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FOR SALE 1992 500E, Black/Black, 150kkm, £22k, restored by Raikku (Located somewhere in Poland)

500EFIN

E500E Newbie
New Member
ADMIN EDIT: For sale again Nov-2020, see post #31 for details. Thread title updated.


SOLD: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

New owner introduction and restoration project 500E | Member Roadtrips and Project Journals

I’m very sad for putting this car up for sale behalf of Raikku who passed away 4 months ago.
He did spend lots of time and money on this car as you can see from his old thread. Car has sat outside now for 2years and not driven.
needs bodywork done.

please kindly message me for more information.


Car is in Surrey, UK
 

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Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k (Surrey, UK)

My Condolences.
This is a very good price for a car well maintained.
It will sell very fast, only needs paint job.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k (Surrey, UK)

Sorry to hear of your Friend’s passing. That does look like a great car and a very good price. He did alot of quality work to the car – that’s clear to see in his owner’s thread.


Good luck with the sale and hopefully the new owner might continue to post updates on 500E Board
 
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k (Surrey, UK)

Thank you all for your kind words of Raikku.
He was one of a kind petrol head!
Car is still for sale and I have replied all messages I got.
If you need more info just send me pm.
I would like to see car to go to a another real car enthustiastic.
I’m selling this car behalf of Raikku’s relatives and will be money for Raikku’s children for the future.
 
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k (Surrey, UK)

Sorry to hear the bad news about Raikku’s passing. My heart goes out to his family and friends.

Even though he didn’t reveal his age, I thought he was a still a young man. Was he in an accident or something?

He was only with us a short time. I remember a guy who built hot Porsche and BMW engines when joined us. He proudly talked and showed us some of his work and appeared to be a “Masterful Mechanic”.

He got real enthusiastic about our E500E cars.

He will be missed here.

His car should be an easy sale. It looks to be in great condition.

Thanks for Posting
 
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

Sorry to hear about Raikku’s passing ....

I was surprised reading about that ... remember myself reading his thread and now ....

Hope it will go to car enthusiast who will keep in a good shape as a memory/effort for previous owner.
 
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

Oh, I'm very sad to hear about Raikku. I first heard of him on M5board many years ago. I was happy to see him here with a 500E and it was great to see him restore this car. I'm sure whoever buys it will be very happy. RIP Raikku.
 
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

I'm also sad to hear of this news. I enjoyed Raikku's posts. I wish his family well and for him, to rest in peace.
 
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

Hi
I just send you a pm about the 500e

Best Regards
Berglund
 
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

I'm a little behind on this news. I am really sorry to hear about Raikku's passing. I'm sure I met him at a Brooklands MB E500E meet a couple of years ago; I was there at the same time as Bil(al) (500e.org). If that's the case, he'll remember the meeting, too. If I've got it right, he'd just survived a fairly major car crash? A really nice guy.

Anyhow, I do hope his car goes to a good home, and my condolences to his family at what must be a very difficult time for them.

Stephen
 
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

Sad to hear this. I spoke with Raikku many times over the phone when he first moved to England and while setting up his new shop. Really sound guy and a proper enthusiast! Unfortunately we never got to meet in person.

RIP Raikku!
 
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

I'm a little behind on this news. I am really sorry to hear about Raikku's passing. I'm sure I met him at a Brooklands MB E500E meet a couple of years ago; I was there at the same time as Bil(al) (500e.org). If that's the case, he'll remember the meeting, too. If I've got it right, he'd just survived a fairly major car crash? A really nice guy.

Anyhow, I do hope his car goes to a good home, and my condolences to his family at what must be a very difficult time for them.

Stephen

Yes mate I do remember. One of those meets was fantastic, we had all of our E500E's parked up front and got told by the MB Museum to move them! Ha, they should have been proud of them parked out front. Anyway, it was great to meet him and he was very knowledgable. I actually tried contacting him recently to do some work on our 500E. We often spoke at length about cars and he was really gutted when his (this car being advertised) got rear ended. RIP mate, you will be missed!!!
 
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

Congrats to the new owner and kind regards to Raikku’s family.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I just read Raikku's entire thread about restoring this car and by near the end of it was thinking how nice it would be to meet Raikku some day. His discipline, expertise, enthusiasm/positive attitude, and overall craftsmanship and demeanor truly won me over.

