I'm not sure I would blame MB directly for the "garbage" after the early 80s. I think it was the lack of competition at the time that allowed MB to build the "tanks" they did at the time - that were 2 or 3X the price of a Cadillac. They didn't have the more comparable Lexus or Infinity to deal with at the time to apply price pressures. If Lexus or Infinity were around then, maybe we wouldn't be here in this forum talking about these great old cars.

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)