I wish I was your age when I got my first MB, It took me nearly 30 years from when I first started driving, I have been through Firebirds, VW's , Lincolns, Dodge Darts, Corvetts, Falcons, Subarus, Mazdas, Skylarks and none compare.
AND my MB is 21 years old
I don't give a hoot what others say, I enjoy the car
Most pinheads that criticize are insecure and unsure of the world that surrounds them.
I simply choose to ignore them

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Ron
2015 Porsche Cayman - Elizabeth
2011 Porsche Cayman - Bond,James Bond
Sadly MERCEDESLESS - ALways LOOKING !
99 E320 THE Queen Mary - SOLD
62 220b - Dolly - Finally my Finny! Sadly SOLD
72 450SL, Pearl-SOLD
16 F350 6.7 Diesel -THOR
19 BMW X5 - Heaven on Wheels
14 38HP John Deere 3038E Tractor -Mean Green
84 300SD, Benjamin -SOLD
71 220 - W115-Libby ( my first love) -SOLD
73 280 - W114 "Organspende" Rest in Peace
81 380 SL - Rest in Peace

Ask them how much their car payment is, and :BIG GRIN: yours is zero.

I am also a 17 year old driver of a diesel. My friends like to say in the mornings before school that all they have to to find me in the parking lot is stick their heads out the window and they can hear me from half a mile away. I get snobby looks every time I come clanging in from lunch. Oh well, I don't let them get to me. I know my car will run longer than theirs will!

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Seth

1984 300D 225K
1985 300D Donor body
1985 300D Turbo 165K. Totaled. Donor Engine. It runs!!!
1980 300SD 311K My New Baby.
1979 BMW 633csi 62K+++? Dead odo

A 25 year ole 240D still ouclasses a new Kia Rio..........

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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

I feel sorry for the people in the future who will no longer be able to get a reliable car like the MB up to and inclding the 116 and 123 Diesel models. Eventually they will be gone and nothing like them will ever be made again.

That's why I preach to not drive them on salt covered roads because that will completely destroy the bodies that can't be rebuilt like the mechanical parts.

P E H

Lol....I hate to bust your bubbles here.... but let my paint it like this:

I'm 30, and when I was in HS and driving, most kids that had cars (more than 50% of us) had a car **provided** by our parents- it might not have been ours, or new, but none of my friends that had cars were making payments. Yeah, get into college or real life and this changes, but in HS, in a lot of suburbs, the kid will get a car, maybe the hand-me down his older bro had, or the parents said "here's $2k, go buy a car...", or they just bought him something "safe" and told him to drive it (how many msshop members are debating about or have given their children a W123/126/201 to drive....viola ! no car payements for the teenager...)

I know not everone grows up on the eastside of Cincinnati, but I also know I'm not alone.. The "I dont have car payments" arguement doesnt work against teenagers. (they are too short-sighted to listen to the logic anyway)

it should though...driving a car is a LOT of responsibility, we need to teach that...


But on topic, as a fellow slow-arsed 240D owner (looking for a cheap 300Dt to swap motors I just tell myself that its a car, a machine, pieces of metal- there is so much more to be worried about (like, friends, people you love, getting a job/school, hobbies, if the girl is gonna give it up on prom night, if the back seat springs are as worn as the front ones, when is the Ohio MB diesel GTG, does my motorcycle run yet, where I'm gonna get a cheap 300Dt to swap motors with =)

(see, there's lots more important stuff out there =)

-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

One of my daughters taught me a thing or two when she was 17 and never has stopped doing it yet. She asked me to let her have a three bedroom house on a concrete basement out of a few properties I had purchased in a bulk transaction from a trust company that year. (she paid the seven thousand involved in transaction to me so was not a freebee) The house was in a not too desirable location and her peers apparently would comment on this. Told me how she dealt with it when they mentioned it. She just asked when it came up, where was their paid for house located at anyways? Somewhat simular situation here I thimk in some ways. Not a smartass response really but just tries to put things in perspective. She is thirty eight now and consistantly smarter than her father but does not rub it in at all. Some class as well perhaps?

