Its just getting broken it at near 700,000 miles.
I'll be in the area this weekend and thought it would be interesting to check out. Looks to be in really nice shape for the miles. The original owner died in 2001, and it sat until 2004 when the second owner purchased it. Garaged kept all of its life. I called over to the local dealer, and I discovered it has also been dealer serviced its entire life as well, with a gap between 2001-2004, corroborating the story perfectly. The service guy told me there were too many records to go through but I could get a print out in person should I desire. From the quick glance there's no evidence of a new engine, but he just skimmed.
I will be looking at the head casting and for any remanufacturing badge on the block. With a new tranny, brakes, and shocks the PO had spent quite a bit of money on it, but at his asking price I'm only half interested.
He replaced the dead odometer with a much younger one, but claims to have the original (that would have to be fixed).
Realistically the number in my head if there's no evidence of a rebuild would likely come off as an insult, but still it will be fun to look. I asked him what evidence the dealer said to making that claim of low mileage on the engine, and there was nothing of substance behind it.
Here's the link. The interior doesn't sound nearly as bad as he puts it out to be in the ad. Just a few splits. Everything works supposedly, with the exception of the GP light and odometer. The smoking puts me off of course, as well as the inverted rear badges and crappy Sony system.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercedes-Benz-300-SDL-1986-Mercedes-Benz-300SDL-30-MPG_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem19babc9bfcQQitemZ110507105276QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks