1982 300D Euro with a Turbo?
 

I thought only the US Spec 300D cars were turbocharged?
And what is that box with the pushbuttons mounted into the tray below the armrest? Anyone ever seen that?

http://www.craigslist.org/sfc/car/86960733.html

Those are not Euro Headlights, but they are Euro bumpers, and dash treatment. Can't figure what those switches are? perhaps related to the WebBasto fuel heater? or is that a engine heater (more likely)

I'm guessing but, that may be the controls for the diesel-fired Webasto coolant heater.

What's the advantage of using a coolant heater as opposed to an electrical block heater? How did the Webasto unit work?

Vehicle seems strange, BHD pointed out the obvious, US lights. Then again euro bumpers and absence of the tachometer but with a turbo 617? I question the actual mileage since the euro 300D's were NA correct?

I'm thinking that it is a Euro spec with a turbocharged engine fitted in sometime recently. It COULD be installed like that from the factory, but since he doesn't have a VIN number listed, I can't find out for sure on the Russian MB VIN decoder website.
-Joe

I think that is a cabin pre-heater you are seeing.

Those arn't the cloth seats I usually see in euro spec cars. I don't think I would buy this car without seeing it, too many questions.

Yes those are euro seats. They are half cloth and half MB-tex. There were also full cloth seats and full velour seats.

Webasto heaters are used to provide passenger heating and supplemental engine heating under low/no load conditions in extreme climates. They are diesel-fired and independent of house current; some automatically start the heater for engine preheating before driving.

Webasto. .

Seems to be 99.99% correct that this one is an original Euro-model (but w/ swapped/converted-US headlights). And YES, there were W123 Turbodiesels for Euro-versions (here we go again... I have an original authentic one as proof - see my sig.) This fact is well-documented in German MB W123 books... But it is best to decode the chassis number in order to verify if this one had an original NA-diesel, or an original turbodiesel engine. The VIN starts off with a "WDB123130..." which points to a NA-diesel (a sedan's turbodiesel should have a chassis number with the 133, not 130) ... so maybe there was an egnine-swap after all??

The diesel tachometer/clock combo gauge were NOT available at all for Euro-versions with the OM617.952 turbodiesel engines. Which is why Ebay-Germany buyers literally scramble and jump upon on diesel tacho/clock gauges & clusters from Ebay US-sellers! The provisions are there to retro-fit or upgrade a diesel tach (since the magnetic sensor by the center pulley was pre-equipped right from the assembly line...)

Best bet is to run that chassis number at the Russian website but his pic of the data plate is blurry...

My Euro 240D has a virtually UNUSED set of USA headlights in the trunk that were used to get the car into this country when it was imported. Easy enough to swap out...

I don't think Euro 123s had a manual idle knob as late as 83 so it might be older than that. It also doesn't have the deeper A-pillar channels and that plastic strip in the C-pillar channel that an 83 should have. Seems to have the joggle wiper arms. I don't know 123 seats well enough to know if this car has the thicker early front seat backs or later slimmer front seat backs.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

My 82 300D euro had a manual idle adjustment knob.. why is everyone so skeptical about this car?

I test drove a Euro 84 300D, it had a idle adjust knob as well.
-Joe

It seems that a LOT of folks get skeptical when they see a really nice, low mileage, Euro car in excellent condition when in actuality the car is a legit Euro model with a turbo 617 swapped in.

123 turbodiesels were not available in sedan or coupe form ANYWHERE other than the USA and Japan. The S123 was the ONLY 123 equipped with the turbo 617 outside of the USA.