The p&m crack was more or less pointed at myself I can remember the first car I bought back in 76, a 72 VW Bug. The thing was more or less a POS and was a whopping 4 years old. Don't get me wrong, body wise it was in great shape but I had to rebuild the engine with 55k miles on it. Also replaced the entire brake system in the 3 years I owned it, replaced the exaust twice, and when I got rid of it the engine was drinking a qt. of oil every 500 miles after 30k on the rebuild.
My 83 300d has 255k miles and is still on the origional engine which runs great. Besides MB what other cars do you see on the road from the 70's and early 80's? Even my 82 S-10 pickup which I bought off the lot brand new and was maintained above and beyond what the book said to do needed a new engine at 72k because the block cracked in the middle of the summer no less 4 years after I bought it. GM would not admit it was a bad casting or design problem but I know it had to be.
MB had the best cars in the 70's and 80's but don't need to tell anyone here that, we know