there are a few around i have owned two
 

280es one is a euro and i own it again. the other is an 81 us and my brother is driving it still. he just patched the floor today under his rear seat mount with a section that he had cut out of my 82 240 that i parted and took to the junkyard a couple months ago.

the 280s are about as durable as a diesel. they are about bulletproof.

tom w

I think $100 is the largest standard bid increment, and kicks in at a price of $5000. A jump larger than the bid increment can happen because that's the amount needed to meet the reserve price.

You're right. The change in the way they display reserves threw me off. Used to be if reserve was met it said so and without that I took it to be a no reserve auction. If it was no reserve there would be no explanation for the difference between the winning bid and the previous bid except for an increment that large. I've never bought in there for more that $6K so thought that maybe at that higher level a higher increment would apply.

Not that any of it matters....:)

Well some people are paying half a million for old american muscle cars that one sold for a fraction of the amount.

Didn't know if you found one or not yet but looks as though you haven't. This guy is a pain in the but to work with but I think he is a good mechanic. Trained in Stutgart in Germany so he says. You never know might be a nice car and a wagon for that price, it is worth taking a look.

http://portland.craigslist.org/car/145716838.html

knack the nack
 

http://home.comcast.net/~mr.diesel.info/MrdieselTreepadSite/index.html

this guy has a nack for finding very nice documented diesels.

I bought a 240D from him (sold recently due to lack of use).

Personaly, I like the lines of the coupe and the sedan more than the wagon but I guess if you are looking for a more practical car, you can't beat a wagon.


But why such a big difference between a wagon and sedan, looks like you could buy 2 sedan for the price of a wagon. Are they that rare ?

1984 300td
 

These wagons are rare, compared to sedans.

I just bought one and am in the process of cleaning it up now. I named
it "Christine", after the Stephen King novel.

Apparently, a teenager thought it would be cool to replace the windshield
washer outlets with chrome skulls. Now when I spritz the windows, blue
washer fluids comes out the eyeholes...

:eek:

Tom Valdriz

bwahahahaha !!!!

How much did you pay ?

Humm, I have around $8000 into my sedan including the price of the vehicle and shipping. I think I need 2 front shocks, fuel injectors to get rid of a idle shake and my seat belt latch is squeaking something fierce. I've gone over then entire car top to bottom and I trust her reliability over any new jap car on the market. Plus if something does go wrong, I know I can fix is cheaply, god forbid I loose something serious like my tach amp! :D

Well, he sounded nice enough on the phone while he was telling me that he had sold the car just about 15 minutes before I called. rrrrrr!

I wasn't looking in here enough.

Here's another one

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/car/146492494.html

i'd rather buy a nice sedan for under $2000 and take a road trip!! maybe get a rack for the top or a small trailor.

I'm coming around to your way of thinking, particularly when I consider the self leveling suspension of the wagon. Though the accumulators and assorted parts are sold at discounts that make them reasonable enough the best price I've seen for the "hydropnuematic" shock absorber (?) units is $432. per each.

Phoooey!

Hey check the san francisco bay area craigslist.
I tried to cut n paste but my browser screwed up. no time now to go over again.

lots of diesels , some super low miles. $1500 to $12,000 range !!

four days ago there were not many listed.

cheers

Here's one for almost $8K with 300K miles.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4629406016&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

I wonder where this dealer is finding these wagons? A different seller ID, but both wagons had the same dealer license plates. The one listed last week had a BIN of $18,500.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4631216897&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:1

Always funny to me when the car is parked in front of some "prestigious" house or in a mcmansion subdivision.

Good call on the same dealer plate.

Thats just stupid to pay that much for a car with 300k on it. I'm sorry that engine could blow up in another 50k miles. Then what? You are sol.

You could buy a nice 1999 E320 Wagon for that with 1/3 the miles thats 18 years newer, and gets better mileage to.

MB wagons are overpriced and not that great
 

I looked at MB wagons for a while and decided against buying one. To be honest most Early and late Model Volvo wagons are MUCH nicer than the Mercedes wagons. The Volvos have a much larger cargo area (no fullsized spare and strut towers taking up needed storage space) and just as comfortable and reliable. The Mercedes are cramped on the inside both cargo and passenger space wise and way overpriced.

I bought my 1988 240 Wagon for $2700 which was quite high for the car. The car belonged to the owner of an Independant Volvo shop who purchased the car from a customer of his who was the original owner. The car is in great shape and was the shop owners "baby". Its got a LOT of upgrades and is in tip top shape. I can get up 2-3 full sized Grandfather clocks in the back of the 240 (it has a 6 foot cargo space). Some other amazing things I have stuffed into the back of the wagon include a full size 3 seat Antique French sofa and a four drawer 2 door American Sideboard. I have yet to resort to using the roof rack.

