For $17,900, I'll CE Your 280 And Raise You 5.0

The German word for muscle is muskel which is also coincidentally how Popeye pronounces it. Applied automotively, that would make today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe 5.0-powered MB 280CE a muskelwagen, but is its price enough to make your eyes pop?

Unsurprisingly, a hefty 97% of you would not have popped for yesterday's cream of sumyunguy-colored Chinese sport utility, preferring instead to keep your money, and your life, intact. As panda expressive as it might have been, there's no peking ducking the opinion that slow boat from China was way too expensive, a fact borne out in how long it has remained at its adopted Illinois home.

A similar fate has afflicted today's '83 Mercedes Benz 280CE, which has been offered for some time on the Interwebz while its price has been slowly eroding like a schnitzel in the wind. Is there something special about this W123 pillarless-coupe that causes the seller to perhaps suffer delusions of grandeur when assigning its value? A peek under its hood suggests there might just be.

The 280 part of 280CE stood for the 2,746-cc DOHC straight six Mercedes employed from the early seventies through the mid eighties. The M110, as it was anointed by the Swabians, managed to pump out anywhere between 145-185-bhp depending on year and state of tune. That's a good deal less than the around 230-bhp, and more importantly 300 lb-ft of twister that the M117 SOHC V8 produced, and that apparently is what's living behind this coupe's traditional chrome grille and Euro headlights.

The ad insinuates this wedging of the 500 SEL eight where once only sixes dared to tread was a pro-job, stating – Independent tuners like AMG customized a handful of Mercedes in the day and the result was AWESOME! – while not actually coming out and saying WHO did the deed. He does say that the insertion of the crazy eight was undertaken six years ago, and that the job included a list of new parts too long to detail, and that they were wicked expensive.

Among those parts are a set of lovely Euro bumpers, five spoke AMG-esque alloys, and the aforementioned glass brick headlamps. The overall package does look awesome, the light silver wheels offsetting the metallic grey paint nicely. Only the tinted windows lend the car a bit of douchery, although their potential UV-blocking powers may account for the interior being described as both original and near perfect. Also perfection-vying is the bodywork which is claimed to be totally rust free.

That all adds up to what is a pretty unique ride and an example – in German – of the traditional muscle car theme. The thing of it is, with the similar era 450 SL and even coupe-ier SLC already rocking eights – and the uber rare 450 SLC 5.0 coming in around this car's asking price – you've got to wonder if this owner hasn't built or bought himself into a corner.

When we got into this car I noted that it's been around the block more than a few times in the recent past. Here it is for at first $23,000 and then eventually $18,500 back in 2009. And then here it is a month ago on the BenzWorld boards, again asking $18,500. Even the forum followers – Benz huffers one and all – think the seller is high for asking a price so. . . well, high.

But now here it is, on Craigslist, its price having dropped once again like a gangsta's drawers, now resting at $17,900. That's not much of a drop from the point where even Benz fanatics thought it was overpriced, but don't leave such matters to the amateurs, we, after all, are professionals. So, pros, do you think this 5.0 CE is worth its current elevator price which stopped on floor seventeen-nine? Or, is this a muskel car with a schwache Soße price?

You decide!

Washington DC Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to nicksails for the hook up

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