I've got a line on a 240D automatic like I've been looking for.
The story is, the previous owner had someone break out a rear window to steal something. She brought the car home, put a tarp over the rear of the car, and it sat a while. That's why the front is a different color than the rear:
http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dogohunter/240D/

My big concern is rust. In particular, see this picture:
http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dogohunter/240D/?action=view&current=IMG_1418.jpg
It will come up reduced, click on it once to enlarge.

See the rust below the taillight, and between the taillight and license plate? Am I correct in guessing that's rust coming through from the inside, where water sat on the floor of the trunk?

The price is ok, the interior is good and he says it's operable but I don't want to get a rustbucket and it's going to be a 200+ mile round trip for me to look at this one. I'm hoping to take advantage of your collective experience on HOW a W123 tends to rust to see if it's worth going out there. Is a car with this likely to be in sad shape?

BTW, I have no experience with body repair, but is an angle grinder a good tool for removing rusty car body metal?

Looks like it's rusting from inside the trunk out. I have seen it before on a friends 240. My question is how exactly does the paint so evenly fade from being under a tarp?

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1983 300D 280,000
1983 300TD 125,000 Killed by oak tree.
1983 240D Sold
1986 Ford F250 Diesel 6.9l 169,000

Good point. Also, if the rear of the car had spent all this time under a tarp, then it wouldn't be getting rained on. And if it's not getting rained on, there wouldn't be a fresh supply of water to get into the trunk, to make it rust its way through to the outside. Or would a supply of water inside a trunk that's never opened last basically forever? Ugh, sounds like a swamp.

So if it IS rusting from the inside out, I should assume the whole floor of the trunk and wells are rusty as well, huh?

Maybe they are, maybe not. IIRC there is a seam at that area and I have seen it rust through on a friends 123. Ugly.

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1983 300D 280,000
1983 300TD 125,000 Killed by oak tree.
1983 240D Sold
1986 Ford F250 Diesel 6.9l 169,000

Pretty obvious the front clip has either been changed out at some point or car has had a partial repaint in the wrong color. I think the hood and two front fenders have been changed though as the door jams are the same colour as the doors. You knew that of course. There is other serious rust on the front fender. A few pictures are not enough to really answer your question..
You or someone you appoint has to have a good look in person and go over the car if you are really interested. A few pictures again just do not mean too much.
I would guess value at a thousand or less. If it is in poor mechanical condition much less than a thousand dollars. This will depend to some extent upon then part of the country it is located in. Just my opinion by the way.
At least the dash is not cracked to pieces but I would say the milage indicated is not accurate. This is not unusual on these.
As to the tools for rust and body repair get a book on the subject. It can be involved.

Well how cheap is cheap? For $500-$1k as long as it runs good, the rust doesn't look to bad. Bondo it up, have Maco spray it and drive it for the next 5 years.


Its the rust that you can't see that would worry me. Get under that car with a screwdriver and I bet its got some soft spots.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200