Application to the Cheap Wagon Club - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

marfa300td · #1 03-29-2009, 08:15 PM

I didn't realize that the Cheap Wagon Club has an application process and review board. Consider this my application for my 1983 300TD with 245,000 miles that I purchased for $500. I picked it up a week ago but don't have it running yet. I'm waiting on a reamer so I can get the new Bosch glow plugs in. I adjusted the valves and checked timing chain stretch (6 degrees) while waiting.

Hopefully it will start because I bought a new interior when it came up on eBay. I had posted that it needed every blue piece inside, and I'll be danged if I did not find an eBay auction with all the seats, door panels, two pillars, wheel well covers, and spare cover from a 69,000 mile donor.

I finished putting the new interior in today. See the before and after pics from when I first looked at it and today. The original carpets cleaned up well. The brown carpet in the before picture is actually fine dusty dirt embedded in the blue carpet. Hence the wagon shall be referred to as Dusty from here on out.

Funny story from this morning: I found a long length of vacuum hose hanging under the dash. I tracked it down and it terminated on what I learned here was the shutoff valve. All I can imagine is that the PO had to suck on the hose to get it to stop as the hoses on the key switch were intact but disconnected from the shutoff valve!?!?

Please let me know about approval for membership in the CWC. Thank you for your kind consideration of this matter.

Rob

aaa · #2 03-29-2009, 08:38 PM

There's an application process? Aww man, I thought I was in already.

Quote:

Originally Posted by marfa300td

Funny story from this morning: I found a long length of vacuum hose hanging under the dash. I tracked it down and it terminated on what I learned here was the shutoff valve. All I can imagine is that the PO had to suck on the hose to get it to stop as the hoses on the key switch were intact but disconnected from the shutoff valve!?!?

There is an open-ended hose that was designed to be there... forgot which one it was.

marfa300td · #3 03-29-2009, 08:40 PM

Found that one. It's from the vacuum control valve and vents from the interior as I understand it (again, thanks to this forum).

JackG · #4 03-29-2009, 09:56 PM

Seeings how I am king of the cheap wagon
club, by virtue of having bought my 85TD
for $100 (ok, I talked her down) and only
installing a battery to get it running, I hereby
accept your application to the club.

Acceptance into the club will hinge on actually
getting the car to run and move under its own
power.

TheDon · #5 03-29-2009, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackG

Seeings how I am king of the cheap wagon
club, by virtue of having bought my 85TD
for $100 (ok, I talked her down) and only
installing a battery to get it running, I hereby
accept your application to the club.

Acceptance into the club will hinge on actually
getting the car to run and move under its own
power.

I think SwampYankee got his for less and in better condition

SwampYankee · #6 03-30-2009, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDon

I think SwampYankee got his for less and in better condition

Right at $100. Running, driving and registered. Better condition? The jury is still out.

TylerH860 · #7 03-30-2009, 01:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackG

Seeings how I am king of the cheap wagon
club, by virtue of having bought my 85TD
for $100 (ok, I talked her down) and only
installing a battery to get it running, I hereby
accept your application to the club.

Acceptance into the club will hinge on actually
getting the car to run and move under its own
power.

Whoa there... We don't let non-running cars into the club.

Get it running and street legal for under $1000, and you're in.

JimmyL · #8 03-30-2009, 02:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TylerH860

Whoa there... We don't let non-running cars into the club.

Get it running and street legal for under $1000, and you're in.

Tyler is the Don Corleone of the Cheap Wagon Club and wrote the charter himself.
For a grand or under the car has to be purchased and in drivable condition [or made to be drivable and still be under a grand]. And we need it more drivable then up and down a trailer!

Street legal above means it would pass inspection, but the inspection/reg. shouldn't really be part of the grand. That is clerical expenses. [However, I defer to the CWC godfather should he disagree. After all, I don't want to wake up next to a horse head.....]

POS · #9 03-30-2009, 08:37 AM

Oh, yeah, it has to be diesel, but gassers (for some reason) are prohibited from this club. I'm thinking of filing a class-action suit citing "Fuel Usage Discrimination" - I'm 95% certain I can find a lawyer who'll take the case!

Added under edit: I'm a bit grouchy this morning...

colincoon · #10 03-31-2009, 01:05 PM

^Hmmm...that wagon pictured isn't cheap anymore!

TylerH860 · #11 03-31-2009, 01:07 PM

It is the founding wagon... note the tag line. Norm had well over my purchase price put into him before I sold him.

I'm also considering, "Empty wallet, Full weekends" as the tag line.

JimmyL · #12 04-01-2009, 01:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TylerH860

It is the founding wagon... note the tag line. Norm had well over my purchase price put into him before I sold him.

I'm also considering, "Empty wallet, Full weekends" as the tag line.

I like that tag line much better than the "Nothing is more expensive......." line. Way overused......

marfa300td · #13 03-31-2009, 02:01 PM

Woohoo! Club membership!

I took the car out a couple of more times and had it up to 80. The rough idle has smoothed out a bit, but it still seems sluggish off the line. Time to start fluid changes. I promised Dusty a hood emblem if she started up, plus I won't feel strange polishing the paint now that my neighbors have seen it run.

"There's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes-Benz." Oh, but what a feeling...