Then I saw Dave's link to this page and now realize that will never happen. I am sad beyond words for Raikku and his family.

On a lesser note, I also do not understand why this beautiful car ended up in a breakers yard.
 
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I just read Raikku's entire thread about restoring this car and by near the end of it was thinking how nice it would be to meet Raikku some day. His discipline, expertise, enthusiasm/positive attitude, and overall craftsmanship and demeanor truly won me over.

Then I saw Dave's link to this page and now realize that will never happen. I am sad beyond words for Raikku and his family.

On a lesser note, I also do not understand why this beautiful car ended up in a breakers yard.

I missed these last updates - that is sad to see his car was parted out. Who would have made that decision? They could not have got much from a parts yard for the car surely it should have been completed ? :blink:
 
I missed these last updates - that is sad to see his car was parted out. Who would have made that decision? They could not have got much from a parts yard for the car surely it should have been completed ? :blink:
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

Car is sold!
Thank you for your kindness!
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)



I believe the car has now been sold.
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

I'm a little behind on this news. I am really sorry to hear about Raikku's passing. I'm sure I met him at a Brooklands MB E500E meet a couple of years ago; I was there at the same time as Bil(al) (500e.org). If that's the case, he'll remember the meeting, too. If I've got it right, he'd just survived a fairly major car crash? A really nice guy.

Anyhow, I do hope his car goes to a good home, and my condolences to his family at what must be a very difficult time for them.

Stephen
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

Sad to hear this. I spoke with Raikku many times over the phone when he first moved to England and while setting up his new shop. Really sound guy and a proper enthusiast! Unfortunately we never got to meet in person.

RIP Raikku!
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

Hi
I just send you a pm about the 500e

Best Regards
Berglund
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

Oh, I'm very sad to hear about Raikku. I first heard of him on M5board many years ago. I was happy to see him here with a 500E and it was great to see him restore this car. I'm sure whoever buys it will be very happy. RIP Raikku.
Re: FS: 1992 500E, Black/Black, £10k, restored by Raikku (Surrey, UK)

Oh, I'm very sad to hear about Raikku. I first heard of him on M5board many years ago. I was happy to see him here with a 500E and it was great to see him restore this car. I'm sure whoever buys it will be very happy. RIP Raikku.
Yes. Strange. Comment#14 above says the car was hit in the rear, but the damage in the photos seems fairly minimal. I don't get it. Comment #19 has an old dead eBay link and asks for help repairing the car and then has attached a bunch of photos in a breakers yard of a car completely stripped down but a different color than Raikku's car. Did he repaint it a different color in the intervening years? Confusing.
 
I was in contact with the seller and received some photos of Raikku's car. The damage at the rear was not minimal, it was severly hit.
I could not buy the car I had some logisitcal problem, etc.

And I found an ebay ad selling an E500E chassis for a reasonable price (1700eur?) which would help to repare Raikku's car.
So, I do not hink that Raikku's car ended up in a junkyard, sorry for the confusion.
 
I was in contact with the seller and received some photos of Raikku's car. The damage at the rear was not minimal, it was severly hit.
I could not buy the car I had some logisitcal problem, etc.

And I found an ebay ad selling an E500E chassis for a reasonable price (1700eur?) which would help to repare Raikku's car.
So, I do not hink that Raikku's car ended up in a junkyard, sorry for the confusion.
I see. So the photos you posted were of a different chassis you hoped someone would buy and move all of Raikku's mechanics, suspension, electrics, etc to?

Does anyone know what happened to Raikku's car?

J
 
& here are photos of Raikku's car which he sent me the day it was hit by a dump truck at 30mph (green truck can be seen in the background). Badly damaged as you can see, he was hurt but not badly, mainly sore, mainly thanks to the strength of the W124 chassis. RIP Raikku.

IMG-20160305-WA0003.jpgIMG-20160305-WA0002.jpgIMG-20160305-WA0004.jpgIMG-20160305-WA0001.jpg
 
& here are photos of Raikku's car which he sent me the day it was hit by a dump truck at 30mph (green truck can be seen in the background). Badly damaged as you can see, he was hurt but not badly, mainly sore, mainly thanks to the strength of the W124 chassis. RIP Raikku.

