Thank you for the focus on the 300CE. I own a 1988 300CE. It looks just like Mr. Vaugha's car, but only has the less powerful single cam six. I purchased the car about five years ago for $5,500 but didn't get the great deal that Mr. Vaughan got. You might say that I got the worst of all worlds. I purchased a relatively rare, high end car that isn't worth much. Just the same, I really like my coupe. These W124 coupes sold for about $54K when new, but they are cheap as chips today. Mine was a rust free Kentucky car with a good engine and drive train, but I still managed to invest another $20,000 into restoration. So, now I've invested about $25,000 into a $12,000 car. These W124s aren't very hard to work on but are extremely expensive to restore. As I said, my car was basically a straight and solid car, but it needed a lot of work. The engine had oil leaks and the drive line needed service. The brakes needed full rebuild, including master cylinder, rotors, hoses and calipers. The front and rear suspension needed a full rebuild including shocks, springs and mulit-links. The interior needed new leather seat covers and the car got a full repaint. That's just a partial list of work done. Now the car runs and looks like new. I love the lines of the body and the quality of the car. It's such a shame that many clean and basically sound W124s simply aren't worth rebuilding at this point. But I don't regret my 300CE restoration project. However, it is advisable to purchase the nicest example that you can find. If you can do the service and restoration work yourself, you will save a lot of money, but will still probably be under water when you are done. Finally, because these cars are rare, some parts will be hard to find. Plastic interior parts are very rare. I had to purchase some parts from eastern Europe.
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