For about $7500 you could get a 1998-2000 Vintage V70 wagon. In my opinion the V70's are MUCH newer and nicer than the Mercedes wagons. They are bigger more comfortable and a lot more luxurious. Fuel economy for the 5cyl engines are in the 25mpg range. For the full 10K or a little more you could even get a 2001 model V70. The 2001 is the current edition V70 and is even nicer than the 1998-2000 cars.

well, it depends on what you want.

my dad had three volvo wagons all 245s, i had a 265. the volvos are good cars but their electrics dont compare to a benz and the ride is atrocious by comparison. they do have excellent cargo carrying capacity though and my dad thought they were easier to work on than a benz, though i am not too sure that is true. i think he was intimidated by the independant benz rear.

he swore by the volvo. i swore at them.

tom w

I sold the 79k mile wagon and the 300k wagon. The 300k Wagon belonged to a mechanic buddy, hence the seperate seller accounts.

If you truely want a mint w123, the bar is much higher than $10k. Try $12-18k for something worth having. It was $10k nearly 8 years ago when I sold a mint 1985 300TD.

The pricing makes no sense to anyone who has never owned a W123. But to the people who have driven these cars for years, the $$ is moot. They don't care, they just want high quality. They don't want repaints, dash caps, or sun faded carpet. If you can provide a high grade specimen, you can name your price and it will be met. The W123 buyers don't care that you could buy a decent w210 wagon for the same price, they want what they are familiar with, and something that reminds them of the past. Oddly enough, there is quite a bit of sentiment and deep emotion tied to these old cars...

$$$$ Wagon
 

HMMM, I'm thinking buy a good solid running wagon from TX or AZ. for $3k. Than imagine what it would look like spending the $7k conservatively restoring it??

Your salesman's slip is showing, Herb.

People are stupid then, you can buy a new Dodge Magnum wagon for $20k.:rolleyes:


Pay $18k for a W123 wagon and have it totaled a month later, the insurance company will say sorry blue book is $2k tough.

Who wants a Dodge Magnum, that's one ugly car?

I think it looks cool.

But my point is that you can almost buy a new wagon for that money. Subi has some excellent AWD wagons.

Your right, I just like the old ones better. A TD would have to VERY nice to be worth $18K.

I'm not saying that it makes sense to buy a w123 in the mid teens, I'm simply saying that it is happening...People really want those old cars and don't care what they have to pay to get them. There again, most of them are well healed and can afford to satisfy a whim here and there..

Ill be the first one to admit the older cars electrical systems and ride don't really compare to the Mercedes, however those minor improvements are not worth the price difference between them. The Volvo's are MUCH simpler cars in comparison and therefore easier to work on. The later model V70 wagons are quite honestly on par with Mercedes handling and electrical wise. I have driven several V70 wagons and they have ride quality thats on par with many Mercedes cars and are as quiet as my w-140. The seats in the V70's are absolutely amazing as well and make any w-124 wagons seats seem quite small and uncomfortable.

The thing I have never liked about Mercedes Wagons is their inability to make decisions based on the realistic usage. Most Mercedes owners are likely to have more than one Mercedes car yet Mercedes tried to make the wagons a "catch all" vehicle and in the process its not very good any any of the things it tries to do. For example its primary design is to haul cargo yet its sharply raked rear window, full size spare and massive strut towers makes its cargo space small in comparison to other wagons.

If I want to be comfortable I drive my S class. If I want to haul Antiques and priceless artwork its highly unlikely I will be driving through cones at high speed and need the handling of the Mercedes Wagon.

The Newer Mercedes wagons are even more impractical. They start off at about 53K and average about 60K for a middle of the line model. The V70 starts at 29K and moves to about 37K quite well loaded. It becomes pretty obvious why Volvo has outsold Mercedes on station wagons for many years now.

If your about to plunk 10K down on an 18 year old wagon do yourself a favor and just test drive a V70 or other Volvo wagon just so you can see what the "competition" does differently. Im certain it might make you think twice about things. 10K buys a very nice 1998-2000 V70 these days.

How good are Volvo wagons your ask? The richest man in the world founder of Ikea furniture stores drives a Volvo 240 wagon nearly identical to mine.

http://www.forbesautos.com/advice/toptens/billionaire/05-ingvar_kamprad.html

http://beostar.paunix.org/240

You may be correct about the utility of these wagons, but I suspect that anyone considering spending $18K on a 123 wagon isn't going to be carrying anything in it anyway. For that money, you are buying a collectable car, and some people seem to favor wagons. I assume the price is being driven by the fact that they are rarer than sedans, not the fact that they carry more stuff. BTW, I don't really understand the market for the new MB wagons (or the Volvo wagons) either, but someone buys these things for $60k.