View attachment 106145View attachment 106146View attachment 106147View attachment 106148
Wow. It seems the dump truck was high enough to hit above the frame rails, likely making the repair much easier.

J
 
Hi Everybody,
my name is Maciej and this is my first post on this forum so wanted to say hello to all valued Members of this forum (I could not find separate thread to introduce myself).

I have been lurking arround the forum for some time now.
The above car caught my attention as It's been up for sale few times.
I red the whole Raikku's (RIP) thread about this car and I am impressed with his attention to details and the final result.
As the car is for sale again, 1991 Mercedes 500E For Sale | Car And Classic , I have a few questions and would appreciate your thoughts:

- Is that kind of a damage serious? I am no mechanic but to me it does not look too bad (guess that structural parts of the car should be OK?).
- Providing, that it was repaired professionally, is it still safe to drive in high speeds?
- How history of that kind of damage would affect the future price if I decided to sell it one day?
- Is the asking price reasonable?
- What to pay attention to, if I decided to view the car?

I am also considering importing one from Japan as some nice examples can be found out there.

Many thanks in advance and have a great evening!
 
BedMac, have you purchased a 500E yet, or are you still shopping (and considering Raikku's car)?

:confused:
 
Hi Everybody,
my name is Maciej and this is my first post on this forum so wanted to say hello to all valued Members of this forum (I could not find separate thread to introduce myself).

I have been lurking arround the forum for some time now.
The above car caught my attention as It's been up for sale few times.
I red the whole Raikku's (RIP) thread about this car and I am impressed with his attention to details and the final result.
As the car is for sale again, 1991 Mercedes 500E For Sale | Car And Classic , I have a few questions and would appreciate your thoughts:

- Is that kind of a damage serious? I am no mechanic but to me it does not look too bad (guess that structural parts of the car should be OK?).
- Providing, that it was repaired professionally, is it still safe to drive in high speeds?
- How history of that kind of damage would affect the future price if I decided to sell it one day?
- Is the asking price reasonable?
- What to pay attention to, if I decided to view the car?

I am also considering importing one from Japan as some nice examples can be found out there.

Many thanks in advance and have a great evening!

Welcome!

I had read this thread before and it was a shame the car was hit and the owner passed away. He did some great work on it for sure.

It is interesting that the advert states the car is still in Poland. This is no doubt because the labour rate is significantly less over there than in UK. You could get a full repaint for hundreds of pounds VS thousands here. So it kind of makes sense that they did that with the major caveat on the quality of the work involved. That requires very careful and thorough inspection. (Don't get me wrong polish are hard workers and it is likely good quality work but NLA parts makes you wonder what resources were used to make it whole)

I think the price feels high given the accident damage.

I also dont understand the mechanics of their offer. Do they intend to bring the car back soon at thier expense? Or do they think a buyer will fly out, buy and ship it home themselves? More clarity there would help. For sure dont buy it without seeing in person.

Lastly- for me a collectable car should not have accident damage history / marked as such on the V5. This will always put off purists down the line. I wouldn't touch an accident damage car but it doesn't bother others. However it is sure to impact the value - by what extend Is hard to nail down on a rare classic benz such as these.

Do buy a 500E! But look for several cars and we will all assist here too
 
Hi Guys,

Many thanks for warm welcome and your replies.
BedMac, have you purchased a 500E yet, or are you still shopping (and considering Raikku's car)?

:confused:
I have not purchased a 500E yet and still considering Raikku's car.
I am researching and checking the options and what is available in what price - I am kind of 'overthinker' :rolleyes:
I had read this thread before and it was a shame the car was hit and the owner passed away. He did some great work on it for sure.

It is interesting that the advert states the car is still in Poland. This is no doubt because the labour rate is significantly less over there than in UK. You could get a full repaint for hundreds of pounds VS thousands here. So it kind of makes sense that they did that with the major caveat on the quality of the work involved. That requires very careful and thorough inspection. (Don't get me wrong polish are hard workers and it is likely good quality work but NLA parts makes you wonder what resources were used to make it whole)

I think the price feels high given the accident damage.

I also dont understand the mechanics of their offer. Do they intend to bring the car back soon at thier expense? Or do they think a buyer will fly out, buy and ship it home themselves? More clarity there would help. For sure dont buy it without seeing in person.

