talk me out of it
>t. never owned a car before

>>28458092 (OP)
>Buying a lifted monster truck for your first car

>>28458092 (OP)
No, get it.

Prepare for rust.
Other than that, great car. My parents had one when I was a child.

Anything vacuum related will never function, anything metal will be 99% rust and 1% bondo

>>28458092 (OP)
it's rusty, everything rubber is fucked, it's slow, parts are harder to get every year

I had one in 2002 it was a great car but even then it started to fall apart and got expensive quickly in 2 years time. They were great cars but they are not going to last. Plus they are carbureted in a world of fuel injection.

>>28458092 (OP)
>talk me out of it

Great car; but its old so parts are just going to keep getting more expensive for it.

If you're in the United States I'd suggest a 2003-2011 Lincoln Town Car. Great ride quality and its the most reliable car Ford ever made. Parts are still pretty widely available too because they share the same platform as the Ford Crown Vic and they made millions of them. They're also very affordable and you can find lots of them that are in good shape because they belonged to some little old man or little old lady.

The 2000 to 2006 Lexus LS430 is also worth considering. Very reliable, great V8, Toyota reliability; but you'll have to pay more for one than you would a Town Car.

>>28458144
What? I thought that generation of Mercedes were 100% galvanized.

>>28458092 (OP)
It's a really fucking nice looking car, but it'll cost yah.

>>28458092 (OP)
you better have like a box full of wire harnesses cuz that car aint coming with one

>>28458162
i thought these were fuel injected?

I can't. MB is too classy

>>28458174
I'd be double sure and do another undercoat.also wash those rocker panels every now and then.

>>28458092 (OP)
Awesome car, BUT over 30 years old and daily driven most if not all of its life.
The biodegradeable wiring harness and corrosion problems due to overaged water-based paint were major issues but good luck finding one that's affected (and not fixed yet). Other than that these are pretty robust. You will still have old-car problems. Rubber bits will suck, and sooner or later some vaccum fuckery will show up. Plastic bits in the interior will be brittle now too.
Spareparts are mostly unproblematic and cheap, any independent mechanic who can't work on them is legally retarded. DIY-Books are out there (at least in german) and most stuff is fairly simple. The jackpoints ALWAYS rust, and it does have passenger recognition on the front seats (mine at least) which likes to fail so you get a 'fasten seatbelts' light flashing on the roof.
Diesels have a reputation for being dead slow but nearly unkillable, this has led to people abusing the heck out of them though.
The M103 in the 300 E (only version I can speak of directly) runs nicely. As 5 speed itll do 60 mph at 2000 rpm and purr comfortably at 100 mph. Perfect for long distances, good fuel consumption when cruising in 5th even at speed that'll get burgers jailed. It's a bit awkward and pretty voraceous in city driving because of the really tall first gear and shitty manual transmission though. Autotragic is lacking a gear though.

It's a really well thought-out car and I absolutely enjoy mine.

>>28460162
Everything that has E in its name has injection (Einspritzung in German, rarely fails but is apparently a bitch when it does)

Might want to add, the trunk is huge BUT unlike modern cars you can't fold down the rear seats to expand it, except in the wagon.
Sedan, coupe and convertible have the fuel tank between reaseats and trunk.

>>28458092 (OP)
One of those was my first car. If you get one make sure it's well maintained and all working, since they have a lot of systems that're complex or expensive to fix since "luxury car." They have a lot more "stuff" in them than a lower-end brand would, even if they are fundamentally reliable. That's what people never talk about. Like they'll say "oh yeah that baby'll go 500K easy easy" but they don't talk about the hundreds of small parts that break or stop working. Like if the sunroof breaks you could spend a week ripping out the interior and spending half a grand on small parts to fix it. Power seats break, driveline rubber falls apart, HVAC vacuum pods in the dash all fail, pre-OBD engine electronics fail, Bosch mechanical injection fails, etc. Maybe the windshield springs a leak and all the wiring under the front carpets is ruined.

>>28458160
>it's rusty, everything rubber is fucked, it's slow, parts are harder to get every year

Non of that is true, I own three of them. All rust free.

