I have to share this with you guys....recently I picked up a very straight 1981 300 TD from a yard sale for $400. The car is Manilla Biege with Seinna leather interior. It came from the factory without the third seat, but the second owner switched it over to a third seat, I still have all of the pieces to remove the third seat, and am considering selling it. When I bought it, the back was full of spare parts of all kinds, and I have the records going back to 1985! The car has close to 300k on it and runs great. It made a sixty mile round trip with little drama (you can read about my alternator woes). There are a few things that it needs though...it needs a major cleaning, the interior is a filthy and smells pretty bad. The drivers side back door needs new glass and some body work, as does the roof rack, due to a tree limb hitting it. The exterior is covered in tree sap, and the tires are dry rotted. One of the rear wheels has a lug nut that has been snapped off, and the car has one or two rust spots that need attention. Other than that, and a few other things I am forgetting or havent discovered yet, I am tickled pink. Love the forum...

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Wowzers --- looks like a good find for $400. Keep us posted and adventure continues...

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71Inka02

62 W121 190DB - Original CA/AZ Car - Excellent Example
99 E300 Turbo Diesel - 362,000...Awesome Daily Driver
01 E320 Wagon - 297,xxx (wife's work car)
01 E320 Wagon - 131,000
02 Land Rover Disco SE- 110,000
87 BMW 325is (E30) Full Restore - Son's
06 Mini Cooper 'S' - Son's
87 Toyota FJ60 Land Cruiser - Showroom Condition - 152,000

84 300D - 142,xxx :cool - "Sold"
83 300D-"Sold" - 211,456
85 300SD-"Sold" - 213,789

You might be have just made the new #1 spot in the cheap wagon club.
Congratulations!

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1985 300TD-euro 352,000 mi
1974 240D (1?)52,000 mi - has a new home now

Congratulations! Nice find. It looks like the roof rack saved the roof.

These cars clean up amazingly well. Good luck with it and post more pics when you can.

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Chad
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys

COOL! You now qualify for membership in the "cheap wagon club"...

Use the search function and type in "the cheap wagon club" (without the quotes) and you'll see what I'm talking about...

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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

The cheap wagon club is Very cool! I am thrilled with it, although I am begining to think that my alternator troubles are going to end up costing me more that $400... I was soooo excited about finding it, I know parts cars that have gone for more than $400, and this one runs great...I will post some pics after I clean it, which will be after I get the alternator off.

Great deal. Love the sienna interior- I have it on my 82 240D

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

Who can forget their first MB? That color is great on a wagon ,mine was tan interior with the manilla exterior and would make the list today if I still had it ,$650 with bad tires was the purchase price .That was one finger crossing drive home.Nice find.

mine is that color, too!

nice find...

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1984 123.193 372,xxx miles, room for Seven.

1999 Dodge Durango Cummins 4BTAA 47RE 5k lb 4x4 getting 25+mpgs, room for Seven.

Congrats, Din! Those repairs sound pretty manageable. You'll have a nice car once you have those done, whether you keep it or sell it. Welcome to the club.

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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

As I finally found out, make sure your battery light comes on when you glow and first start your wagon. The alternator won't charge if that battery bulb is burned out.
79Mercy and others saved me on that one......

And of course, welcome to the CWC. Membership has it's privileges......

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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

As some would say,

You done good.

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

Congratulations!

Simple Green and a plastic bristle brush do wonders for MB-Tex.
Looks like you'll be doing some searching on the SLS system, too, as the rear end looks low to me. It's a good system, and fully worth preserving- hopefully you just need to adjust or rebuild your SLS Valve.
I got myself a wagon recently also. Really enjoying the cargo space. Like yours, the cheap part is always the initial purchase price... you'll get the resto bug and won't be satisfied until it's in top notch condition. I can guarantee that, provided you keep it.

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you guys are killing me with these cheap 123 wagons....

I'm now deeply regretting the purchase of my $4000 '95 E300 as it's been down now for weeks, and has quickly gone through over $1200 in parts to make it "right"...

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95 E300 Diesel 265k and counting

A yard sale ! Dammmm. Why the hell can't I ever find something like that?

- Peter.

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2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S