Heh heh It was 10K but thats not really important. I think your right though about the "collectable" value. Not really sure how one would consider a 123 collectable since there were so many made and are not really that old yet. If I were going to sink money into a collectable car it would be an SL where there is more demand and the side benefits of owning a roadster. Additionally some of the older Volvo wagons (pre 240) seem much more interesting (and are even lower production) than the 123. As well I kind of missed the fact that the original poster was looking at a 123 rather than 124 like what I was thinking. 10K for a 123 is even more insane and bordering on lunacy. 123's are simple enough that if you found one that was one step out of the junkyard 10K would more than bring it back to near new condition. If you found a "reasonable" one in good mechanical condition you could do paint and interior for a LOT less. Of course someone would have to shop around and think for themselves and invest some time into doing a restoration something American consumers would rather just throw money at instead.

I do understand the market for the Volvo wagons but not the new MB ones. The Volvo's start at 27K and are comfortable and versitile vehicles that can also haul cargo. Volvo also makes the evil T5 and R wagons that look perfectly normal (especially when debadged) but can suck the chrome off of most performance cars. Mercedes wagons start at 53K which is about 10K-12K more than the top of the line V70 T5.

I love Mercedes cars and think they make one hell of a sedan and some rather nice roadsters. The translation just does not work for the wagon especially for the price.

Actually the $18k was referring to an early post of an eBay car with a BIN of $18.5K. I'm not much of a wagon fan either, but the wagons (like the CDs) are rarer than the sedans and should be worth more. I've personally seen a very original 123 300CD (with about 35K miles) sell for $25K. IMHO, you couldn't bring a beat-up 123 to anywhere near "new" condition for $10K, just a decent paint job would cost almost that much. I personally wouldn't have any interest in owning a 124 or a Volvo anyway, and I can't think of very many newer cars (post 80s) that I would want to own at any price. I have a POS Jeep that I use to carry stuff if necessary.

The Volvos may rank up there with Mercedes but I've never seen a diesel and I think they are ugly. My personal favorite is the W124 wagon.

18K will buy you a decent pagoda SL which will continue to climb in value for years. 25K will buy a really nice Pagoda or 190SL if your a good shopper. Im not sure that I would want to sink that kind of money in a car that would likely continue to go down in value.

I dissagree with you regarding the 123 restoration. Even your 18K 123 in great original conditions by no means is a concours quality car. There are levels of restoration and dumping a car at a "restoration shop" is expensive and wasteful especially for a 123. 123's are simple enough so that a $2000 car could easily be brought up to the same level of quality that the 18K car is at. There are levels of perfection and levels of restoration and most of the people who get these things done go way over the top.

I personally don't like restorations that go beyond the initial quality of the original vehicle. I dabble in the Antique markets and do a bit of collecting of fine furniture. Furniture that show's signs of being "restored" suffers an extreme loss of value. But cars that are completely remanafactured with parts that are powder coated and painted that were never that way from the factory are worth more. Interesting none the less....

the 123 wagons are really nice handling cars and their utility cannot be measured in cu ft cargo area only. just because volvo wagons have a bit more cargo area, so what? if you need to haul anything really big you have to borrow a pickup anyway?

i cant prove it with a slalom speed but i think it is possible that the 123 wagon actually will outhandle a comparable sedan. the leveling system works really well to keep it stable in evasive manueuvers. i once had to do a lane change passing maneuver in the middle of an iron truss sided bridge in my 82 because the car in front of me decided to slow down to almost nothing inside it and i didn't realize it til i was too close to stop. i had no choice and the wagon just did it. no muss no fuss and tidy as can be..... course i had to stop immediately after and change my undies.

i find the magnum an attractive mix of car and truck stying cues. with a 2.7 engine you can top 30 mpg in one, too. i will be getting one one of these days, sooner or later, i think.

tom w

I agree with what you are saying about over-restoring these cars, I hate garage queens too. I'm not talking about concours quality, I'm just talking about a good driver, something equivalent to a well cared for newer car thats only been on the road for 2 or 3 years. You said a beat-up ($2000) 123 could be made "like new" for under $10K, and I disagree. Maybe we just don't have the same concept of "like new." A half decent paint job (not concours) would be at least $6-8K, a remanufactured long block is around $6K, a remanufactured tranny is around $2K, another $1K for differential and half shafts, maybe another $1K for suspension and steering parts, easily $2K for interior parts, about $1K for AC and climate control components, and too many $500 bits and pieces to name. I'm not suggesting that this should be actually done to a beat-up 123, but that's part of what it would take to build a "like new" car. Of course, you could throw something together for $5K with used parts and a crappy paint job, but you get what you pay for. It is always going to be cheaper to pay the market price for a car that is close to the condition that you want, than to by a cheaper one and try to upgrade the condition significantly. If you don't think a particularly model/year/condition car is worth what they are selling for, don't buy one.

