Well, I finally made it home with a W124!! Been wanting one for awhile and I'm glad I stayed with diesel.
It ain't perfect, but is that really a surprise with Mercedes? I think not......

These are awful pics. It was too bright and just out in the driveway, but wanted to at least get day one photos. We're nerds that way aren't we.









And awful camera phone pics from a couple days ago:





Of course I already have several issues.
First, the tach is mostly inop, but every now and then it will hop to life for a few seconds, then dead again. I pulled out the OVP relay [red cap, right?] and both fuses are fine [wouldn't have worked ever if one of the fuses blown though I guess]
Second, the outside temp display also works very randomly, but does not coincide with tach operation.
Third, and most serious, the accelerator cable linkage is broken at the valve cover, I think leading to very sluggish acceleration and awkward shifting. Have it rigged for the moment, but it will need one of those.
Oh wait, fourth, and definitely most serious, is that the #3 and #5 glow plugs are dead. Infinite resistance on #3, 173 ohms on #5. Odd. The other 4 are 1.0 to 1.3 ohms. Glow plug light inop at start up, but comes on for afterglow.
It is smooth to drive, handles nicely and just feels more refined than my W123's. Actually, the Squash was actually smoother suspension wise, but he was exceptional in that category.
It was also a pleasant acquisition today as I got to the small dealership almost exactly at Obama's swearing in, so we all sat around and watched that prior to starting the never ending paperwork. I don't think I'll ever have a problem remembering the day I bought this, as of yet un-named MB.
There is an early leader in the clubhouse, though...

__________________
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