The past 6 months have been a bit memorial, as I have reacquired a few cars after deciding to stop buying for a few years. Well, my wife doesn’t know about some of them yet, after all, none of these cars are ready for her to sit in. Among the many choices that seemed reasonable to me, a wilder new family member is the 1997 S 420 US-spec.
Let’s get straight to the point: The car was deemed a total loss by the insurance company in the US. That was in 2001, when the car was only 4 years old. If you want to total a 140 today, you only need to scratch the bumper, but that was not the case in 2001. Let’s leave the details for later, but you already know that the point of this car is its severely damage.
First I want to present the history. It is a 1997 S 420, produced on March 10, 1997, one of the last MY1997s, with MY1998 production starting in May 1997. On August 29, 1997 it “sold” by Mercedes dealer Helms Bros in Queen, New York to its lease user. Since then it has been undergoing repairs at Mercedes-Benz of Greenwich CT not far away. It received its last recorded service on September 7, 2001, at 36765 miles. Then it deemed a total loss by the insurance company in early November 2001. In May 2002 it received rebuilt title. After that lost track.
I first noticed this car in the summer 2023 but didn’t inquire about it. I found it in January 2024 in the hands of a dealer I worked with and tried to get some information by the way. The first thing that piqued my interest was that the dealer listed it as an S 500 instead of S 420, because that’s what the DMV-issued document states. Of course, I can tell it’s an S 420 by looking at the spec.
The car was imported to China in 2007 and was used by its first Chinese owner until 2019, who was the wife of a college president. The car was then sold to its current dealer, who enjoyed it for a few years and finally decided to sell it. When I identified the car as an S 420, which maybe offensive to those so-called experts, the dealer thought I must be mistaken. Well, that’s a good motivation, and it interests me even more if they insist I’m wrong.
The dealer I worked with didn’t want to reveal any more information, including the VIN, but I was able to trace its VIN by the production number stamped on the radiator frame in the video. To be honest it’s not that easy because there are 160 twins of the same car. Many US cars are exactly the same. With some tricks and luck, I think I found the VIN corresponding to the production number 9291011 within checking 50 times. Then I ordered Carfax and AutoCheck to see its history. US cars always have a rich history, which is interesting.
I was surprised to find the relevant information about total and forwarded it to the dealer. The proof that the car was an S 420 already made him uncomfortable, and now the information that it was a total loss made him furious. He tracked down the original owner and asked for the car to be returned, leaving the lady confused as she never knew she drove a total loss S 420. When she purchased the car from a used car importer in 2007, she was told it is a prinstine low mileage US high-spec S 500. 2007 was the deadline for imported used cars, she won’t miss her last chance.
It’s no surprise that the DMV got it wrong, they never knew what they doing. With all due respect to female car owners, it may not be surprising that they cannot tell the difference in power between the S 420 and the S 500. It’s also not surprising that the used car dealer couldn’t find the accident repair on this car. I’m more inclined to think that he deliberately concealed the facts rather than being truly ignorant. Now, only I know the true identity of this car, but I’m not going to embarrass everyone by posting its true history on a trade website.
Somehow, when I saw November 2001, the month it totaled, my first reaction was about the WTC terrorist attacks of 9/11. Because the car was leased from a New York dealer and has been in service in nearby Greenwich, they are not far from Manhattan. Many people who work on Wall Street live in Greenwich, CT and have their cars serviced by the Mercedes dealership there. Of course I tried to do some research and there is no visual evidence that it was damaged on 9/11. But it did spark a real interest in me and made me think hard about the legitimacy of getting it.
I certainly didn’t fall in love with the car at first sight, there was a lot of mental struggle here. I had countless conversations with myself, trying to analyze whether this acquisition made sense and what it meant for the car and me. The result is that the majority of aspects turned out to be positive. Here is my own conversation to see how I convinced myself to get a totaled 140.
Question 1: Why a totaled one?
It’s hard to rank the importance of the various issues, but the main hindrance to this car is clearly the damage it has experienced, the spec of the car itself doesn’t even need to be discussed before that.
Let me tell you without being shy, first of all it’s cheap. If this totaled car asking $20,000, or a mint car of the same price, I’m not interested. The greatest enjoyment that 140 brings to me is the constant progress, which often requires a lot of physical contact with the car. A car that requires little or no work is boring in my opinion. What I enjoyed was the process of researching the 140’s rather than owning the cars and just driving, then repeat in the rest of life.
Regardless, I have experienced spending tens of thousands of dollars to restore a car fewtimes, the necessary tuition is indispensable. The point is, there’s no noticeable difference in my mind between working on a 50% car and a 80% car to 95%, so I’ll go with the more affordable ones. The reality is that the amount of money spent working on the car doesn’t cover the value of the car at all, but I don’t care about the currency appreciation of the car. Frankly, if they worth $500, I have no reason to be unhappy.
As you can see, this car has not only experienced damage in the past, but has since received some terrible improvements. I’d call the Android screen on the center console a provocation to civilization, the first I’ve ever seen. It was a good challenge for me to do a confrontational job on a car like this, against everything it’s been through over the past 20 years. I enjoyed seeing how I could restore a car that was unlikely to ever be reborn to factory condition, it just made it more difficult. Of course, it wouldn’t be a challenge without some added difficulty. Cars that look fine but also need work seem like unnecessary expenses to me and I’m being stingy.
Overall, this is a cheap and fun project that kills two birds with one stone. I’m not depressed at all.
Question 2: What’s the damage?
Since I paid before actually finding out the answer, “don’t know” is my answer. The investigation of the damage looks like it will be an interesting undertaking in the future, so exciting.