Lastly- for me a collectable car should not have accident damage history / marked as such on the V5. This will always put off purists down the line. I wouldn't touch an accident damage car but it doesn't bother others. However it is sure to impact the value - by what extend Is hard to nail down on a rare classic benz such as these.

Do buy a 500E! But look for several cars and we will all assist here too

Yes, I agree with all above.
The reason why this car is interesting for me is that it was well sorted by Raikku - I believe he fixed most, if not all, things which needed attention and probably this car should give many miles of trouble free and happy motoring.
I understand reasons why the current Owner repaired this car in Poland - it is definitely cheaper to do it there.
I am Polish too (although I've lived in UK for 8 yrs) and know that guys out there can do wonders with cars but also there are plenty of dodgy body shops who can make it look OK but underneath is a disaster and ticking bomb.
If I decided to buy this car I would take to some specialist garage to check repair quality. Maybe the current owner has some pictures and details how the repair was carried out?
Getting the car from Poland to UK should not be a big problem too (probably now - yes, due to lock down) but flights are not too expensive and I could travel back to UK in the car - should be a good fun to drive it on German motorways :)
I am know that most of E500E are collectable cars and the one with accident history is less collectible but on the other hand I would like to enjoy driving this car reasonably often. I don't want it to be a garage queen - I am affraid if I bought perfect one (low miles, low owners, no accidents etc.) it would probably ended up being one.
And yes it will hit lower prices when it cames to sale but I should pay less for it too - that is the theory at least.
Hard to decide :rolleyes:

I am also considering buying/importing one from Japan as nice examples are going through auctions out there but in the end will end up costing considerably more with all the shipment and duties and may still need some work...

Many thanks,

Maciej
 
Maciej — the biggest issue with Japanese imports is that while often in beautiful conditions, they come with ZERO paperwork and documentation 98% of the time. So you have little to no information on how the car has been maintained.

I’d go with the Raikku car or at least one with some documentation and history. My two cents.

Welcome!
Cheers,
Gerry
 
I lived in Japan for several years.
They have paperwork, but they seem not to bother giving it for export cars. As it is in Japanese, it is not much use to us, anyway
They also have a very stringent & expensive inspection system ( called" Shaken") so the cars are mechanically quite good.
I think the main point to look at with Japanese exports is the gearbox, as their cars spend a lot of time in slow traffic, doing stop/starts.
Engines are rarely driven as hard as in Europe due to draconian speed limits which are enforced.
 
No question that the Japanese system of inspection and mandatory mechanical upkeep is quite good. And the cosmetics of the cars (and often low kilometers) is, on the whole, second to none. Often times Japanese models are tastefully modified with AMG parts and such. I consistently see great looking cars coming out of the Japanese auctions.

But to me, nothing IMHO trumps paperwork and documentation. I've known that over the years, and decades of observation only drives that point home.

I would MUCH rather have a rock-chipped and spoiler-scraped car with 142K miles, that has had ongoing, documented maintenance and repair (such as my own), than a 50K mile car that looks beautiful but has zero documentation or paperwork.

I realize that is just me, and my own philosophy, but I've yet to get burned on a used MB purchase by only buying cars from good climates, with full documentation and maintenance paperwork.

The Raikku car is a great candidate for purchase IMHO. It's all documented by the man himself, right on this forum. Dunno if there is paperwork, but it's hard to argue with the evidence presented here. As @JC220 said, it really would be best if you went and saw the car in person, before any purchase.
 
I am not that bothered about paperwork as long as the car is sound. I believe (might be wrong though) that low mileage cars should not suffer from major problems, esp Mercs of that era. Also, those type of car were kind of 'social status lifting' tools for wealthy Japanese people so should be maintained and serviced meticulously. The problem is, you need someone with knowledge who would check ity for you and you need to trust them... I think this might be the biggest obstacle.
Just a random thought, if the car was serviced at dealership, should not be possible to aske M-B headquarter for service records in english?
 
As far as I know, definitely here in the States, for privacy reasons, MB is officially now NOT allowed to share records it has on hand, with new owners. Such a record in MB's computer system is called a "Vehicle Master Inquiry" (VMI). This is considered proprietary information that is only officially accessible to MB personnel.
 
