that is pretty nice looking, at a REASONABLE PRICE, you've come to the right place! Please make sure you read this entire description because this car does need some repairs, have some flaws, and is far from perfect! But even with its flaws, it is still a pretty nice car with the ability to be even better. We’ve owned it for a little over nine years and it may be time to move it along to a new owner who can show it more love than we are able to at this time.

Made by the German leader of automobiles comes this classic 500SL roadster. The lines on this car are outstanding with the top down, the soft top up, or the hard top in place. Whatever the style, it always looks great with a nice stance. You are sure to turn heads while you're driving this car. It offers great "lines," a powerful engine, and decent overall cosmetics. If you're looking for a show car, this isn't the one for you, but it isn't priced that way, either. If you're looking for a "driver," one that allows you the opportunity to resolve some of its flaws on your own schedule, has nice looking cosmetics (but not beperfect,) and still allows you to have some money left in your savings account after you pay for it, this may be the perfect candidate for you! Although we've enjoyed this car the entire timewe've owned it, we find that as time goes on, we have less and less time to enjoy it and pay the necessary attention to it so it ends up collecting dust. For those reasons, it may be time to move it on to someone who can pay more attention to it than we do...

The original engine is a 5.0 Liter V-8, but I'm not sure of its horsepower rating. The first thing that you will need to trouble shoot is that the engine runs FANTASTIC when you first fire it up and drive for five or ten minutes but then it tends to run rough and seems to choke itself, mostly when you come to a stop and then accelerate. It will get up to speed and maintain that but you can still feel it struggling at times. It doesn’t ever seem to stall, but idles rough and is very hard to accelerate. We’ve had it to different mechanics who have been unable to find the reason for this, I think it must be a sensor somewhere that is faulty, but the exact cause has not been found. This issue has been on and off for the last couple of years but lately, it seems to be the case whenever you drive the car. One fix was to clean the inside of the distributor caps and that seemed to help the issue for a while, but it returned again so that may or may not be the issue. We just don’t have the time to keep trying to find the cause, it’s time for a new owner to take it from here! When this issue wasn’t here, this car was FAST. Not off the line, but from 40-100mph, I would put it up against most other cars! With its current issue, it struggles to get off the line but will eventually get up to high speeds, it just chokes itself in the process of getting up to speed. If you are a Mercedes expert or mechanic, this may be a quick fix for you, but for those of us who are just drivers, its just a big annoyance.

It has anautomatic transmission (in a console,) power steering and power brakes. The dashboard dummy lights for the ABS and ASR brakes continue to stay lit after you start the car. A non-Mercedes mechanic has investigated and assures us that there are no problems with the braking system but he is unable to reset the lights so they continue to be lit. We purchased the car in 2009 with just over 37k miles on it; currently, there is just over 84k miles. Mechanically, besides the issue that I’ve detailed, most everything else seems to be working fine. While we’ve had the car, we’ve replaced a cracked valve cover, air intake hose, and valve cover gaskets in 2016; front ball joints, tie rod, cylinder head, breather hose, and neutral safely switch in 2015; wiring harness in 2014; rotors and distributor caps in 2013; crank shaft sensor and power steering pump in 2012; and ignition module, coils, front brake pads, and starter sensor in 2010, to name a few. The heated seats no longer seem to work. The internal locking switch in the dash that locks internal compartments like the center console, dash storage spots, and door armrest storage areas are no longer locking all compartments, but most still do lock. The two keys do remotely lock/unlock the locks when pointed to certain sensors on the exterior of the car (one on each door and one on the trunk,) but not all sensors and lights on the sensors are working correctly. Most times the driver’s door and trunk do work but at times all can be finicky! I believe all gauges, clock, temperature controls, power seats, etc. are working as they should. The original radio has been replaced by a previous owner with a removable face Alpine AM/FM/CD in the dash. It seems to work fine, although a couple speakers sound like they need to be reconed since the basses bottom out when you turn the volume up. The power antenna no longer works as it should and is staying up. I removed the antenna and it looks like the cable has broken inside somewhere since the antenna could be completely pulled out. It is still good enough to get radio signals but will need to be rebuilt in order to operate correctly and as a power antenna. I know I'm mentioning a bunch of issues that will need to be addressed if you want a perfectly working car and accessories; I’m not trying to down grade the car, I just want to make sure that you know this is a 25 year old car and it has accumulated some issues over the years. We never drove it enough to have them be negatives for us, but you may feel otherwise, that’s why I want you to know what is working and more importantly, what is not. Included are the original owner’s manuals, radio instructions and plastic case for the removable face, original key case with two keys (one needs to have the spring replaced in order to fold away,) and ignition/valet keys, original tool set, and original first aid kit.

The exterior of the car is in pretty nice overall shape, but it certainly isn't perfect. From ten feet away, it looks fantastic. Get up close, and you can start to see some imperfections in the form of some miscellaneous small nicks, chips, and scratches. Even with those, though, this is a pretty nice looking car, as the photos show. The lower front spoiler has breaks in it from hitting and rubbing against curbs since the car sits so low. We had it repaired twice during the time that we’ve had the car but it’s so low, it’s easy to hit curb stops so we stopped spending the money to have it repaired! In the photos of the grill, you’ll see a small missing rectangular piece of plastic on the passenger side. I do have that piece to include with the car, and it is included in the photo with the manuals, tools, keys, etc. The soft top itself is in excellent condition, but the plastic window panels have cracked and split in the back and on the driver’s side (see photos.) We had them taped with clear tape while driving during the summer but took off the tape for these photos. I’m not sure if just the windows can be replaced in the soft top or if you need to replace it in its entirety, but as I said, the soft top is excellent with no holes that I can find. As with most convertibles, it doesn’t seem to perfectly seal from the rain as you may get a little bit of water through the top corners at the windshield posts when both the soft and hard tops are in place. I believe that a hydraulic line has broken for the power soft top and locking feature for the hard top. It worked perfectly the entire time we owned the car until late this summer when I think a line broke when I tried to raise the soft top. It no longer works on its own and requires you to manually lock/unlock the soft top, manually raise/lower the top, and then manually lock it either up or down. You also need to manually lock/unlock the hardtop. (The original locking tool is included in the original tool set that is included with the car (see photo.)

