Rode up to my favorite pull a part today and was pretty disappointed at what was there. Couple 126 gassers a 78 300D a 76 240D and an early 80's euro coupe (looked like a hardtop). Anyway, picked up a spare oil cooler, a hose and a couple visors for a friend. Tried to find a drivers side fender for a '93 300ZX and a drivers headlight for a '92 Prelude for a couple other friends but they were not to be found. Anyway, I was tempted to grab an intake/exhaust manifold off of the '78 300D (for the '81) but the York compressor looked like a pia to get out of the way so I passed.

There were NO turbo 300D's in there and the only ones I am seeing in the paper are CD's. Anybody seeing the same pattern in their areas?

Meant to mention - LOTS of early 90's Hundais (SP?) there - wow.

__________________
Jim

"Anybody seeing the same pattern in their areas?"

YES! It's quite upsetting in a way -- when I bought my wagon, I had "dreams" of going to the junkyard, rummaging through the stacks, picking off what I needed for my baby. To date, I've only scored a couple of needed screws and bolts, and a few trim pieces. That's it.

On the other hand, it's nice to know that my choice of vehicle isn't the predominant car in the junkyard...

When my '85 300D was totaled a few weeks back, I started looking for a replacement. I was in Florida when the insurance company gave me the bad news, so I started looking while I was there. I searched all of the local papers, drove to all of the local used lots, searched the internet, drove over to Pensacola and looked on all of thier used lots, and came up dry. I looked through the Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Lafayette classifieds...nothing. Once I got back to Houston, I searched the papers, car lots, etc. and couldn't find a used 82-85 123 in decent shape. I came accross one CD, but it was beat up pretty bad. I ended up buying an '87 300D.

It seems as if the 123's are getting harder to come by. I even checked with my local indy repair guy and he didn't know of any for sale either. I offered to buy his, but he wouldn't part with it.

I am parting out my totaled car. What parts are you looking for?

Mike

__________________
Mike

'80 300D
'84 300D
'85 300D
'87 300D

Come to LA, hardly no week go's by with out seeing a 123 sedan for sale.

__________________
1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

I thought lower Atlanta was LA .

If you only knew how hard it is for me to just get away to go to the PullAParts. I sure don't have time to get to the LA on Calif. Anyway Calif is probably going to be the last great place to find them. I suspect that there were alot more sold there than this part of the country. The only thing close listed in the Atl paper were a couple of 300CD's and they were $10k+. There are not even any SD's listed and you can forget able SDL's.

__________________
Jim

I wanted to put California behind it....

There are some only MBZ wrecking places here, unfortunately they are not the "PullAParts" so the parts are still "costly" and it's great fun to find parts you don't really need 'till you found them.

Someone told me ones that MBZ would not be the large company it is today with out California and some help from NY.

__________________
1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

Sadly there are cars being crushed due to high scrap iron prices. Better buy/find parts cars while you can. In a few years if not sooner, they'll be all but gone.

__________________
1980 300SD Manganese Brown Metallic Clearcoat 248k
1979 300SD White 148 k
1984 300D Silver project car for daughter
1982 300D wrecked
1980 300SD 310K not running

Ditto that. There are several for sale in my area right now, and it's all I can do to resist buying them. Problem is, I really don't need more than one!

On the last visit to my favorite pull-a-part, there were two 300TDs and a 240D in the yard -- all rust-free. I scored a complete set of nice Bundt cakes with new tires for $80, plus a bunch of other stuff, including some 3rd seat parts for another list member. I don't mind trying to fill requests for people if I have time. I'll take just about any excuse to spend a few hours at the junkyard!

The great thing about these cars is that when you do find one in the junkyard, there's usually lots of good parts on them, because they're so well built.

__________________
'81 300TD turbo <<sold 12/05 to another diesel nut

My problem is that the yard with the w123s.. he's got perhaps 20 of them. Seems to think he can charge new part prices for his parts.

__________________
'84 300CD Turbo 132k (Anthracite Grey) - WVO - My daily driver - Recently named coo-coo-coupe by my daughter.
'84 300D Turbo 240k (Anthracite Grey) - Garage Queen
'83 300D Turbo 220k (Orient Red) - WVO - Wifes daily driver

I'm not a certified mechanic, but I did stay at a HolidayInn Express last night.

This is happening alot.... these cars are getting corralled, whorded and stashed away.

One guy at Louisville (amateur hobbyist) has more than 1/2 dozen 240D's. In an area of the country with zero stigma attached to driving older cars, where many people never spend more than $1,000 for what they drive, everybody keeps track of 123 "parts" cars and all mechanics on the circuit know exactly what each other has.

Yes 123's are vanishing from newspaper classifieds and from the common market at large in this area, but this is probably a good thing that will protect the species in the longrun as sellers become sellective on who takes over their vehicle.

Basically, if you want to own one then you've got to ask around or sight one somewhere and then negotiate with the owner. Dunno if its the same in other parts of the country, but I get lots of people asking if my '79 is for sale.

Its hard to believe these cars are first in line for the crusher with plenty of MB parts recyclers and specialty yards across the nation.