500/560 SEC AMG c/l east coast

[kodiak]

Not sure what to make of this:

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/ ... 70856.html

[RJMB]

Interesting... Would be useful to see the paperwork and understand what he means about the engine swap...

[amgtony88]

500sec Very Nice.....

I spoke to Ariel i think that's his name, seem like he knows little about the AMG classic's.
he told me it has the AMG header and complete exhaust system. but has the engine of a 560sl?


someone needs to go check this one out.

east coast people, were are you?;D

[lowphat]

East Coast checking in:

Listing has expired. Do any of you have contact info for the seller?

[amgtony88]

703-598-2431 name is Ariel or Ariello not sure.

Good luck Buddy,
please keep us posted.

[RJMB]

I received a text from the guy - he said (about the engine):

The swap was done here in the us. I can send you pictures tonight when I'm home from work.

No pics received but did not pursue...

[lowphat]

Thanks to amgtony88’s posting of the seller’s contact information I was able to get in touch with the seller and yesterday I went to take a look at the car that’s the subject of this thread. The seller is very nice and seemed like an honest discloser of what he knew about the car. He has owned it for a few years and it was his daily driver until a few months ago due to fuel costs and the low MPG that comes stock with our cars.

He has records reflecting that in its prior iteration, the car had received some AMG goodness, including porting & polishing, AMG Exhaust, Cams, Sport Suspension, Transmission Valve Body, 3.27 Diff and a complete Body Kit consisting of Gen I front spoiler, side skirts and rear apron and a pedestal rear wing type AMG trunk spoiler, “leather” interior, and a wood rim steering wheel.

According to the seller, the engine that is currently in the car is not the same one that received the love above and is instead a 5.6/117 that has approximately 5000 miles on it. No documentation regarding the engine replacement or the specs of the current unit adn the engine number stamping on the block was too dirty to decipher. He had no idea what became of the prior engine or why it was replaced. Overall, the engine, bay and engine related rubber look very tired. A peek through the oil filler opening revealed hydraulic lifters but an otherwise clean valve train area. The exhaust manifolds are clearly Logs. No valve cover stickers or other evidence of AMG engine mods were apparent. The seller doesn’t know whether the transmission with the modified Valve Body is that which is currently in the car, likewise as to the 3.27 Diff and there wasn’t the opportunity to scrape the housing and see the ratio stamping when I was there, although the LSD metal tab was visible. The oval AMG/Sebring muffler is in good shape externally but looking in through the tips it showed definite rustout inside, although there was still enough internal tubing structure left to hold back the insulation. The AMG tips are in decent shape. Black springs in front and rear with no observable AMG stickers, but the wheels were on the car so visibility was limited.

Exterior-wise, the car is that beautiful “Midnight Blue” color, but the paint/body definitely need alot of TLC, it’s about a 5 on a 10 scale and the seller acknowledged that a repaint is in order. There are several places that are showing rust, including rear wheel arches and the rear corners of the rear glass, and other random places where the paint has cracked and peeled “up” in place and is probably harboring more rust underneath. I didn’t feel any rust when poking my fingers in the holes inside the trunk under the rear window’s trailing edge. All of the pieces of the body kit are intact and in pretty decent shape with no real cracks or deformities. Wheels are stock MB 8 holers from a more recent car. It also sports a modern non old school ///AMG badge on the rear passenger’s side of the trunk.

I’m not familiar enough with the names of MB interior colors so for this car I’m going to go with Tan. On the “exotic” side, it has the ortho seats with the little hand pumps, a “Personal” brand four-spoke wood steering wheel that’s in decent shape, Euro headlight adjustment and some aftermarket white face guages that don’t pretend to mimic AMG. Whatever the “Leather” interior option stated in the documentation may have been, it’s not in there any more, as the rest of the interior is stock and in sad shape with dash wood veneer separation, sagging/hanging headliner and an overall aged look.

The car had been sitting long enough that the battery was dead. Though the seller hooked up a quick charger when I arrived, it never started, but it did turn over very slowly after I had been there around 15 minutes.

The seller also has miscellaneous loose parts available, including a dual snorkel air cleaner (not the kind with the big bore snorkel on the driver’s side), an EZL, random relays, one shifter console wood and a pair of euro wiper arms to name the ones that stood out to me. The highlight of my trip was the skid plate I picked up from him for my SEC.

I didn’t get the vibe that VIN or picture taking and sharing was OK, hence the lack of pics. The seller has pics of the car in its earlier days of glory and back then it did look sweeeeet. The pics show it sporting Texas plates and five spoke silver Antera wheels, in case that jogs anyone’s memory as to the history of this car.