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As far as I know, definitely here in the States, for privacy reasons, MB is officially now allowed to share records it has on hand, with new owners. Such a record in MB's computer system is called a "Vehicle Master Inquiry" (VMI). This is considered proprietary information that is only officially accessible to MB personnel.
That is super helpful Gerry, cheers!
 
That's strange that MB will not give you the history in the USA.
See attached record that I got from the previous owner in Germany before I bought my E class wagon a month ago.
I got all the individual service invoices as well, so I know exactly what was done to the car.
Needless to say at 58000 kms the car was like brand new
 

Attachments

I mis-typed -- reflected above in my post in red.

If you know someone who works at a dealership in the US, they may give you a VMI if you ask for it, but they are officially not supposed to do this.
 
I mis-typed -- reflected above in my post in red.

If you know someone who works at a dealership in the US, they may give you a VMI if you ask for it, but they are officially not supposed to do this.
Ahh, I see, it is strange. These days, cars rarely has service book. For example my other half's Mazda does not have one... All records are kept on Mazda server and, I believe, should be available for future buyers. I have all invoices etc but no servise bookelt.
 
This was my experience when I inquired at my local dealer some 15 years ago. The same dealer that had previously serviced the car before my purchase. I was told at that time the policy was initiated together with a change to computerized record keeping.

drew
 
There are services here like CarFax and AutoCheck that sometimes show some really basic service and state emissions records, but no specifics, and these are highly erratic and should not be trusted. Useful for seeing that a car was (or wasn't) serviced frequently, but not much more than that.

The MBUSA dealer VMI is what you really want, because it is comprehensive and will show any visit by the car to any dealer in the MBUSA dealer network, for repairs, warranty work, recalls, and customer-paid maintenance.

I'm sure the same type of system exists in other countries, but maybe the privacy laws are such that these records can be had. The funny thing is that a VMI printout here in the US, has literally ZERO CII (customer-identifiable information). But, rules are rules......sigh.

Attached is a US-specific VMI for a G63 AMG that I very recently obtained for a friend, through back-channel dealership sources. I got the VMI for my E500 back in 2003 or 2004 from a friend who worked at the Portland, Oregon dealership at the time.
 

Attachments

Toyota/Lexus publishes all dealer service records on their respective websites.


Whenever I have procured Mercedes VMI data, the person(s) providing the reports have asked me to not share with anyone.
 
I lived in Japan for several years.
They have paperwork, but they seem not to bother giving it for export cars. As it is in Japanese, it is not much use to us, anyway
They also have a very stringent & expensive inspection system ( called" Shaken") so the cars are mechanically quite good.
I think the main point to look at with Japanese exports is the gearbox, as their cars spend a lot of time in slow traffic, doing stop/starts.
Engines are rarely driven as hard as in Europe due to draconian speed limits which are enforced.
Most of the guys here that i know own A 5E rarely drive them. The guys down south Osaka drive there the most and still rare. The people that do own them take good care of the car and most like have bank to do so. The few that own them just to bein that club and dont have bank, the car just be sitting for years. Its more of a prestige thing here. If you do buy one from here its best to get one that has recent Shaken. Ive notice the ones that do not have recent shaken issues. You can see it on the auction data sheet. But if you like me and do all your own work you can get nice ones with minor things wrong, and minor things are huge things to japanese because theydo not know how to fix and the small niche market of mechanics who still alive thag work on these cars charge more than arm and leg. My friend that has garrage here that works on 90s benz bugs me out. Lol He undercover envy me and don't like me to drive my car to his shop because all his customer want to talk to me about things he charging 5 grand for i do for myself 200. But i not tell them, he good allie! I bought my car 3 years ago from owner 88000mile for 19k in yen, rate was better then so about 17k dollars. And he sold it for most reason all them sell for, tax is higher on older car and no one to fix it. But lately they getting smart auction off to foreigners but also gettin greedy on price cause popularity inflation, lol. But some owners still not on game yet, i see them on yahoo japan auctions for steal prices every ounce in a while
 
Hello Provet,

Do you have statistics on the number of cars still left in Japan? the number of cars that went on the Export auctions is huge and it does not seem to end.
There are dozens of japan import 500E for sale in Germany, dozens were imported to the Gulf, probably most ended in Russia.

And why do most cars in the auctions have 85-87k km ??
 

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