I was surprised to find this article on the New York Times website this morning. They're showing some love for old MB diesels!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/automobiles/collectibles/18SMOKE.html

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-1985 300TD - 324k mi on chassis. MB "Tauschaggregat" 617 motor + 4-speed conversion
Alaska Roadtrip 2009
-2002 E320 Wagon - 197k mi
-1998 E320 Wagon - 310k mi - retired

cool thanks for the post!

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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

Anything to boost the awareness of our diesels!

Notice they didn't address GM torpedoing the diesel car in the US?

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

Pretty good article! Thanks for posting it!

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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)

There was a post over at the MBCA board a few days ago looking for owners with over 500,000 miles for the article. It's a good article, the only part I find issue with is the quote from the mechanic stating "their low-tech injections systems “will pass a gallstone without doing damage.”" That means people will think you can run just anything in these cars, taking a lot of them out of commission for good.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

actually in the same section of the "paper" they DID have a whole article on GM killing diesel's rep in the us with their extrememly bad cars.

dale

Good article but that comment about the gallstone is not very accurate. In fact the OM616/617 nozzles have a very tiny pintle hole that makes the nozzles more prone to clogging than the later nozzle designs.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

"When temperatures fell below freezing, Mr. Trochtenberg’s 240D did its best impersonation of a Panzer tank in a Stalingrad winter — the diesel fuel would gel and the car would refuse to start."

Oh yeah I have been their!


They should have talked about the 1987 300D, its faster than a new Prius.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200