Once upon a time, the M-B 500SEC was considered THE car for high-speed cruising. EVERY F1 driver had one. They were heart-attack expensive in 1985. On Craigslist, there's what looks like a cherry 1985 500SEC for $2999, which is $1 less than I paid for a 1971 914 with dodgey paint and one carb two years ago. A 914 in equal condition to this car would be $8K easy, for a car that's at least 10 years older, a lot less powerful, and with far fewer comfy gadgets.

Clearly, the market prefers Porsche to M-B...

part of the reason is the cost of operating such a car. even thought it is still WAAAYYYY much cheaper here in the US than anywhere else in the world, it looks like you're finally catching up ...

back in germany, about 10 years ago, i bought 2 very nice '76 MB 280SE (you know, the ones with the double chrome bumpers) for a whoooping 600 DM (about $400 at the time).
one had a broken hardy-disk, the other one was a runner.
i used one as a backup parts car and the other as my daily driver. gas milage was beyond horrible and taxes/insurance were eating up my retirement fund but man, that car was fun to drive ...

Andy

Yet another reason is that big luxury cars tend to go out of style very quickly, and if you are 3 or 4 generations back, the typical big luxury car buyer isn't interested at all. Its not much of a status symbol at that point...

Like bondo says: Mercedes are either expensive to buy and cheap to maintain (warranty), or cheap to buy (old) but expensive to maintain.

-Tony

I can't say I buy the operating cost argument. Despite $3+/gallon gas pretty much nationwide now, there's still a waiting list for the Hummer H3.

The old news argument I can buy. I do know a good number of people who love on Benzes, but perhaps there just aren't enough of them to keep the prices propped up. My next door neighbor has a 300D from the early 80s with over 400K miles on it, and he fixes it himself. I think he finally had to do wheel bearings last year (owned the car since new). His wife has a late 80s 560SL, but rarely drives it in favor of her Toyota daily driver. Neither one are the usual M-B owners. He's an electrician, and she owns a beauty salon. They aren't really into the status thing.

Just struck me as odd and not a little ironic that what was once such a desirable car (to some) is now less than half the price of something that was once considered cheap trash by the high status set (and still is, by many).

People who can afford to pay for repairs on MB's buy new ones. People who can't afford to pay for repairs on MB's are scared of them.

Regarding Porsches, 911's obviously hold value the best. Everything else is chopped liver. My 944S2 was like $45k in 1989, I paid $6200 for a one owner all mech. records car. Same thing goes for 928's, and regular 944's are even worse. 911sc's are still $13k easy for a nice example. Ironically, I think my S2 has more balls than its 911 big brother in 1989.

QUOTE (lapuwali @ Oct 10 2005, 02:22 PM)

Despite $3+/gallon gas pretty much nationwide now, there's still a waiting list for the Hummer H3.

The Hummer is the ultimate poser truck. Peoples buy them to show everyone else that they makes enough money to feed them.
Their status follow the the price of gas.