One nice thing about getting old is putting the opinions of others in perspective. Actually, with some people, I feel their opinion is worth quite a bit, but with many others it is worth nothing. Always "consider the source"..and..."1 x 10 is much more than 99 x 0"

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

asked your friends if they think their car will still work after 20yrs. asked them if their car is as strong

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ez rider

i have had about 30 some mb's mostly diesels. whenever someone says "they stink, they rattle" i just say that's the sound (smell) of money going into my pocket.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Hey, Im 16, so another high schooler and almost all of my friends really like my car. My friends have VW's, Subaru's, A Chevy Corvair and other stuff and I paid much less than many of my friends for a nicer car that is clearly a better machine. When I got it all my friends loved the high quality "german engineering" and most of all the sound. I have yet to see everyone else's reaction at school but I love to know I'm not driving another civic and I love to tell people I can run my car for free (hopefully starting this summer). They are always amazed that these cars can runs on veggie oil and I just smile. If you are happy with your car (as you clearly seem to be) don't worry what others think. I know I would hate to trade my car for anything else. Besides why would you want such a small steering wheel anyways?

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-Zack K.

http://www.maj.com/gallery/Boardmong...-Drive/si2.jpg


1983 300d Turbo (Daily Drive) -- 243,000 miles
1979 280ce AMG (Beginning extreme restoration) -- 141,410 miles
1979 Yamaha Chappy LB50 (Awating new points) -- 1411.6 miles

1981 300d Euro 4 speed -- 188,421 km -- SOLD
1979 300d Euro 4 speed (Sold to Brother) -- 257,000 miles

A Collection of w123 AMG Cars and Parts

Out of a 4 benzes I own, the 240d is the sweetest of the lot, especially with the 4 speed. Now, for pure luxury, you can't beat the 350sdl...

I wish my 17 yr old was as level headed on cars. I spoiled him by buying him a 98 Jetta TDI and he loves it...can't get him into a MB, 'cept the 350sdl

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71 220D 169K wrecked
83 240D 118K sweet 4 speed
91 350SDL (one of the 60% good engines) 156K
84 300d (loaner to my sister) 189K
79 300SD (partswagen)
86 420SEL partswagen
70 220d (partswagen)
68 280s GASSER!!! under construction now
85 300sd 310K miles winter beater car retired
93 300d 2.5 turbo 168K wife's car
83 280SL euro 5 speed 155K
69 250S newest project 54K

I bought my car with the money saved from a year at McDonald's. Yes, I was 14, and stupid, and worked at McDonald's.

Eh I got a mercedes out of it, seems like a fare trade.

Now I pay the insurance (under my parents name to save money, but I still pay like 200 dollars a month...maybe not so much when I think about it, but then again I'm a dishwasher at a crappy restaurant), fuel, and mechanic bills. So yeah, the car means a lot more to me than just my dream car, it's the well where I've been putting my money too.

btw a guy at a toll booth today complimented my car!

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1982 240D.
My name is Michael, and I am an 18 year old binge-drinkin', cigar-smokin', novel-writin', all around unsavory and unnattractive guy. I tell long-winded stories, and I only shave once a week, although I've had to do it every day since I was 16.

I have a 77 280E, and the germans at work call it the "Duener Mobile".

They say in Germany, only the turks who run gryo stands drive these old cars with there whole family in them. Duener is german for gyro.


but since I got it painted they call it the "Silber Arrow" and laugh even harder.

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1977 280 E
1994 C280
1992 190E (sold)

"Jump in the hatch and turn on the key, pop in the clutch and let the wheels roll free"

Nope, it was unreliable as hell compared to the 240D, within first months, had to be taken to the shop thrice with nagging problems, then the heater core punctured and spewed hot coolant over me, within three months, it developed lower bearing noise and engine had to be replaced, at the end of six months my patience level at the lowest as the tranny started shifting notchily, downshifts were a pain. Finally had to threaten them with litigation and they agreed a buy back, it was good riddance. Bought a Mazda Protege' which lasted me 360,000 miles, sweet and problem free and then I sold it to get a Accord V6.