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QA: 1985 380SL Valuation Trends
By slmarket | June 19, 2009
Kevin Stanley asks:
I have a 1985 380Sl; full load, heated seats, ac, hard top, etc. I am the second owner and the car is all original with 92,000 km’s. It is teal with natural leather; 8 out of 10 condition. How can I determine the value today? Are they going up or down in value?
Thanks in advance, Kevin
John Olson replies:
All cars, even the greatest collector cars, depreciate painfully during their first decade (or two) of life… providing inadequate differentiation for rough treatment vs. careful preservation. Your mid-1980s car is currently in what I call its “limbo” years, when it is neither a newer car or old enough to be taken seriously as a collector car. The “hot” decade of appreciating older cars now is the 1960s — interesting models of all brands, especially convertibles (the safest bet to appreciate in all marques). Cars of the 1970s are just starting to be “cherry-picked” for the best preserved originals at low prices. Your decade is coming but in the meantime it is under-valued by the marketplace as compared to what it would cost to reincarnate a tired example to the condition of your car.
The only good news is that your car’s value has reached it’s “plateau” value range for the remainder of its time in “limbo”. That’s a plus for a buyer, or for you if you should decide you’re better off keeping it and enjoying it. Granted it doesn’t get the MPG we like to see today but you will lose more in annual depreciate on most newer cars that you spend annually in extra gas in any 1980s SL, plus you’re likely to be safer in a bad accident in an old Mercedes that many newer cars. Things to think about.
So, no, your 380SL should not go down further in value next year or even 10 years, than you can get this year, assuming proper care, no driving in salty seasons, etc. Finding it’s precise value would require a professional appraisal but the range is likely to be $6,000 to $12,000 –wholesale to retail, in my USA market. You didn’t mention your country of residence. Relatively speaking, what I’ve said here applies anywhere in the world.
Many of the SL Mercedes-Benz questions are answered in our SL Market Letter, published about 12 times per year. For a nominal subscription fee, you can have SL Mercedes price trends and exclusive SL articles written by author, John R. Olson – publisher of the SL Experience book. You can subscribe to the SL Market Letter here.
Topics: Questions & Answers, SL Consultant, SL Market News | 2 Comments »
January 18th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Is the 1994/5 E320 convertible entering into a collectible zone ? I understand that only 4,000 were built . There are few cars in the 1990’s that are worth collecting .
Don Paterson
January 19th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
“Collectible zone?” In a way, yes. Not the “zone” of vintage enshrinement for great engineering or of baby-boomers reliving their youth…. too new for that. Even 1970s SLs are “just” now being taken seriously as collector cars. Collectors also have an obsession with big block, in-you-face flagships. All that said, the low production will help its values — the SL 320 has already plateau’ed price wise. Good ones are already permanent assets so to speak. As the next decade passes, attrition of the “consumed” examples willl further enhance demand for the best survivors. They are a very intelligent personal cars… very strong in a bad accident, surprisingly economical gas-wise (well over 20 mpg on the road). Attractive, comfortable, roomy highway cruisers… and fast enough to get all the tickets you’ll ever want. Less expensive than V8s to service. With potentially zero depreciate — a hard package to beat.