>>28458092 (OP)
Mercs in those years were very well built cars.
My brother had a 190e that I liked a lot.
But they are old and will require a lot of maintenance.
Doesn't bother me, but other people are different.
I think we changed the spark plugs on that 190e every 3K miles.
K-Jet life.

>>28458092 (OP)
>>t. never owned a car before

I think these are pretty reliable, but don't delude yourself into buying a 30 year old car, and thinking you aren't going to need to do a ton of maintenance.

this board is 95% retard. fucking hell.

>>28458092 (OP)
If its carbureted - walk away.

>>28458092 (OP)
Get a Honda Civic or something Anon, don't even fuck around and make your life harder for your first car.

>>28458092 (OP)
They are well design and built, which unfortunaly means that if you are in the US parts will be pretty expensive. It is an old car so it is only a short matter of time before it dies and needs something to be done. If your in Europe then it is good option, but in the states a crown vic/town car, marquis is a better option

>>28461965
This old cars like the Mercs and Jap cars are obscenely reliable, but I think so many YouTubers are disingenuous when they say "go get an old car" and that's it, they need to ask "Are you willing to reseal leaks on the motor?" Are you willing to replacing the struts, tie rods, joints, and all the rubber bits of the suspension?" So on and so on, and often times because people are pussies, the answer is no, and I think even Panther bodies are getting up there in age and collector value to the point where they're just not worth it unless you're really into Panther platform, as a car the newest ones 14 years old and have their needs, got beaten up doing Panther body activities and go for too much money these days, I would suggest getting a sub 15 year old Honda or Toyota, their value is so low for what you're getting, they don't need crazy maintenance, it's reliable, doesn't chug fuel like a slow ass 4.6, and you got the car for so cheap you can actually fuckin afford to fix it.

>>28458092 (OP)
It would be fun if you actually took the time to learn to wrench on it, but lets be honest you arent going to. Youre going to have a panic attack at the first thing that breaks, get raped by a mechanic, and then sell the broken turd for half what you paid for it then rant and rave for the rest of your days about how evil german cars are

>>28462170
Kek you could take that CollectorCarFeef video about Nissan 240s and apply it to any old ass car with how far people go in over their head as a young guy with no experience working on cars and no money.

>>28458174
It's a very old car, Anon.

the most expensive thing you can own is a cheap mercedes

>>28465582
mercedes isnt even in the same ballpark as actual moneypits like jags or old oddball stuff with no parts

>>28458092 (OP)
When it goes wrong it will cost you most of the price of the car. DESU a full service will get close to that.
Don't buy cheap expensive cars, they're priced to sell.

>>28465602
This, people with no mechanical knowledge go buy something like an old S class benz instead of a similarly priced used Honda and act like it's the greatest play ever, meanwhile doing airmatic struts can cost you $1100 a corner on top of everything else.

>>28465705
>meanwhile doing airmatic struts can cost you $1100 a corner on top of everything else
For the people with no mechanical knowledge, sure. I helped some random dude at a junkyard get the last two bolts he needed to pull two struts he needed for his W220 once, after getting them off it turned out they were fresh, recently remanufactured Arnott struts that he was going to get for like $25 a pop. Brand new reman struts for my W211 AMG cost me less than $300 a corner, on the other hand.
Just don't be a wrenchlet, I swapped an '80s Honda for an '80s S-Class and it's been great and very cheap to own (it's diesel)

>>28465705
what the fuck does op's w124 have to do with airmatic?

>Nuh uh! Wanna see a real moneypit? Try the Vector W8! I bet a 1909 Oldsmobile is harder to find parts for than that W124! Heh, you wanna know a money pit? When it's as expensive to fix and difficult to find parts as a Miura then we'll talk kiddo :)
lol what a fuckin queer

>>28458092 (OP)
if youre american, its a money pit
if youre european, everyone will think youre a gypsy

>>28465784
What I'm saying is that old cars need a lot, and it's often more than someone who's never had a car can deal with, they might think, hmm why buy a Honda civic when I can have a W124 benz and have something unusual, but it ends up being more than they can fix or restore.