My 300DT reached a notable milestone last night. The odometer rolled through 238,509. The cryptic meaning in those digits? Well, it's exactly 50,000 miles since the Mercedes-Benz dealership service department told my father that my car (at the time his car) should be "retired" and really wasn't worth repairing/maintaining anymore. I've gotten a lot more out of those 50k miles than I would have out of 50k miles on some nice new, "worthwhile" vehicle. I could continue with a verbose essay on what my car means to me, but I'll cut it here and just leave you folks with the minutia.

Think I should go into the dealership and ask them if they can order me a "50,000 miles since the austere souls at the dealership service department told me to sh**can this nice old car" grill badge? Do they offer that one? Or do I have to wait until 310,000 miles for more grill bling?

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

You are a Mercedes Benz diesel fanatic.. I really like that in a female!!!.

Unfortunately for you, Mercedes Benz dealers HATE it.


You could probably sell a lot of those badges you thought up.

That is, until, Mercedes Benz sued you.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

I like the kind of anality that would notate that kind of odometer historical significance. Random only to those folks that don't "get it".
I know the interfacing with the dealership folks was metaphoric, but could there be a group of folks who are less worth the effort that would take.
Oh, and you could aways get Bodhi a Stuttgart grill bling badge.....

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

hey, don't curse out the MB dealer/mechanic who gave the recommendation to trade out of that car. that's the way I got my SD... my lawyer, or accountant... anyway, his wife took it in for service, and they told her it was not really economical to keep fixing the old car. I got it from them for free! and all it took to get it on the road was charge up the battery and put new Alt belts on the car... 7 years later, still going strong!

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

That's about like looking back 10 years later at getting diagnosed with terminal cancer and given 6 months to live. Hope my car lasts as long and beyond!

Also, I've always thought it was cute naming the car Bodhi! I could never name my vehicles...

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

Good for you, Bodhi. Yeah, if it weren't for the people who follow those dealership recommendations, where would the rest of us be?

Is "anality" really a word? I've never heard that before, although I have witnessed the phenomenon plenty of times.

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Apparantly, it actually is a word ... and I try to take it to new levels every day ...

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

There's a very well-known "analist" in this forum that I'm quite fond of, so I see nothing wrong with anality . . . Good for you. I think I'd rather buy a car that had been owned by an analist than one owned by anybody else anyday!

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

It isn't just a word, it's a way of life!
Embrace OCD........

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

I still remember the mileages on all three of our cars when we bought them:

My 300SD - 207,128 on July 30th, 2003 Now: 268,647 Miles driven: 61,519
My dad's 300SD - 248,232 on August 8th, 2004 Now: 293,489 Miles driven: 45,257
The 300D - 221,203 on January 27th, 2007 Now: Around 226,900 Miles driven: About 5,697 (Its my dad's winter daily driver)

Now how is that for obsessed?

We've dieseled nearly 113,000 miles among our three cars!

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

I thik they more so just meant the car wasn't worth sinking that much money into it at their prices. Doing it on your own, is definitly most cost effective and worth keeping it going.

Unfortunatly I see probably at least one car a month that meets these requirements, where the estimate far exceeds what the car is worth.

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

I understand. I bought my car in 96 when my son was in diapers. Now, he's 6'2" and will have a learner's permit in a few weeks. I'm thinking of taking him for practice driving "coincidentally" on the same street where the previous owner lives. He really sensed that I cared about the car as much as he did when he sold it to me. If he saw it 12 years later, with another 120K on it, in even better condition (and it was nice when I bought it), I KNOW I would get a big smile out of him. Funny how that spirituality thing works, even with engineering types such as myself. Robert Persig did a pretty sweet job of getting his head around it.

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

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

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

In all fairness, I understand that they made the suggestion based on the simple numbers of it (what they'd charge would be higher than the KBB value), which I guess is something to consider for most people, who don't do their own work and are going to want to sell or trade in the car at some point. They were pretty terse about it though, and part of the reason their estimate was so high is that they failed to notice the bolt that had backed out of the crankcase and was lying on the crossmember. The indy was quick to pick up on that slightly relevant issue and did all other needed repairs for less than half of what the dealership wanted.

I actually like our dealership though, although I don't use it for service. I'm in there buying parts a lot and everyone is very friendly. Parts guys seem to have a respect for the fact that I try to do my own work and put so much effort into my car. They also seem impressed by (or scared of?) the fact that I can tell them my VIN off the top of my head without even pausing to think about it (and back to the topic of anality ... ).

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)