Unless a car has impeccable records to support mileage claims always assume all of these cars are TMU (true miles unknown) and buy based upon condition. Don't pay a nickel more for a car with 117K on the odometer if it has nothing to support that because that's precisely why some people roll them back. I can tell you from my experience that very, very few cars really are as low miles as they are represented. Either the clusters were replaced, the odometers stopped working or they were spun back. Like I said, look and pay for service records, but they have to be complete and perfect to command any premium in value, otherwise just forget what the odometer reads and judge its value on its overall condition. If that car has no records it is a $3-$5K car, maximum, period.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

$7500 for suposedly a 5k miles per year car. HMMM
Better have every reciept for milage. Check the weather stripping for condition very carefully. AC better crank.

I'd go for another coupe over a sedan because I like the lines, I like the lack of a B pillar, and you hardly ever see one. Had a bunch of German tourists staring at it in Maine a few years back.

Mine is rusting out, odo says 320k, but I KNOW it has at least another 50k on it cause I was the one who replaced it, and the car is (has) reached beater status.

I've spent much, much more on my "cheap" one.

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1982 300CD Petrol/Black Leather

I would say $3K max too. From the photos it looks like there are some issues, and photos can only show maybe 10% of the possible issues..

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Yes, it makes sense when they are super mint, but not when they're average condition with issues.

Is a fair condition 150k SEC still worth more than fair condition 150k SEL? Probably not by much.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

A bit more.

Its hard to spend more than $8k-$10k on a 560SEL, but its really easy to do that when SEC shopping.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Well, now I don't know that I was being all THAT obvious - did you know the production numbers? I didn't (other than that there were 8,007 turbo 300CDs), I had to look them up. In the process I found out that they were even more rare than what I had originally thought.

As others have said, they are a sweet looking car. The lack of the B pillar, the shorter wheelbase, and the fact that you almost never see one give them a certain appeal. I dare say ONE of the reasons a lot of us drive old diesel Benzs is because they are different. I know I do. I can't tell you how sick I am of the "melted bar of soap" styling of pretty much every car built in the last 15-20 years.

Before my MB, I was driving a 91 Jetta GLI. I spent a couple of months hunting for one that age in good condition because they have a distinctive look and style. Plus the 91 was the first year for the 2.0 liter 16-valve engine. Starting in 93 even the Jettas started to look less distinctive and more like every other car out there. That's when they lost my interest. I like cars with a distinctive style. I'd hate driving the same thing everyone else drives.

The MBs are different and the coupe is even more so. These old MBs have a style all their own and having one of the rare ones makes it just a bit more special to me. Even though the sedan is more practical, and good looking in its own right, it just doesn't have the panache' of the coupe.

Like I said before, if I had found a sedan in as good of shape and 15% under low book first I would have bought it. But I didn't. I found my coupe first, and being priced at 85% of low book in good overall condition and several of the common problem areas already taken care of, made it a deal I couldn't pass up.

As for the one Blevinsax is looking at, to those who say it is only worth $3k, all I can say is show me your comparable coupes for that price. I can show you several that have gone for around twice that much. In my area, if it is rust free, runs good, and is in as good of shape overall as the pictures make it look, then $5k would be a good deal for it as it sits. Maybe the market is different where some of you live.

If the mileage can be shown to be accurate, even $6000-$6500 wouldn't even seem unreasonable to me.

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1984 300 Coupe TurboDiesel
Silver blue paint over navy blue interior
2nd owner & 2nd engine in an otherwise
99% original unmolested car
~210k miles on the clock

1986 Ford F250 4x4 Supercab
Charcoal & blue two tone paint over burgundy interior
Banks turbo, DRW, ZF-5 & SMF conversion
152k on the clock - actual mileage unknown

If it is about as good as it looks. and the jack points are very very good. It would go for 5-6k around here easily and maybe 7k. If I was buying it, I would be concerned that the mileage may have been rolled back, might make an offer conditional to a very good compression test, or maybe chain stretch test.

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Thanx,
Alberta Luthier
1983 300CD ('Stinky')155k miles, 2.47 diff, EGR removed, AAZ injectors with 265 nozzles from Sean,and vogtland lowering springs.
1984 300SD ('Old Blue')150k Klicks from Japan originally, came with rear head rests, no sunroof and never had an EGR

i saw one at a dealer up here in ny for $3200

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1985 300D - "Desi"
1981 300D - "Pepi"
1984 240D - "Sticky"
1985 300TD - "Flitstone"
1984 300TD - "Frenchie"
1987 300TD - "4481"

5,702 non-turbo and 8,007 turbo.

Compared to 331,999/75,261 I'd call them rare.

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I challenge, good sir!


There are many examples of average to slightly above average CDTs selling for normal prices.

