I'm new to this game, but have been bit by the W123 bug and would like to buy one (preferably turbo diesel) in the coming month or so. I've looked at, and driven, 4 cars so far (I'm in Houston). Both the quality and price of the cars has been all over the map; granted, I know that there will be junkers out there, and a few high end show winners, but there does not seem to be much consistency in pricing.

I drove a real dog the other day that looked quite nice, but shook like an earthquake and the MB mechanic I took it to told me to run from it as fast as I could. . . and the seller wanted 5k for it. I found one that drove quite a bit better, but needed quite a bit of cosmetic reconditioning, for under 3k. Didn't take it in to the shop, I wasn't sure what to make of the fact that the owner told me that rather than convert the car to run on WVO he had spent 2 years tinkering with the WVO formula so the car could run on 100% WVO without any modifications. He said he would include the "recipe" with the car. Sounds like an expensive recipe to me. . . .

Then, I drove an '83 with around 163k on it that was quite nice. Ran wonderfully, paint was gorgeous, but still had a few kinks. . . rear driver's side window didn't roll down, driver's seat back was popped off and didn't appear to reattach properly, glove box wouldn't stay shut, a piece of wood trim was dangling off of the dash. Not MAJOR issues, but since he was asking $7500 I wondered if I would expect that for this price the kinks should be worked out?

So, the question is. . . . for a clean car, with no major mechanical problems, clearly well taken care of, but not neccessarily a frame off restoration, what would YOU pay? You guys are the experts, and any advice you can offer would be much appreciated. If you've seen any cars up for grabs that you whole heartedly believe are winners, feel free to send them my way.

When I got into this, I sort of figured a pretty nice car could be had for 5k, but there seems to be nothing in between the 2 - 3k dogs and the 8k overachievers.

Thanks!
-Joshua

And a bad one, a two-tank system is the only good way to use WVO. That oil needs to be at least 160*f before it reaches the injection pump.

Right on, good advice you should listen to.

You are right, $5k should buy you a very nice one. It just sounds like the market down there is flooded with sellers looking to take advantage of people people getting into the bio fad. $5k for the first one is about 3x what it sounds to be worth and $7500 should get a nearly perfect car. Keep looking, there has to be some honest sellers out there.

Keep looking.

For 5k you should be able to find a real nice W123. I got lucky and picked mine up from a friend for 2k and the only thing it has needed is a new alternator mount. Been driving the wheels off of it since I bought it last summer.

__________________
Joe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1980 300SD - 495k miles - 'The Ambassador'
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Former Family Members
95 C280
73 280SEL
90 300D
87 300SDL (X2)
86 560SEL
84 300D
80 300SD

Thanks so much to both of you for your replies, it's a big help. I've made enough bad impulse buys (like the 1950's broken down Vespa I paid way too much money for that turned into a planter in the back yard) to know that patience is key; it's great to have this forum around to tap the knowledge, and hopefully one day I can share my own.

-Joshua

I'm with these guys. Seems the DT's bring a bit more than the sedans, but not a lot more. Patience will pay off. I got lucky a couple of years ago and bought a 300D that had been pretty well gone over mechanically. Glad now that I didn't buy a beater, as it would have been overwhelming. This forum is the place to look for deals and receive good advice.

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John Schroader
bio burnin' 83 300D, '83 300 SD, '79 240D
"I've never met a man who was good at making excuses who was good at anything else" Ben Franklin
"You cannot permanently help a man by doing for him what he could and should do for himself" Abraham Lincoln

you can go a couple routes, but if youve got the money and the patience and you can do the work yourself, you could find a decent one needing body work or with a bad interior but otherwise sound for 1.5k-2K, most times even less. you will learn a lot about the car first hand. In that range the common things would be bad like windows, sunroof, vacuum locks faded paint, cracked dash, dingy carpet etc. But some guys here find some pretty cherry ones in the 1k-2k range needing some adjustments and minor parts the mechanically-challenged previous owner did not know how to fix. lets face it, if you cant work on it these are not the cheapest cars to have professionally fixed. I bought my first car for 1600. put about 1K in parts, a lot of time and labor (with a ton of help from the guys and gals here) drove the car to work everyday for 1-1/2 years, then found a better car and sold my first car for 2K. not too bad.

