SOLD 1993 500E, 040 Black/Black, 37kmi, BaT auction (Portland, OR)

[gsxr]

Fresh meat. No affiliation. Looks far nicer than most (as it should, for 37kmi) and is almost entirely unmolested other than the steering wheel. Needs the headliner replaced (shame that wasn't taken care of on an otherwise mint 036). AFAIK the lower cladding/bumpers were Alto Gray from the factory, would be nice to find out how it was delivered since the current owner allegedly bought it new in 1993. EDIT: THe seller confirmed the car WAS delivered with Alto Gray lowers/bumpers, and had them repainted in 040 Black for the monochrome look.





VIN = WDBEA36E5PB985061

Datacard: https://www.lastvin.com/vin/zrL6K2Oy9j8dqJpM5

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1993-mercedes-benz-500e-56/



37k-Mile 1993 Mercedes-Benz 500E

This 1993 Mercedes-Benz 500E was purchased new by the current owner, and it now shows 37k miles. The car is powered by a 5.0-liter V8 paired with a four-speed automatic transmission and is finished in black over black leather upholstery. Equipment includes 17″ Evo 2 wheels, a power sunroof, Automatic Slip Control, automatic climate control, a cassette stereo, heated power-adjustable front seats, and cruise control. Work performed in 2023 has included replacing the rear pressure regulator, spark plugs, and the distributor cap and rotor. This W124 500E is offered in Oregon on dealer consignment with manufacturer’s literature, service records, a clean Carfax report, and a clean Illinois title.

The 500E was assembled by Porsche and featured wheel arch flares, revised bodywork, and a lower ride height when compared to other W124 models. This example is finished in Black (040) and features matching bumper covers and lower cladding. Additional exterior features include headlights with washers and wipers, integrated fog lights, a retractable antenna, and a power sunroof. A dent in the left rear door was repaired in July 2023, and photographs of paint-meter readings are presented in the gallery

The 17″ Evo 2 wheels are mounted with 245/45 Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires showing 2011 date codes. The car is equipped with Automatic Slip Control (ASR), and braking is handled by four-wheel ventilated discs. The front brake pads and rotors were replaced in May 2019, and the rear pressure regulator was replaced in July 2023.

The cabin features heated power-adjustable front seats upholstered in black leather along with a color-coordinated lower dashboard, door panels, and carpeting. Amenities include automatic climate control, a cassette stereo, dual front airbags, and cruise control.

The wood- and leather-trimmed steering wheel frames a 160-mph speedometer, a tachometer with a 6k-rpm redline, an analog clock, and gauges for oil pressure, coolant temperature, and fuel level. The six-digit odometer shows 37k miles.

The 5.0-liter M119 DOHC V8 was factory-rated at 322 horsepower and 354 lb-ft of torque. The wiring harness and valve cover gaskets were replaced in May 2019. Work performed in 2023 has included changing the oil and replacing the spark plugs and the distributor cap and rotor.

Power is sent to the rear wheels through a four-speed automatic transmission. A transmission cooler line was replaced in August 2020. Additional underside photos are provided in the gallery. The Carfax report shows no accidents or damage and lists registration history in California, Illinois, and Tennessee.

 

[gsxr]

Next 100 photos.

 

[gsxr]

Last photos pus Carfax.

 

[maw1124]

Photos 5 and 6 are the best arguments for calling this Blue Black that I’ve ever seen. And it seems that finally, FINALLY someone has figured out how to photograph the car so no one is thinking anything silly, like they all came from the factory crooked, or some shit like that.

As for @Stevester 500E, I’ll take the modified article, with RENNTech, ASR delete, exhaust, Koni Yellows up front, NEEZ wheels, stereo, SL brakes, etc. I guess I can understand someone wanting the virgin version. I guess. But that’s just a guess.

Car is gorgeous but I’m not the museum piece buyer. Someone would need to do all of that to this one, and maybe the Euro headlights, depending upon your perspective.

I would definitely engage in Value Destroying Mods here.

maw

 

[Draginev]

@gsxr Dave, please change the title from 300E to 500E

 

[gsxr]

Photos 5 and 6 are the best arguments for calling this Blue Black that I’ve ever seen. And it seems that finally, FINALLY someone has figured out how to photograph the car so no one is thinking anything silly, like they all came from the factory crooked, or some shit like that.

