Can you post a photo? Given that you are in the snow belt it's certainly possible the spring and/or spring perch rusted out. But it's not common on the 124.

On the 124 chassis its common for the spring to bow outward over time. A local shop has told me they occasionally replace front springs because it gets too close to the strut and occasionally makes contact.

Sloppy handling. Have you adjusted the steering box lash? That's the allen key atop the steering gearbox. If it hasn't been done and you have 80K/10 years of use on the car, it's almost certainly a source of steering slop. Bit of a pain in the 124/m104 cars, but it can be done without removing anything. 19mm box end wrench for the locknut, 6mm allen head key for the aduster itself. You UNSCREW it (anti-clockwise) to decrease play. Betcha that takes care of your problem.

- JimY