Neither Carfax nor AutoCheck show how it was filed as a total loss by the insurance company. Although this car received a rebuilt title in 2002, it was certainly not repaired at any MB dealer, so there is no traceable record. As I mentioned, the used car dealer who sold it also denied any serious accidents, so no idea.
I asked the dealer to take some visual materials of the front and rear bodywork, and it does appear that there was no bad collision that would have resulted in a total in 2001. When I first saw it in the summer of 2023, I realized there was something wrong with its sides. Although it cannot be further verified, the wave on the side is obvious. So I assume its total is related to the side.
Damage that I can also observe are:
- Replaced hood cover. All US 1997 S 420s have activated carbon filtration, which means there are air vents in the hood. This car doesn’t.
- Replaced front windshield. All US cars have original windshields with Gottlieb Daimler’s signature sticker on the passenger side. This car doesn’t have that.
- Damaged rearview mirrors. All US cars have a center rearview mirror with a BOSE speaker, but its original rearview mirror disappeared along with the speaker.
If it was a total loss in a collision, it was probably on the driver’s side, which resulted in the hood being replaced. Oddly enough were the missing speakers and rear view mirrors, which made me imagine again how it was destroyed on 9/11. Something may have fallen from a height and smashed the hood and windshield, and also damaged the rearview mirror, and the waves on the side were caused by shock waves.
I’m not obsessed with whether it really was destroyed in a terrorist attack, but if future investigations confirm that, I’ll be even more motivated to rebuild the car. There’s another enemy. See, they are gone, but what was destroyed has become better.
By the way, there are also tons of incorrect details. V12 radiaor grille, front and rear bumpers and displays with PTS (this car does not have PTS), missing headlight wipers, and aftermarket steering wheel, these are typical Cantonese modifications. I was also informed by the kind dealer that the original BOSE speakers were replaced with cheaper ones. This is pretty typical, if you don’t know your car well enough, your speakers could be stolen at car wash. For middle-aged women this may be difficult to detect.
Question 3: Why this one?
After confessing my stinginess and laying out all the negative information, I finally had the nerve to say why I loved it.
If a total car is similar or duplicates any car I’ve owned in the past or present, I certainly won’t approve. I think I can have up to 3 US cars as family members, I already had 2 before this. Ruby, 1996 S 600, a stunning Ruby Red, the first car I put a lot of work into. Whether for aesthetics, rarity (1 fo 5 in ’96 US) or personal sentiment, it is irreplaceable. Cougar, 1992 500 SEL, a quintessential American icon. If you want to own a US car, you can’t miss the first model year, which has a real exotic atmosphere.
I gave away my 1994 S 600, 1999 S 500 Grand Edition and 1999 CL 600. These cars all conflict with my existing family members and some have been sold or are awaiting sale.
A silver US MY1997-1999 has been lingering in my list. You see, men are a disloyal species and I am simply one of them. I definitely thought about cars other than the 140, from a Lada to a Murcielago, but none came true. During this span, the R129 Silver Arrow left an icon in my heart. I’m not a fan of the M113, or any post-2000 Mercedes, but the combination of yellow blinker and immaculate silver bodywork is stunning.
The closest thing to it is the last single-tone silver 140, a car like this has always been on my radar. Since I already had two MY1998 and it was not substantially different from the MY1997, I was hunting for a MY1997. In 2020 I found a 1997 S 320 which sold the same day I contacted the seller. It’s not easy to find a silver US car in China, and then there’s the 2022, a 1997 S 420. That car also had a lot of bad modifications and a hefty price tag, as well as gray leather that I wasn’t too fond of.
The S 420 is also a priority for me. Why? This was not a popular model in other parts of the world, but it was popular in the United States. So if I were to name the most representative model in the US, it would be 140.043. Black interior is also the best choice, I don’t like gray and I don’t like how faded beige interior is, black is not that bad choice. There were a total of 664 US 1997 S 420s in 744 Brilliant Silver, only 160 in 261A black leather. This car is absolutely positive in version, color, MY, model.
Question 4: Anything else?
Not much, just some statistical support to further justify this acquisition.
A total of 35,190 140.043s were produced, which is not much more than the 32,516 140.057s produced. However, 30,002 of the 35,190 were North American versions, and 140.043 was the best-selling model in North America, even though it was absent in MY1992. In summary, 140.043 is qualified to represent North American cars.
One of the advantages of living in China is the opportunity to work with cars of all specs, from Japan to UK, from Norway to sub-Saharan Africa. However, there are not many chances to get 140.043, and even less with silver and MY1997. As mentioned, I’ve only encountered 2 in the past 12 years. By the way, 600 of the 1999 S 500 Grand Edition were produced and are considered rare cars. Only 160 copies of 744 + 261A 1997 S 420s were produced, by chance they are much harder to find, at least 1/4 have been recycled forever.
Below is a same car I saw in California a few years ago and I was so inspired by the chrome wheels that I thought we would do the same. Just look at how immaculate the silver car looks after sunset. So what if there is no yellow reflector in the turn signal? It must be boring. He got the name Big Apple because he was a New Yorker. The name doesn’t imply a gender, but he definitely looks like “him” and that’s how I gendered the vehicle.
I consider all my recent purchases well thought out, especially since I got Nonna, who is also Brilliant Silver. This implies repetition, but I am not associating the same color from two completely different time periods. In my opinion, they add a nice variety of fun together. Together with my partner’s Japan-spec 1996 S 600, this makes a 3 market, 3 engine, 3 period combination. I can’t wait to put them together for beautiful photos.