SOLD 1993 500E, Midnight Blue/Blue, 142kmi, $25k (Daly City, CA) - PROJECT CAR

[shmeliov]

VIN: WDBEA36E5PB918525
Price $25,000

Found on Instagram, link to the post
Mods – feel free to edit post in a suitable format

jsporschemercedes

FOR SALE!! 1993 500e midnight blue on royal blue leather interior with 142k miles. Extremely rare USA spec car.. possibly 1/1. ​

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NEEDS WORK!! .. been sitting for over 10 years.. possible head gasket failure. ​

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$25,000 I will not reply to low ball offers or crap trades… I’d consider a 500e trade if it makes sense. dm me @mr.jimmycarrera​

 

[SWISS MIKE]

I am really close by, maybe I go and look at the car...? Body and paint look in good shape!

 

[doolar]

Beautiful combo, I had a 300CE in that blue color, it’s one of the better non-metallics IMO.

 

[sf_car_guy]

I saw this car earlier today. It is rough. It was parked outside and the body and trim show it. There is a rust bubble at the top of the rear window, mold in the interior, dry rotted rubber trim, etc. It does not look nearly as good as the pictures suggest.

The seller and owner of the shop, Jimmy, was rude and dismissive of basic qualifying questions. He has a good reputation around town but I can’t see why.

Good luck to whoever takes on this project.

 

[gtgoff]

I also just stopped by to check it out (LOVE a blue interior, was thinking of grabbing this one for a 6spd manual swap before sending my own current black pearl/tan car for it in a few weeks).

As mentioned above, this one is rough - paint on the front half of it (at least the whole hood, and most of the driver fender) has sanding marks down in the paint (not the clear) visible from >5ft away even on a cloudy day with the car covered in dust. Every bit of rubber is shot (front strut mounts practically separated, even window trim is hard), some corrosion starting on the painted radiator support, front bumper paint is cracking horizontally all along under like where the grill is - and looks like it was also subject to bad prep. Plus bumper has some twist to it, I'm not 100% it can be saved vs replaced. Headlight trim, despite seemingly original 500E (chromed portion inside), completely baked/cracked lenses. Interior moldy on most surfaces. I suspect that'll clean up fine.

I walked away thinking you're probably looking at, I dunno, another $20-30k in work (probably including a lower-mileage M119 replacement in it) to make it nice? Just a bit too scary and risky for me - but as the person above said, good luck to whoever takes it on.

 

[mottati]

According to a post on instagram by the seller, the car is sold.

 

[gsxr]

This car is 1 of 1 imported to USA, the only Midnight Blue 904 car.

The forum Wiki is MIA / AWOL / offline, but the VIN database says there were 6 total worldwide (four Blue interior, two Gray).

Rust bubble & interior mold are not good signs. Paint and used engine swap could easily be another $25k (much higher if paying a shop to do the work). Zero records since 2017, looks like it was driven regularly through about 2013, then it's barely moved since early 2015.

 

[sf_car_guy]

According to a post on instagram by the seller, the car is sold.

I can say with a good degree of certainty (based on the sellers comments) that the car was most likely sold to someone who never laid eyes on it.

 

[gsxr]

I can say with a good degree of certainty (based on the sellers comments) that the car was most likely sold to someone who never laid eyes on it.

I was thinking the same thing. It looks GOOD in the photos.

 

[gtgoff]

Crazy how good it looked in those - and then you get up close and realize even Maaco wouldn’t have done such a bad paint job on the front half for $500.