I live in Rockwall, Texas by the way. Sorry, I haven't figured out how to do my profile on this forum yet (I've only been a member for about a month). great idea about leaving the car as is. I think another variable is the fact that the last owner only put about 6,000 miles on it over a period of 3 years. I've only had the car about a month. I sold the '81 300D I was talking about earlier and was kicking myself for doing it...turned around 2 weeks later and bought another one. This one has only 125K, straight body, smooth transmission, interior like new. I gave almost double what I paid for the '81 ($2,500 for the '81 and $4,750 for the '84 ...he was asking $5993). Anyway, I'm rambling, just thought I would give you some more information about myself and the car. Thanks for your help.