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At the moment’s Good Value or No Cube Mercedes as soon as referred to as Tuscaloosa Alabama dwelling because it was the ML that kicked-off manufacturing on the firm’s manufacturing facility there. Let’s see if its current state makes it price its asking worth.
In relation to our contenders right here, the 2 issues that typically chap our collective asses are the presence of both a salvage title or an over-used odometer. The vendor of yesterday’s 1995 Acura Legend coupe made it a degree to notice—in ALL CAPS no much less— that the automobile had a clear title. It did nonetheless rock mileage north of 200K which appears to be fairly a deal killer for a lot of. At $8,000, these miles overshadowed the automobile’s uncommon six-speed handbook gearbox and took the Legend down in a contrastingly unremarkable 72 % No Cube loss.
Let’s think about for a minute how vehicles and vans are constructed. At one cut-off date, all street automobiles had been constructed on a body to which every thing—drivetrain, suspension, and brakes—was hooked up. A separate physique was then bolted on prime of all that. That physique could have been constructed of metallic and cloth over a picket stick body or maybe simply metallic. This conventional building technique carried by means of till the Thirties when producers started experimenting with the marrying of body and physique into a less complicated, lighter, and cheaper-to-produce construction. It took just a few a long time extra earlier than this Unit-Physique building grew to become the norm for vehicles and a few mild vans. For heavier-duty vans and people folks for whom off-roading is life, body-on-frame remains to be usually the extra desired format.
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Today’s 1998 Mercedes-Benz ML 320 is a body-on-frame design. Not solely that, however as a result of it was initially meant to be the alternative for the then-already long-serving military-grade G-Wagon, it was constructed a bit extra buff than it in all probability wanted to be.
The ML collection was Mercedes’ first official entry into the burgeoning SUV market right here within the U.S., and to make its entry all of the extra official, the corporate produced the truck right here at a then-new plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The design of the ML was certainly one of Mercedes’ first makes an attempt at vital cost-cutting in a manufacturing mannequin with the outcome being a less-than-traditional Mercedes expertise. Actually, the poor high quality and package of the primary few years of ML manufacturing earned the truck the nickname; Alabama Garbage can.
Later fashions like this ‘’98 spruced issues up a bit, with wooden on the sprint and a few better-quality plastics. Different options akin to leather-based seating upholstery and butt heaters in these seats make an look too.
The factor is, these first-generation MLs are extra about getting out within the sticks than coddling you on the best way to the dilettante’s dance. That’s made potential by the aforementioned separate body-on-frame design and the everlasting 4Matic 4-wheel drive with its correct two-speed Borg-Warner switch case and three diffs.
Powering all that may be a 3.2-liter M112 V6 providing 215 horsepower and 229 lb-ft of torque. Mated to that’s a five-speed G-tronic automated. All-in-all, these vans had been wildly overbuilt for many of the calls for of their soccer mother and pa house owners. As such, the mannequin has a reasonably good rep for holding up, and for not being too costly to restore or keep both.
This one is available in what appears to be like to be Mineral Inexperienced over a beige inside and carrying very good-looking five-spoke manufacturing facility alloys. The bodywork seems to be in glorious form and the headlamps—normally a difficulty on these—are clear and clear.
The cabin reveals a modicum of wear and tear, with a driver’s seat that, whereas properly intact, reveals its age and use. Different points embrace a damaged seize deal with over the passenger seat, some sun-curling of the airbag cowl on that very same facet, and an AWOL cap for the CHMSL on the hatch. Aside from these few nits, all of it appears to be like very livable.
This Mercedes is supplier provided and there’s a superb little bit of humorous misinformation detailed within the advert. The vendor describes the truck as a “Sport Sedan” and claims its drivetrain to be “Rear Wheel Drive.” They’ve additionally a record of each car ever made in historical past on the backside of the advert to drive search outcomes which is fairly comical.
Extra importantly, nonetheless, the advert does get just a few actually essential info concerning the truck proper, together with that it has a transparent title and sports activities a modest 163,000 miles on the clock.
Being dealer-offered one would possibly count on the truck to hold some type of supplier markup as that appears to be the case with many such automobiles as of late. With an asking worth of $3,995, you all will simply have to determine if that’s true right here.
What’s your tackle this truck and that $3,995 worth? Is {that a} deal for a basic body-on-frame off-roader? Or, does that worth make this an ML that’s DOA?
You determine!
Ventura, California, Craigslist, or go right here if the advert disappears.
H/T to Will Rice for the hookup!
Assist me out with NPOND. Hit me up at rob@jalopnik.com and ship me a fixed-price tip. Bear in mind to incorporate your Kinja deal with.
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