98 sl2 for $400? what's wrong...

DSLaBuda · 05-01-2005, 12:04 AM

hey all,

i need some tips on something. been looking for a reliable beater for someone i know, needs to last at least a year. a guy at my job today mentions he has a 98 sl2 that he's selling for $400. that got my attention but the details are what i'm not sure about.

the car has 150k miles on it, it's an auto, full power & sunroof. that's as much info as he had on the car. he got it from "a buddy" after he was in an accident in it. (usually a red flag) he said the guy rearended someone (said low speed, but??) and it caused the hood to pop open and bash the windshield. he has a replacement hood for it, but it still needs the windshield and he said the paint on the bumper is cracked and flaking off.

i'm curious as to how hard he would had to hit somone for the hood to fly up. i'm also surprised it's just the windshield, in my experiance either the roof or cowl also gets damaged. i won't be able to look at it till later this week. anyone have experiance with their sl in a frontal collision? someone mentioned if the cowl is bent, don't even look at it--too much structural stress.

sl2fast · 05-01-2005, 02:27 AM

take a look at the car sometime cuz then you can see first hand whats wrong with it and how bad it would be to fix

DSLaBuda · 05-01-2005, 02:31 PM

that was my plan

i was just curious if there was any other s-series specific problem areas on the car i should be looking at.

also curious if the hood flying up was common in frontal collisions. i have this problem with cars that were in accidents but he said it was real low speed.

**Ssicarman** · 05-01-2005, 06:05 PM

The hoods normally crumple up rather than fly up/flip into the windshield. Sounds like his definition of low speed may differ from most peoples.

**jonnyrocket92** · 05-01-2005, 08:25 PM

somtine just don't sound right about that one...look it over real good...

LilMunchkin325ic · 05-01-2005, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ssicarman

The hoods normally crumple up rather than fly up/flip into the windshield. Sounds like his definition of low speed may differ from most peoples.

Exactly!

If your really interested like everyone else has mentioned.....take a look...it won't hurt ya know!

Maybe get the VIN and do a background check on it (there's a name for it, it just slips my mind....like a car report, carfax??) so this way if the accident was reported, you can see exactly what happend......along with anything else the currect owner doesn't know his *buddie* did to it.