The hard top is in great structural condition but the headliner has started to droop and come unglued (see photo.) We’ve tried to glue it back a couple times but our novice approach means that it just comes unglued again and droops down. The hard top has a LITTLE bit of bubbling paint in the front corners and a couple other small light scratches while it was stored out of the car, but none are real bad. The body panels and doors are all in real nice shape with no rust-through on any of them. The trunk lid has two small dents in the vertical portion of the lid, I tried to show these in a photo. One has chipped the paint away and shows some surface rust, the other is to the passenger side from there and is a smaller indent that is tough to see unless you look at it in just the right angle. Otherwise, I don’t believe there are any other really noticeable dents or scratches in the car. Although the paint isn’t in perfect condition after twenty-five years, it still looks VERY nice, overall, but short of perfect. The fourtires are Michelin Premier AS 225/55R16. They were purchased and installed about a year ago at a cost of $775 and have about 3k miles on them, so they are basically like new! When they were installed, one lug nut on the front passenger side was rusted in place so it had to be professionally torched off in order to remove the rim so that tire only has four lug nuts, one spot is without a stem/nut. I don’t think that should really be an issue and hasn’t been in the last year, but I did want to mention it. The other result is that the rim has some torch damage at that lug hole but that rim has now been relegated as the spare so the burn mark is unseen unless you need to put the spare on. The spare tire I believe is the original full size spare and has nice tread in place since it doesn’t look like it was used much, if ever. The original jack, tool set, and first aid kit are still in the trunk. Overall, the exterior of this car presents itself verywell, but it is short of perfect.

The interior is also in pretty nice shape, but again, isn’t perfect. Everything seems to be original, except for the radio. The bucket seats are in pretty nice shape but the driver’s seat has a tear in the left side where you slide into the car (see photo.) Otherwise, both are in pretty nice shape. Working seatbelts/shoulder belts are in place. The dash and steering wheel are original and all look very nice. As mentioned, I believe all gauges are working correctly except the ABS and ASR lights which continue to be lit. The low coolant light and exterior lamp lights sometimes come on and go off but the coolant level is fine as are all lamps so those two lights may be faulty at times. The carpet is in pretty nice shape as are the floor mats. The door panels are also in nice shape. The headliner in the soft top is excellent; the one in the hardtop is coming unglued in the front and is starting to droop. The rear portion behind the bucket seats is also in real nice shape with only very minor imperfections. Overall, except for the tear/wear in the driver’s seat, the interior presents itself very well.

Payment for the car is to be receivedwithin seven days of the end of the auction. I can hold the car for a reasonable amount of time (pleaselet me know your needs prior to bidding) provided it is paid for in fullat the end of the auction so you can make arrangements to eitherpick it up or have it shipped. If picked up, ONLY cashwill be accepted, or a certified check must be received and clear prior to pick up.Clear title will be provided for the car at the time that full payment has been received and hascleared. In other words,the title will be signed over immediately upon a cash payment, or after the time that other forms of paymentrequire to clear, if payment is made in another way. Whatever pickup/shipping method works best for you, I'll try to accommodate your needs, but full payment is still to be receivedwithin seven days of the end of the auction.

Although I don't have first-hand knowledge of shippingcars, I know manydoor to door shippersare out there. I will do everything I can to work with a shipper of your choice with you making all of the necessary arrangements and paying all of their associated costs. The car will be available at our house for either you or your shipper topick up. Let me know what you need and I'm sure we can work out the details.

If you're looking for a fun driver but don't want to spend the top dollars that are needed for a fully restored or working Mercedes roadster, this may be the perfect candidate for you. PLEASE make sure you have read all the issues that this car has prior to bidding. I’m not trying to scare you away from bidding, but I want to make sure you know what you are getting and that you will need to trouble shoot the mechanical issue that it is currently having by choking itself during acceleration! I can assure you that this issue is frustrating when you are driving so hopefully either you or your Mercedes mechanic can get it resolved. Once you do, I can also assure you that you will LOVE driving this car because it has been VERY FUN to drive while we have owned it, but we no longer have the time or desire to continue its mechanical trouble shooting. Mercedes styling in a 500SL roadster with a 5.0 Liter engine and nice “look” make this car attractive. If you're into saving some upfront money, and are able to tinker on its issues on your own or have a great mechanic to help, this may be a nice car for you. Although it obviously isn't fully restored mechanically or cosmetically, it still looks pretty darn nice the way it is! For a "driver," you can't do much better than this car. It won't disappoint for the money! AlthoughI have mentioned many of its imperfections, while you're driving down the road, I can ASSURE you that heads WILL turn in your direction because this is a SHARP looking car. If we had more time to trouble shoot, drive, and enjoy this car, with room tostore it,we wouldn't be trying to sell it! But lacking all of those needs, it may be time for this one to move on to someone else to take it to the next step, something that we no longer can do. Don't miss out on this AFFORDABLE Mercedes 500SL that has been a daily driver and can be again, with your mechanical expertise.