Austin85 recently sold his amazingly gorgeous and maintained CD for only $4,000. Here are the threads.
FS 83 300CD Turbodiesel Florida

Must sell 300SD- 190E - 300CD very soon

Austin85 knew exactly what he had, but he also understood that in order to sell it for top dollar he would have to sit for a long time and wait for someone who is actually willing to pay the outlandish price. You want to show completed e-bay listings? Okay, do you live in SoCal with hordes of uneducated buyers hoping to enter the hipster veggie scene?

These cars are not museum pieces, they are subject to the supply and demand law you described. The majority of buyers out there are not going to know that CDs are incredibly rare; they don't care. Unless its an all original low mileage car they are not collectible. These cars are classy drivers, that's all. Throw the book away with cars this old, there's no way to tell with current conditions.

Pricing a CD at $7,500 also makes it unreachable financially, creating another obstacle. The car is too old to finance, and few people actually have that kind of cash to throw down on a daily driver.

I suppose, like you said, that the market conditions could be different in your area.

Back me up, Mr. Lowball.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

are they really that rare? i might have to splurge on benz #3 at the price i saw then. ($3200)

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1985 300D - "Desi"
1981 300D - "Pepi"
1984 240D - "Sticky"
1985 300TD - "Flitstone"
1984 300TD - "Frenchie"
1987 300TD - "4481"

Why exactly does rare = good? Parts unique to a CD are much harder to come by for one thing, but that I guess can be solved with some searching and a pile or 2 of $$$.
I just don't get the importance of the rare thing, other than to simply kind of do the "hey look at me".
And I don't mean to insult you coupe guys, I promise, but the car simply looks built as designed in sedan form, and the coupe seems like kind of an SL knock off. Not bad at all, just odd in some way.
I'm just sayin'..........

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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

Well put. The 123 series = entry level Benz, nothing more. Conservative, well made, value. We had a couple of MB's while living overseas- staid, 4 dr sedans- and he had a 4 dr gasser that he traded for the coupe (reason given was it was 'sportier' and as a single 50 something he needed a date car)

That is one example. You can always get a bargain when you have an owner in a tight place who needs to sell. If he had been willing or able to hold off selling it a little while we both know he could and would have got more for it than that.


Nope, I live in the Northwest - Seattle specifically. The same weekend I bought mine I looked at another one in very comparable condition and the owner wouldn't budge a dime from his $5,500 asking price. The last one I saw in my area on eBay was about 3 months ago in Olympia WA and it went for over $7k. Here's one in ALABAMA (probably not many rust free cars there) that went for $5600

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercedes-Benz-300-Series-300CD-Diesel-1985-300CD-Turbo-Coupe-Diesel-Low-Miles-No-Reserve_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6330QQihZ005QQitemZ150243570582QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

California is even worse than the northwest. Looking on eBay there are 5 recent listings that all closed between $8,600 and $13,200 - and 4 of them ended in the upper end of that range without a winning bidder because the reserve wasn't met.

There are 5 active CDT listings on eBay right now - two of them are already above $4,500 and the other three have 5 or 6 days left to run. Bet you a dollar all 5 of them either break the $6 grand mark or they don't sell. Wanna' bet?

Nobody said they were museum pieces, but at less than 16000 of them produced out of 360000 total production they are fairly rare. And most of those clueless buyers you refer to? They will pass on a CD when they see they can get a sedan for half the money - so they aren't really a factor in the pricing.

B.S. - that is a totally weak argument. "The book" (NADA or Kelly) is an average of actual sale prices. How can it be irrelevent? The book value is based on actual sales, not someone's opinion, but what the cars are and have been actually selling for. The old saying is that anything is worth exactly what someone will pay for it is still true - and the book numbers are based on what people have actually been paying. The frigging BANKS use the book to determine value for loans - you think they are clueless?

Unreachable for you maybe, but you might be surprised how many people have 5 or 6 grand to buy a car outright for cash, if it is the car they want and the value is there. I do - and did. I haven't bought a car on credit in close to 10 years - including my wife's Grand Cherokee we bought when it was just 4 years old. THAT pile of cash was over twice as big. But, just like my CD, the seller was motivated and the price was 80%-85% of book so the value was there.

Everyone has an opinion, and we all know the old saying about them, but when I have to choose between opinions and compiled numbers (a.k.a. the numbers in "the book") I'm sorry, but the numbers win. But hey, that's just me. Maybe you operate differently.

__________________
1984 300 Coupe TurboDiesel
Silver blue paint over navy blue interior
2nd owner & 2nd engine in an otherwise
99% original unmolested car
~210k miles on the clock

1986 Ford F250 4x4 Supercab
Charcoal & blue two tone paint over burgundy interior
Banks turbo, DRW, ZF-5 & SMF conversion
152k on the clock - actual mileage unknown