Except this one is 040 Black and has no blue in it! Not sure if it's lighting, or if the photog went a little nuts in Photoshop. @Jlaa?

@gsxr Dave, please change the title from 300E to 500E

OOOPS. Fixed!

 

[Bogeyman]

A veritable plethora of caps & rotors. Seems like a lot of maintenance for 37K mi.

 

[Draginev]

Photos 5 and 6 are the best arguments for calling this Blue Black that I’ve ever seen. And it seems that finally, FINALLY someone has figured out how to photograph the car so no one is thinking anything silly, like they all came from the factory crooked, or some shit like that.

I've analyzed the photo really carefully, but there is no blue in the paint, the only blue we see is the reflection of the sky. When it's under the sun.

 

[tanger]

Is that steering wheel OEM or redone? During my first ownership run, I redid a Brabus wheel in wood/leather, but when I bought the car back the seller smartly kept it for a future E500. Would love to buy an OEM like that, but I guess I can just have Craft Customs redo the one in the car now.

 

[Stevester 500E]

Stunning. All the good ones are not gone.

 

[gsxr]

A veritable plethora of caps & rotors. Seems like a lot of maintenance for 37K mi.

BaT keeps referring to a single cap & rotor.

Most likely there's an underlying issue (cam seals, cam magnet leak, etc) causing a misfire issue and a shop that doesn't know better "fixes" it by replacing the caps/rotors, repeatedly. As @Klink would say, "I've seen it a million times..."

 

[Stevester 500E]

Is the air box lid the monotone ( no solver lettering or star) or is the lettering faded?

 

[maw1124]

Except this one is 040 Black and has no blue in it! Not sure if it's lighting, or if the photog went a little nuts in Photoshop. @Jlaa?

I've analyzed the photo really carefully, but there is no blue in the paint, the only blue we see is the reflection of the sky. When it's under the sun.

Well excuse me, excuse me, all ye purists of the .036 Order of the Color Code Cloth!! I stand corrected.

199 is what gets referred to as Blue Black, not the holy grail 040.

Please continue thoust drooling, uninterrupted by us peasants.

maw

 

[captruff]

This is a twin to my car!

Jeff

 

[Eno]

Beautiful, very clean

 

[TerryA]

Is that steering wheel OEM or redone? During my first ownership run, I redid a Brabus wheel in wood/leather, but when I bought the car back the seller smartly kept it for a future E500. Would love to buy an OEM like that, but I guess I can just have Craft Customs redo the one in the car now.

@ Tanger,
I don’t think the steering wheel is stock. My 93-040-500E has an all leather wheel.

 

[2phast]

The steering wheel, shift knob and wheels are not stock to a 1993 500E. Airbox is correct for a late model 1993 model, solid black, no silver.

 

[TimL]

Oh wow, what a car. It seems that this is one of these very rare cars where low mileage is combined with careful maintenance. How many low mileage cars come up that have DDD, yellowed coolant tanks, questionable driver seat condition, etc. None of that here!

I hope it gets all the money that it’s worth! Despite the peeling driver door pocket

 

[daantjie]

Plus this seller is a heavyweight on BAT and always brings high-test cars and presentation to match. This bad boy will bring big $$$$ no doubt.

 

[TerryA]

Oh wow, what a car. It seems that this is one of these very rare cars where low mileage is combined with careful maintenance. How many low mileage cars come up that have DDD, yellowed coolant tanks, questionable driver seat condition, etc. None of that here!

I hope it gets all the money that it’s worth! Despite the peeling driver door pocket

IMOP, A clean 040 Blk/Blk is a beautiful car to see! Of course I’m a little prejudiced in my opinion.

That DS peeling door skin is one of the few pitfalls of owning a 500E. The other is the yellowing coolant tank and the self leveling fluid tank which I have replaced.

Albeit I tossed a perfectly good yellowed coolant tank for an inferior white tank which leaked and already had to replace.