As a disclaimer, after speaking with the seller in advance of the viewing and listening to him read down then list of mods in his documentation I spent the better part of the day leading up to my visit with the car working myself into a froth imagining that I was going to get a 6 loved-on-liter surprise when the hood popped - so my opinions about what I actually encountered are formed based on a self-pitied let down. In other words, as soon as I saw the tired condition of the car and the nonexistent 6L I just wasn’t an interested buyer and perhaps my perspective turned more towards glass being half-empty disinterest.

With that mindset in mind, the seller’s asking price of 9K seems very high to me. You all know the value of the individual parts that I’ve listed as being present above, so there’s always the part-out measure of value. But to me, as a whole car, I wouldn’t pay more than 3,500 tops, and that assumes that the rare parts are “real” and that it runs normally and without major mechanical issues.

I did suggest to the seller that his future ads for this car might generate more interest if they included pics of the Diff ratio stamping, muffler and spring AMG stickers, if present.

So there you have it.

If any of you need local assistance wiht this car or parts please let me know and I'd be happy to help out.

[bondavi]

First of all, fantastic write-up, Marco...

This is a prime example that not every w126 out there with an AMG bodykit is purely cosmetic...as the untrained eye would have assumed. Pity the goodness was squeezed out, though.

Curious...the AMG documentation you saw - was it Westmont? Was there a date of installation? What did it outline for the motor in terms of the "package" - did it go by a specific stage, HP, or basically a listing of a la carte services (port n polish, big valve kit, exhaust), done on the motor? I wish I had the sheet for my '84, to refer to, but do not.

Reason I ask is because in the 1986 AMG catalog, the transmission "valve body" modification was attested to 32V cars and the transmission's handling of the added power. Jon White's 5.4 which is an even-hotter version of a pnp 5.0 didn't have the valve body, but then that may be just a matter of preference and what was checked off on the options chart.

[bondavi]

Basically curious if it was a later AMG build of an early 500SEC.

If I understand correctly...Dr. Grillz' is on the lookout for a 3.27 Gleason-Torsen...

[amgtony88]

thank you for all the information lowphat.

very well explained, great work.

I agree with you about the value of the car.

[lowphat]

David -

The document that the seller had reflecting the AMG mods was in English, wasn't Westmont and not on AMG letterhead. The mods were listed a la carte style with no HP or Stage references, but each had corresponding itemized pricing/value. The document also included a past-tense, "historical" type reference along the lines of "The modifications were done in Germany when the car had approximately 67,000 miles on it." The impression that left me with is that the document is "after the fact" and that the company that created the document was not the company that performed the AMG mods listed on the document. To the extent that my description makes it sound like one, the document was not related to a PPI. The VIN listed on the document matched that of the car I saw. FWIW: My personal opinion is that absent additional verification, that document aint' enough - notwithstanding, I think that the seller is honestly conveying what he has been told and what he personally concludes from the doc.

As to the Valve Body likely indicating 32V mods, there were absolutely no references to 32V in the document.

If the good Dr. is interested in the diff, I bet if he called the seller the seller wold snap a pic of the unit, and of the stamping, and send it along. As an aside, the rear of the diff is painted red. The document mentioned above included a reference/line item stating that the diff had been painted red.

[RJMB]

Now why would you want to paint the diff red?

[Dr.Grillz]

hi guys, yes, I'd like a 2.82-3.27 GT differential, but I wouldn't want to pry it off a perfectly fine car. If the diff was available by itself, then yes.

[lowphat]

Now why would you want to paint the diff red?

Apparently......

"Red brings warmth, energy and stimulation, and is therefore good for energy, fatigue, colds, chilly
and passive people. Red energizes heart and blood circulation, it builds up the blood and
heightens a low blood pressure. Red energizes all organs and the senses hearing, smell, taste,
vision and touch. Red increases sexual desire and activity & stimulates ovulation and
menstruation. Never treat cancer with red, because this color will stimulate cell growth!"

[RJMB]

Now why would you want to paint the diff red?

Apparently......

"Red brings warmth, energy and stimulation, and is therefore good for energy, fatigue, colds, chilly
and passive people. Red energizes heart and blood circulation, it builds up the blood and
heightens a low blood pressure. Red energizes all organs and the senses hearing, smell, taste,
vision and touch. Red increases sexual desire and activity & stimulates ovulation and
menstruation. Never treat cancer with red, because this color will stimulate cell growth!"

Oh!

[Dr.Grillz]

Now why would you want to paint the diff red?

Apparently......

"Red brings warmth, energy and stimulation, and is therefore good for energy, fatigue, colds, chilly
and passive people. Red energizes heart and blood circulation, it builds up the blood and
heightens a low blood pressure. Red energizes all organs and the senses hearing, smell, taste,
vision and touch. Red increases sexual desire and activity & stimulates ovulation and
menstruation. Never treat cancer with red, because this color will stimulate cell growth!"

lol! Nominate this for post of the year