LOT FOR SALE

A massive LOT of vintage Mercedes-Benz parts from the period 1954-1971
Estimated resale value: 11.3 million Euros (based on Mercedes-Benz price increases since 1988)

One price takes all: €4.5 million

The Old Benz Barn

This lot of vintage Mercedes-Benz parts has been stored inside shipping containers since 1990 in Seattle, Washington. The parts represent the closing inventory of The Old Benz Barn, formerly of Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. The Old Benz Barn specialized in supplying new and used parts as well as restoration services for vintage Mercedes-Benz automobiles ranging in years from 1954-1971. All chassis models were represented for that period, with the exception of the 600 models by virtue of cost. Clientele ranged from wannabe Benzers to professionals to international politicians to the classic Mercedes-Benz restoration facility in Germany.

Acquisitions included as much NOS as could be found, and all the old cars that could be bought and dismantled to supplement the parts that were no longer available as NOS. Retail counter/telephone sales agents researched orders and supercessions, cross-referencing parts between models and years, and pulled parts for domestic and international shipping or local restoration while stocking unused parts and current pricing into an inventory utilizing a computerized interchange program. This program made the location of subsequent NOS and used parts an efficient process. All used parts were cleaned, inspected, and assigned part numbers according to the Mercedes numbering system, implementing their supercession numbering system when applicable (which applied to about 98% of the parts in the inventory). The NOS parts were of course NEW, while the used parts ranged in quality from excellent to–in some instances of obscure soft parts–pattern grade. Junk was scrapped. Some damaged sheet metal was kept if repairable, as its unavailability often made it of value to a needy recipient.

The Inventory

Due to an extreme case of burnout, the proprietor of the Old Benz Barn closed its doors in 1988 after 12 years of restoration work and amassing of inventory. The parts were hand inventoried into ocean cargo containers, each part entered into the computer and then put into the containers at the moment they were counted. As the focus of The Old Benz Barn was restoration and not repair, no assemblies were sold to the public without first being rebuilt. Therefore all used assemblies were viewed as parts until the time that they were rebuilt. As this was an ongoing business until closing, the dismantling of vehicles continued right up to closing-- therefore some used assemblies were inventoried as parts before they were dissasembled and were packed as complete units but inventoried as parts. All parts and assemblies that were in the standing inventory for sale were cleaned, bagged with identifying part numbers attached, and packed as such. Due to the extensive volume of material in this inventory, the inventory does not distinguish what percentage of the parts are prepped for retail sale and what percentage are not ready for retail sale.

Finally, the inventory was catalogued on some of the earliest computers available, and exists on 4-1/2" floppy disks in a language which is proving difficult to interpret with today's PCs. A hard copy of the catalogue exists at approximately 100 pages in length and is available for review. A $30 deposit is required to ship the catalogue. The deposit is fully refundable upon return of the document in clean, unmarked condition.

The Sale

This tremendous inventory is being sold by the retired proprietor of the Old Benz Barn. Due to the density of packing and the immense amount of work involved in coordinating this transaction, selling individual parts is simply not an option. This sale is for one lot, at one price. The owner guarantees the inventory to be 98.5% accurate to the catalogue. Taking delivery of the stock and verification of the inventory is the responsibility of the buyer.

Contact

Serious inquiries only, please. Inquiries should be directed to info@vintagemercedesparts.com.