Gotta Love 040 Black

 

[TimL]

IMOP, A clean 040 Blk/Blk is a beautiful car to see! Of course I’m a little prejudiced in my opinion.

That DS peeling door skin is one of the few pitfalls of owning a 500E. The other is the yellowing coolant tank and the self leveling fluid tank which I have replaced.

Albeit I tossed a perfectly good yellowed coolant tank for an inferior white tank which leaked and already had to replace.

Gotta Love 040 Black

For all those in a bind, I'll have a very nice condition, non peeling, original black driver side door pocket coming off my car in a couple of weeks (it hasn't been repaired). Will post pictures once it comes off the car.

 

[Jlaa]

Except this one is 040 Black and has no blue in it! Not sure if it's lighting, or if the photog went a little nuts in Photoshop. @Jlaa?

Looks black to me! What a minty looking car. I am jealous of the condition of the underside!

 

[Jlaa]

As I am jealous of the underside --- I find it fascinating that the aft rear-subframe mount looks to be new/replaced (with either the super-long-long-long-gone-NLA original mount, or a pedestrian 124 mount), but the forward rear-subframe mount looks to be original? Not really sure. I'm not criticizing this because the underside is already nicer that nearly anything out there ..... just interesting.

 

[gsxr]

I'm surprised there's not more lust for the NLA, 036-specific plated resonator hanger:

 

[cascade]

PunchList™ to be posted soon.

 

[Draginev]

@gsxr check the dm

 

[RicardoD]

I am tempted to bid because of the hanger

 

[AMG5PT4]

Has the underside of this stellar 500E been dry ice cleaned? Given the 37k miles driven and 30 year age of the car, the underside must have been cleaned.

 

[canyoncarco]

Has the underside of this stellar 500E been dry ice cleaned? Given the 37k miles driven and 30 year age of the car, the underside must have been cleaned.

Most likely, but thankfully without the rattle can flat black paint addition.

 

[Bogeyman]

Now at $80K with 2 days left.
Makes Skikar's Limited look like a bargain @ $73K Euros...

 

[Type5314]

Is it fair to say the market is placing a significant premium on the low mileage condition? I’ll bet the database on this amazing Forum would yield an interesting histogram of, say, the number of cars per 10,000 mile increments.

 

[gsxr]

There's often a hefty premium for low odometers. Sometimes it's warranted (which seems to be the case for this car), sometimes it isn't. Can't confirm without a professional inspection from someone who knows how a proper 036 should run & drive, i.e. Blue Ridge MB.

However, the "odometer buyer" crowd often doesn't seem to care if a car runs or drives like it should. They're more interested in the low odometer reading and things like triple ceramic coatings on the original paint, since it will probably get parked in a climate-controlled garage anyway, making an annual appearance at a C&C or other show.

 

[maw1124]

^^^ I've been shocked to see how BaT hasn't presented their information in this fashion. They chose time, as in chronology. Of course more goes into it, but a tool that lets you select organization by mileage, by time, by color, etc, would yield some interesting results I would imagine. It might also depress their commissions, so I can also imagine why such a tool isn't available.

Also, to @gsxr point, mileage is the one thing on a car that isn't exactly fixable. Paint being next in line. NLA parts complicates the issue but as a starting point, I've had too many people school me on the various reasons mileage matters more than anything to ignore or debate it.

maw

 

[gsxr]

The odometer discussion could probably split into a separate thread. I get the attraction to the low odo, but we've all seen a low-odo car that looks like it was on the front lines of a world war. Low miles doesn't automatically mean well maintained, and you can't "see" many mechanical issues like you can see wear on, for example, a driver seat bolster or sagging headliner. On the flip side, some high-mile cars (like, over 200kmi) can look amazingly good. Since the latter often costs much less, I'd prefer that option, since we actually drive our cars... ok, at least in summer when it's dry!

 

[Stevester 500E]

Shooting from the hip and tire kicking from afar, I figured this car would fetch in the high 60's. Boy was I wrong!

 

[dionphaneuf]

Technically isn't this a 315HP (not 322HP) car? Boy, I hope someone at BaT got fired for that gaff

 

[gsxr]

Technically isn't this a 315HP (not 322HP) car? Boy, I hope someone at BaT got fired for that gaff

Yup, it was 315 from the factory. One of the peanut gallery pointed that out early on, but the listing was not updated.

