At $3,000, Is This 1999 Mercedes SLK 230 A Bedazzled Bargain?

With its racing stripes and fake vents sprinkled across the hood and doors, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Mercedes SLK 230 certainly stands out from the crowd. It wouldn’t take much to bring it back to its stock state, but is the price too high to even warrant the effort?

For an internal combustion engine, the entire point of adding nitrous oxide (N2O)—as is the case with forced induction—is to increase the energy density of the intake charge, thus giving you more poke in your stroke. For people, it’s generally used as an inhalational anesthetic, used for light procedures, and most commonly known as ‘laughing gas.’ 

The 1993 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 that we considered yesterday was set up for either street or strip and was fitted with nitrous for some added oomph in either arena. Its $25,000 asking price was no laughing matter, though, a fact made evident by the 87% No Dice drubbing it received in the vote.

Speaking of forced induction… There are two main types: turbocharging, which uses energy captured from the pressure of the exhaust to compress the intake charge, and supercharging, which employs mechanical means, usually by way of a crank-driven belt, to achieve the same goal.

As its name implies, this 1999 Mercedes-Benz SLK 230 Kompressor gets its added boost via the second method. The 2.3-liter four-pot under its hood has been imbued with a Roots-style twin-scroll supercharger tucked down below the motor’s right side and driven by a belt. Sourced from Eaton, the M62 blower boosts the little Benz’s DOHC four to 185 horsepower and 200 lb-ft of torque. Paired with the five-speed automatic, as has been fitted to this car, that means a zero to sixty time of just over seven seconds and a get-out-of-town speed of 140 miles per hour.

Naturally, this being a Mercedes, it’s also equipped with a slew of safety, comfort, and convenience features to round out the package.

One of the coolest of those features is the trick roof. The SLK’s party piece is that top and the boot lid, the former folding origami-style up and down, and the latter opening both front-ways and back-ways to facilitate either top or cargo. Unfortunately, storing the top down means there’s little room left for baubles or bags.

According to the ad, the top on this 113,000-mile SLK goes down just fine but struggles to go back up. That’s the sort of affliction that affects many of us with age. The top’s mechanism is hydraulic, with the pump and reservoir sitting in the boot just ahead of the right tail lamp for easy examination. That, or its relay, could be failing. Alternatively, the issue could be with any one of the hydraulic rams or microswitches that make the dance happen. Whatever the reason, it will likely be pricey to fix.

That’s not the object of our immediate attention, however. The top may have been the model’s tour de force from the factory, but it didn’t make the car unique enough for someone. Adding to the fancy roof are a bunch of plastic vents, tape stripes, and smoked lenses for the head and tail lamps. On top of that, both the badging and the five-spoke alloys have been given the blackout treatment. Overall, it’s a very unique presentation, and fortunately, one that could be easily returned to its more mundane form with little more than an afternoon’s work.

Other than the add-ons, the car looks to be in very nice condition. The bodywork is straight, and all the trim is intact. A number of parts are said to have been replaced on the car, although save for a new dashboard and the addition of a backup camera, the ad doesn’t go into detail as to what exactly those all were. That dash looks like it came from the factory, and aside from some wear on the steering wheel and the addition of a cup holder and cell phone mount, everything appears to be in stock and great shape. The aftermarket stereo does stick out of the dash awkwardly, so that may be another piece to add to the list of items to toss. 

The ad does say that the car “Runs and drives great,” but notes that it is on PNO (Planned Non-Operation), which means it hasn’t been running or driving anyplace all that recently. Most often, that’s a situation that has resulted from the car not being able to pass its smog test, preventing it from renewing of the registration. That doesn’t seem to be the case here, as the seller says there is no CEL light, and the car passes its smog test. It also does have a clean title, so there is no monkey business there.

If that all is to be believed, then all this little Mercedes needs to be a fun summer runabout is some spit and polish and maybe some sleuthing around a fix for that crazy top mechanism. How hard could it be?

The question, of course, is whether it’s worth diving into at all at its asking price. That’s $3,000, and it’s now time for us to all weigh in on this car’s total attraction and whether that price tag improves it or throws it all out of whack.

What’s your take on this SLK and that $3K price tag? Does that seem like a deal for this overly expressive baby Benz? Or does the bling botch the bargain?

You decide!

Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Don R. for the hookup!

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