Welcome to CHR, Mark. The answer to your first question is a definite Yes! You can find a lot of really nice old Mercs for $30k and up. A friend from Florida had one that was real nice, painted in HOK Passion paint with some very nice pinstriping laid down in all of the right places. He was asking $35 for it, but ended up trading for a 37 Ford. Check with the ads on this site and other sites on the net, also check the ads in NSRA's Street Scene, Goodguy's gazette, Hemmings Motor News, etc. There are a lot of car sales sites on the net, and a lot of Mercs for sale as well.