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1982 300CD Turbo (Otis, "ups & downs") parts for sale
2003 TJ with Hemi (to go anywhere, quickly) sold
2001 Excursion Powerstroke (to go dependably)
1970 Mustang 428SCJ (to go fast)
1962 Corvette LS1 (to go in style)
2001 Schwinn Grape Krate 10spd (if all else fails)

Yup, and you are in a good city to look for your car (both of mine came from Houston)

Is that $7500 a black car?

If so, I contacted the guy and he was firm on the price (that was a month or 2 ago, and I still see it on CL) - he was pretty proud of his car - if it is the same one I am very surprised at the condition, considering his firm price and glowing listing....

Anyway x2 from above.....patience is your friend and the seller's enemy.
Lots of really really nice ones to be had in greater Houston!

__________________

Current Mercedes
1979 maple yellow 240D 4-speed

Gone and fondly remembered:
1980 orient red 240D 4-speed

Gone and NOT fondly remembered:
1982 Chna Blue 300TD

Other car in the stable:
2013 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI / 6-speed MT

A clean W-123 in excellent condition with no mechanical issues and excellent paint will fetch $4-5K with 150K miles. The price climbs closer to $10K if it has 100K miles because these are quite rare. The problem with 100K vehicles is that many are subject to odometer tampering.

The key to the game is to find a well maintained W-123 with documented service records. It doesn't need to be showroom condition, but should look quite good from five feet. The a/c needs to function and the total mileage should be 140K to 180K. The price should be $3K to $4K. Sometimes you can find them for less if you're patient.

Only a fool pays $7K for these unless they are in pristine condition with documented mileage less than 125K.

Should be able to get a really nice one for around $5k if you look long enough. I'm have my 77 300d with 75k miles on Craigslist for $5500. It's not perfect but pretty good. It's not a turbo, has some door dings on left rear door, and an oil leak at the cooler hose to filter fitting. AC does work. I don't think my price is way out of line so add another 75k miles and you should get a turbo model in similar condition.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I'll guarantee that 'recipe' is that Diesel Secret junk. It's solvent thinning

I think it depends on where you are.
If you're in an area where older MBs of any sort are rare (Denver)
then you'll pay more and you need to be willing to pay more.

If you're nuts and find one in another state or across the country and you want to go drive it back, you may be able to pay less but you'll have the drive across the country and it's bills to remember. To me the $500 I paid for the trip across the country is part of the cost of the car. But there aren't many in my area so I had to get one from FL.

And for a neat as a pin, nothing wrong, nothing to add, good interior, good paint, great engine and terrific tranny, I'd pay up to $4K.

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Ginny in Denver-ish
78 300SD, 265K (mine)

Yup, a friend of mine (in denver) recently got $12K for a pretty decent '84 300D with about 130K miles (far from perfect, but decent with everything working correctly).

I've found this to be a great tool. It gives you some helpful information. http://www.edmunds.com/tmv/used/mercedesbenz/index.html

It said my 82 300TD, 172K, clean condition, is worth less than $2000. But I'm pretty sure I could get 4x that any day.

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1982 240 D, 308,000 - 321,127 miles (sold)
1982 300 TD,166,500 - 226,000 miles
1998 E 320, 120,000 - 144,000 miles
2005 C 230 K, 26,000 - 77,000 miles (sold)

Check the Houston, Dallas and Austin Craigslist. In that area you can find a pretty decent car for $1500 to $2500. All this $5000 buck stuff is nuts for our area.
You have a good supply of junk yards for parts, plus just a lot of fellow Texans that stay in pretty good touch. The only real ender is rust and I guess a worn out engine. Don't fear the W123 with over 200k miles as most will be in that range. Plus, the odometers fail a huge percentage of the time compared to other vehicles.
You are going to find something of Craigslist or here on the forum. The fact that you are not in an immediate hurry is way to your advantage. You just have to beat Dan, Dave, Randy and the Hitman to them when they come up.....

It is an SD, but....
http://austin.craigslist.org/car/585436864.html

Non-turbo but a coupe.....
http://austin.craigslist.org/car/577663369.html

I'm guessing one you've already seen.....
http://houston.craigslist.org/car/586571529.html

Wish it had pics.....
http://houston.craigslist.org/car/582727745.html

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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