Yep, original paint that is in good shape and a straight original body is worth a lot just in itself.

To take an average W123's body with a few dents and tired paint to new condition would probably require $10k if you dropped it off at a body shop.

The whole car needs to be taken down to its shell and sand blasted, of course all panals would be removed painted, and wet sanded before being put back on. When putting it back together all new trim parts and seals would need to be fitted.

Thats hundreds of hours worth of labor, thousands even if the body is in bad shape.

A true concours quality car typicaly sports a $20k-$50k paint job.

Don't kid yourself into thinking a $3k spray will look like new, give me 10 minutes with said car and I'll point out where corners were cut.

I'm not saying a $3k spray won't look good, because it will. But like new, ehh not quite.

Yeah, I have body shop quotes for about $2000 (each) to clean up a few stone chips and dings on my W123s. We are talking about damage that you can't even see from 10 feet. I don't want to think about the cost of a complete repaint.

My friend is going to spend $3k to fix a few dents, stone chips, and for a bit of new trim on his S320. Just like yours, from 10ft away the car looks fine.

I am looking to repaint my SDL at some point and have been talking to a few body guys for ballparks. The body of my car is pretty good, but I bet I spend well over $5k when everything is said and done. Probably much closer to $10k by the time I get new trim and seals. Heck new door seals alone are going to be like $350.

I'll get a few written quotes when she is out of storage and post the numbers.

Your right about the beat up car. But consider a beat up car would be a $500 car. I would probably buy a car with one or two issues and correct them. $2000 buys a rather decent 123 with issues here and there that can be corrected without spending a HUGE amount of money. Restoring a car thats one step out of a junk yard IS a waste of money!

Personally I would rather have the car that has the issues that I can correct for less money. I know the work was done to my standards and don't have to worry about it. Buying a car thats in good condition at the moment does not give you any guarantees its going to stay that way or not need some service and repair work in the future.

I agree with your point, but I think your prices may be off by about a factor of 2 or 3, at least for a turbo W123. At least around here, $500 will get you a non-running parts car and $2000 will get you a car with more than a few "issues here and there." From what I've seen, about $4000 is a more reasonable starting point to end up with a good driver. I'm sure that prices vary in different areas and there are exceptions to be found.

i think craigs estimates hold around here too.

tom w

Hmmm... I had a chance to buy two 123's for $750 once. I live in Atlanta and 123's are pretty much throw away cars here. My brothers nearly perfect 123 the dealer's asking price was $2300.

I guess in different areas where cars rust out and that demand is higher the prices climb higher.

i agree, that is probably a big factor (rust).

tom w

I sent this guy an e-mail within hours of his post. No e-mail back, so I bet it sold.

$1200?!?!? Wow.

http://portland.craigslist.org/car/156246643.html

yes I e-mailed him for some freinds hours afterwards as well. i couldn't believe it was going for that price in this area. I didn't get an e-mail back yet either.

See those EVERY DAY here in Atlanta in most cases even cheaper than that. Lots of unwanted rust free 123's end up in the junkyard due to lack of demand. Its the same thing for Volvo 240's. The demand for these cars is in the northern states where they are appreciated more and where the rust eats the ones there. There are a lot of really nice rust free 123's in the southern states. Before I would consider paying 10K for one in "pristine" shape I would look down south and find one that does not have surface rust all over everything. 10K will fix a lot of mechanical problems and pay for a pretty nice recovered interior or some paintwork. It would also pay for a weekend in a hotel room and a one way rental car to drive down and look for a car here.

Some resources for you northern people

http://www.autotrader.com <---- Rather popular here
http://www.ajc.com <----- The Atlanta paper

The British take on the Volvo 240 wagon
 

UC Magazine "CAR" short review of Volvo 240 wagon:

"Antique cars for antique dealers" :D :D

Well I can tell you Volvo 240 diesel wagons sold well in Europe, I've seen them them there, and went to Paris and saw a relative of an English friend who had one years ago, and drove it all over Paris with carefree elan, it had dents, one BIIIIG one where it got T boned by a Porsche, she parked it on the sidewalk, wherever she felt like it, those 240 wagons look huge in Paris with all the tiny French and Italian city cars around, Paris was a perfect car to run a banger 240 diesel wagon in.