Diesel shopping - Advice needed please!

[awsrock]

Hello,

I am new here and was referred to you by BenzWorld.

I've been looking for a decent 124 diesel and have looked at two in the past week, although I don't know how to feel about them. Parents are trying to keep me from paying more than the car is worth, but sellers aren't liking my offers. I would appreciate any advice you could give!

The first one I looked at was a 92 300D with 119k. Sweet huh? Well, it needed a good deal of work- front exhaust pipe, flex joint, ac relay and recharge, new front tires, and the dust pan on the trans needed to be adjusted or whatever (shifts were a little hard) Scratched back windows, cracked plastic center console, moderate hole in driver's seat. Anyway, they wanted 5500 for it with the work done. I realize that they could easily get this on ebay but the car is only worth about 4000....and they didnt seem too happy with my initial offer. Btw this was a mercedes shop selling it, so you would think it would have been in better condition?

Then today I looked at an 87 with 216k. They guy wants 3500-4000. He most likely got it for wholesale price. It was ok, but it needed the rear flex disc badly as well as ac recharge, and some things didnt work, like the rear window, cruise control. It ran well though, except it sounded like it had a dirty injector and a little leak on another injector. Kinda like it needed new nozzles or something. ALSO, when it idled with the ac on, it kind of did this weird thing where it "hiccuped" or jumped every now and then. He said it was the compressor turning on and off. When he turned off the ac it ran fine. This one is worth about 2000 in the books. The miles arent really a big deal to me, but I think it would still bring down the value.
Here's a link to it, you may have seen it in the other sticky:

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/car/671434644.html

So I guess my question is, should I expect to be paying way more than the car is worth? I realize that they are old and will not be perfect, which is fine, but I dont see why I should pay more than it is worth if it needs a good 1000 in work. I know there seems to be a demand premium on the TDIs, and 123s, but is it the same for 124s?

I dont mind paying what they are asking for the 92, but I want to at least make sure it is in good running condition! And I wouldnt want to pay more than 3000 for the 87- he probably bought it for 1000 at most!

Is changing the flex discs something I can do on my own? I know I can fix the injector problem pretty easily, either with a purge or new nozzles. As for a/c, I know the are notorious and recharging shouldn't be a big deal, but....

I need a reality check, please. Thanks in advance!