If only this were a diesel...
Would an engine swap be a relatively easy thing?

Convertible W123

Too bad they don't show it with the top up.

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85' 300D No inspection, No registration fees, Cheap insurance
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious %$&^."

I, too, have been fantasizing about a convertible diesel lately. I've never owned a convertible of any sort and really want one someday. I don't know of any diesel car sold as a convertible in the U.S. The only "easy" option I can think of is to take a VW Cabriolet and swap in a VW diesel motor, but I don't much like Cabriolets to start with.

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

I wonder if the vehicle cabin has an exhaust smell problem. I guess if it was diesel and ran B100/WVO/SVO at the very worst, one would be cruising around with constant food cravings.

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1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

convertible diesel is a great idea.as long as the prevailing winds in your area are southerly

Interesting place for rear speakers.
The back where the top goes sure looks weird.
Wonder why no pics of the top up?

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Think Alternative Energy!
300CD '80 (now gone but not forgotten...)

Collapsed top boot cover looks very cheap, like the quality of a very inexpensive tarp from a hardware store.

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85' 300D No inspection, No registration fees, Cheap insurance
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious %$&^."

There was fellow in Santa Ana, SoCal, that made convertables out of high end cars. Some of his stuff looked pretty good with the top down. 928s, 500SELs, 308s.

Problems were wind leaks, water leaks, sloppy hand stitching, and no where to go for repairs other than his shop.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that there was no extra body reinforcement. If you hit a dip, the doors would pop open.

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You can get farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.

1984 300D
1985 300CD
1980 300SD
1993 SL500

Apparently Mercedes-Benz had about 20 or so "cabriolet" W123 's built, through some coachbuilder in germany, and every now and then one comes across the internet or in a classified ad for sale... the difference from the ones issued by MB and the one linked here is that the finished product looks more clean, and the fit and finish is MUCH bettter. For some reason I think a thread was started within the past couple of years about w123 cabriolets, so there might be more info on those cars floating around in the forum archives. At any rate, a cabriolet 300CD would be the perfect order for a sunny warm day!

I always like to look at Hemmings, and in the Mercedes for sale section thheres an advertiser who always advertises "Original Palm Beach classics"... and he apparently specialzes in MB diesels. For a while, he too, was listing a W123 cab., only it was a 300CD. Next time your thumbing through Hemmings, check it out.

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Nate

1995 E420
1992 BMW 525i
1984 300D Turbo sold
1993 Volvo 244 sold
1995 Volvo 944T R.I.P!


"The details are not details. They make the product."
-Charles Eames

www.cbs.nu

I bid on one of those on Ebay a couple years ago. The body and interior was nice, top so so, but it had had a 350 chevy. They claimed that they had something insane like 30 grand in it. I bid it till about 4k and figured anything more I'd rather have a nice original 450SL. It went to about 8k and didn't meet the reserve.

maybe someone should do a SL with a OM603? There's a wish...
What will it be badged? 300SLD? or 300DSL?

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Jason

00 Subaru Legacy (fun wagon)
96 Nissan Sentra (disavowed)
82 300SD (garage queen, will run again hopefully)
87 300DT (Gone: 10/15/2010)

Found these...

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85 300CD
83 300TD
78 240D (daughter)

Took me a long time to dig this out of my old thread
[IMG]http://**************.com/gallery/images/123convert29.jpg[/IMG]

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BENZ THERE DONE THAThttp://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...c/progress.gif
15 VW Passat TDI
00 E420
98 E300 DT
97 E420 Donor Car - NEED PARTS? PM ME!
97 S500
97 E300D
86 Holden Jackaroo Turbo D
86 300SDL
(o\|/o)

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85 300CD
83 300TD
78 240D (daughter)

Something just occurred to me: Anybody ever put a diesel motor in a 107 (SL) chassis? That could be the idea swap. You suppose it would just bolt right in?

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

Oh that is sweeeeeeeeeeeet....wish it was mine.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche