Piston Slap: The Spare 300E Needs a National Bricklin Museum?

Fabio writes:

Hi Sajeev,

I have been asked by an uncle if I would like to his 91 Mercedes 300E (he has supplied all of his children and is now moving to the extended family). It has 230K km (140K miles) and looks to be in pretty good condition. He’s mentioned that it has been very reliable. The purchase price would be negligible and the insurance is reasonable. One of my concerns is that I would be using the car as my daily driver (it would be replacing my current 99 Grand Am (170K miles) and I wanted to get another take on that – is it reasonable, or is it not a good idea.

I’ve read a bit up on that vehicle and it seems to have a decent reputation for longevity (with the required maintenance). I was hoping if you could provide some insight as to whether this seems like a feasible idea, or would I just be better off sticking with the Grand Am.

Sajeev answers:

Short answer? This is a great car from the good old days of German engineering, but I don’t see you stomaching the occasional $1-3000 repair bill if you use it on a daily basis. Older cars aren’t good daily drivers, especially German ones with somewhat pricey and hard to find replacement parts. Unless you have a lot of faith in the car’s service records and age/brand of replacement parts, you should avoid this vehicle at all costs. That’s my general advice, unless you have something that might sway me otherwise.

Fabio answers back:

Sajeev, I’m fairly certain that the car was well serviced (my uncle was the only owner), however I will have an independent shop take a look to see what the lay of the land is. Now I’ve got to see how I can say, “No, you can keep your free Mercedes.” :-)

Are there any circumstances that you would acquire such a vehicle (see how I’m looking for an answer that I would like to hear, instead of the right one)?

Sajeev:

Damn, son! Why didn’t you say that before? I can do this cake-eat-it-too scenario!

So do you have the room to keep a second car? Collector car insurance is cheap, and yours probably applies. So honestly, having a Grand Am and a 300E for occasional use would be quite fun. And quite awesome.

Fabio:

I currently park on the street, but I also have a private spot behind my house (off of the alley). I’d have to see from my insurance about the classic car insurance.

Sajeev:

Shop around, there are plenty of providers of classic car insurance. And they all have different rules. I use State Farm and my brother uses the National Corvette Museum for it…seriously! Everyone is in this game!

You are on your way to owning two cars, that’s the smarter move than one old car only!

Fabio:

Yeah. What could possibly go wrong? :-) I’ll see if we have the Canadian equivalent of the Corvette museum up here – perhaps the National Bricklin Museum?

Send your queries to sajeev@thetruthaboutcars.com. Spare no details and ask for a speedy resolution if you’re in a hurry.