 

[gsxr]

BTW: Is it only me that finds it mildly annoying when a seller re-posts photos of the car (not adding new content), every 5 minutes, during the last hour of the auction? The seller has otherwise been far better than most. Sort of a West Coast Dean.

 

[daantjie]

Just hammered at $86K

 

[gsxr]

$86k + fees = $90,300 all in, plus tag / title / tax / transport.

Multiple bidders near the top of the range:

$86,000 = Motor_Head53 (Winner)
$85,000 = Lendou
$84,500 = speedster66
$80,000 = pdiddio415
$73,000 = Ramonernesto
$70,000 = angushopper

 

[TimL]

Just hammered at $86K

I'd consider that a disappointing result. Seems like the 036 market cooled off quite a bit :-(

 

[Bogeyman]

BTW: Is it only me that finds it mildly annoying when a seller re-posts photos of the car (not adding new content), every 5 minutes, during the last hour of the auction? The seller has otherwise been far better than most. Sort of a West Coast Dean.

Dave, you know the mantra - "You're always closing".
Some just can't help themselves.

 

[maw1124]

Dave, you know the mantra - "You're always closing".
Some just can't help themselves.

You mean “Always Be Closing” from Ben Affleck’s “Boiler Room”?

maw

 

[daantjie]

Or rather Alec Baldwin in "Glengarry Glen Ross" brief but great performance BTW.

 

[maw1124]

I'd consider that a disappointing result. Seems like the 036 market cooled off quite a bit :-(

Markets are fickle but the cars will always be special and the smart money says yours will always be top notch. I wouldn't fret it too much.

maw

 

[gerryvz]

I'd consider that a disappointing result. Seems like the 036 market cooled off quite a bit :-(

This is a correct observation.

This is one of those "high-water-mark" cars that comes up once or twice a year, and I have no doubt that it would have brought well over $100K if this sale had happened several years ago.

I would say that this car will also be one of a few high-water-mark cars, in terms of final sales price, for calendar year 2023.

The thing that I have noticed, in over 20 years of both owning my E500 and observing the market, is that temporary plateaus happen. And they happen for a variety of reasons, not just the economy. So the market takes a breather, often after a high-water mark sale happens. Prices will go down 10-20%, then ratchet back up to an even higher mark.

Sometimes this is driven by new "waves" of prospective buyers coming into the market and "discovering" the E500E. We see this every few years, and many hundreds of folks have joined this forum. 20 years ago, very very very few people knew what an E500E was. Even MB enthusiasts! Porsche joint heritage? Meh. Nobody really cared -- what was all that Porsche hoopla about anyway? It's a Mercedes E-class with a V-8 stuck under the hood!

But over the years the cars have become more collectible, and the collector market has "discovered" them. This has been helped with the general uptick of interest in 1980s and 1990s cars as the classic hot-rod and muscle-car aficionados have begun to age out of the market and/or die off, and Gen X people have reached their prime earning and collecting years. Millennials are also driving interest in 90s cars of their youth.

I have been saying for 20 years now, that the arc of the E500E market will follow that of the 1968-1972 300SEL 6.3. And I have been pretty much correct.

I leave one last thought, especially for the odometer buyers with low-miles cars.

• By owning and not driving an E500E, you are REALLY missing out on the enjoyment of experiencing a wonderful car in all respects
• Every time you start your engine, and drive your E500E, you are lighting a match to dollar bills and lessening the value of your car
• Those of us who have owned our cars for a long time, bought them relatively cheaply back in the day, have gotten many many years and many many thousands of miles of true enjoyment out of our cars, and are still well ahead in terms of what the car is worth, in relation to what we paid for it. We have MADE MONEY yet enjoyed the experience of both owning and driving our E500Es!!

 

[smilecenterlab]

especially when you clean the caps!

 

[Stevester 500E]

Honchos post #46 is a magazine article. No joke. Probably zero editing.

 

[skikrazey]

Was looking forward to seeing a punch list from Cascade.