What are the areas that are prone to rust on a '85 123? What areas are of particular concern regarding the safety of the car? Thanks

Charlie

Rear portions of the wheel wells, around the jack points, in the floor (pull up the carpet in the rear footwells and have a look), and look under the spare tire in the trunk, behind the battery tray, and the undersides of the trunk. Also sometimes it starts bubbling up under the rear window, under body trim or on the edges of the doors.

Here's a good post from whunter about checking for structural rust.

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http://webwench.net/albums/new83-300...1700.thumb.jpg
1983 300D-T
348,000 miles

Salt kills!

No salt, no assault!

Look at the undercarriage and around subframe mounts too!.........BB

You wanna hear a story about how truly awful rust is... When i just turned 16 and got my first liscence I would take my dads 450 sel 116 to this one spot in south miami to go windsurfing. It had roof racks so I was set. Well sometimes the tide would be high and salt water would cover some parts of the roads into the entrance of this place considering it was on the edge of a mangrove swamp. I didnt know better back then and would plow through these huge pools of standing salt water. Oh lord was it a mistake. That car did not last 2 more years. Im not even joking. That car was in magnificent shape until i started running through that saltwater 2 times a week in the winter (the windy season, good for windsurfing). After two seasons of doing that the car was worth nothing and there was so much rust to the point where i could see the road underneath my feet while driving. The engine actually wasnt even in that bad shape and I had always dreamt of putting it in an sl, but never happened. It still sits rotten in my mechanics shop yard.

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1983 300SD White with Grey interior