I have to agree with Winmutt. My last 240D went over a half million miles and in spite of the fact that it has just been setting there rotting into the ground since not long after my son went off to college, I am CONFIDENT, that I could put it back on the road in every day dependable shape with an engine rebuild and a little TLC. It wouldn't be the most cosmetically perfect car on the road, but I wouldn't be afraid to go anywhere in it.

These cars will be around forever as a daily driver or musemum piece if one has unlimited resource ( or mechanical skill AND agile enough to do the work ). Saddly, it is not the case in reality. The car may not 'age' if things are replaced as necessary but the owner will. There will come a time the owner will not be physically capable to fix it and it is too expensive to have it fixed by others. Unless and until there are YOUNG enthusiasts willing to buy cars that is 30/40 years old then we can safely predict the demise of these great cars.

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Not MBZ nor A/C trained professional but a die-hard DIY and green engineer. Use the info at your own peril. Picked up 2 Infractions because of disagreements. NOW reversed.

W124 Keyless remote, PM for details. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-used-parts-sale-wanted/334620-fs-w124-chasis-keyless-remote-%2450-shipped.html

1 X 2006 CDI
1 x 87 300SDL
1 x 87 300D
1 x 87 300TDT wagon
1 x 83 300D
1 x 84 190D ( 5 sp ) - All R134 converted + keyless entry.

I want my 85 300d to be the first car in line behind my hearse. (then the armored car!!!) Bill

Another insightful post in this thread! This is what has happened to the Model A Ford. For its day, the Model A was a GREAT automobile. Zillions were built and on up until very recently these cars kept appreciating. Now they have pretty much peaked out with the exception of the REALLY exceptional examples.

The scenario above, I believe, fits the Model A. The fine old fellows that loved them enough to drive them and care for them are in many cases the same fine old fellows that fought and won World War II. Without them, we in the US would be running around today speaking German and Japanese. God please be with them all.

I've got an 81 300D that I would not have any problem at all with getting into and driving accross the country in. In addition the body is in good condition and the interior in very good condition. It has around 260k miles on it. On the other hand my daily driver (140 mile round trip commute) is a 1995 E300 with 250k miles. The 81 can't hold a candle to the 95 at 80 mph on the interstate in regards to comfort and fuel economy. The 81 does like to use oil pretty good and I have it on my "to do" list to eventually rebuild the engine.

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Jim

I drove my 82 300D from CO to NJ last weekend (1700 miles). I will drive from NJ to New England next weekend (round trip) and back to CO the following weekend. In a few weeks I will drive it from CO to GA and VA. I've driven it about 40k miles so far this year. Don't want/need a newer one.

LOL, in another 10 years I should be closing in on 900k miles.

I drove my 240D from Albuquerque, NM to southern Florida - about 2,000 miles without a glitch!

Scott

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Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

I purchased my TD only as a replacement for the last beater that failed smog. Something that didn't need to be smogged. Found this group, fell in love, and found my last vehicle. I'm 56 years old. I've found boots, that I wear everyday that get rebuilt every year or 2,then I get new. Then I find this car, this group, and arrive at the conclusion, just as stats say, "it's cheaper to rebuild what you have than buy new". My TD wil be the last car I ever buy, unless it gets hammered like "Stella". How sad. No one hurt. OM617 power is one design of perhaps a small few, to be fair a Toyota R22 is another, but a gasser. I love this wagon. Whatever I spend on it, the rest of my life, will be less than buying a new throwaway car.
This is a proven worthy vehicle design. If ANY vehicle in history has a leg up on an OM617 platform, in regards to longevity, repair-ability, tell us about it. I'd in a minute drop 5000.00 to keep this platform if needed.
No way could I get anything at all for that money that would be as good a value as this platform for 5g's. Nickle and dime folks, get out that calculator. 4000.00 would do miracles for a solid 300TD, even if someone else did it. Learn here. Spend the same on just parts multiply by 2 minimum. 8000.00 on non-cosmetic parts, you do the work. You have a low maint. car for life. imho

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85 300TD FED-Daily
84 300SD-Wife's
86 XJS-Sunday
66 GMC-Work- Given to my stepson
83 BMW Airhead- Given to my stepson

I've driven all sorts of orphan cars... (cars no longer made... karman ghia... merkur, etc......)

the killer for old cars on the road is... if you go out of town... and they die...
who fixes it... how do you get home.

I think that 10 years.. is the 'economical' life of cars....
after 10 years.. you start fixing expensive stuff... but.. the cars can be bought cheap.

I don't really want a car over 20 years old... I have one.. it's basically an antique... a 1970.... ok... 40 years old.. it's vintage... where am I going to take it?....

to me.. 20 years old is the 'end of pratical'..... still have parts.. still have some reliablity.

123's were and might still be the most popular car for taxi service worldwide. For that reason, I'd expect the 123's to survive well beyond some of the newer models.
My $0.02

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Charles
1983 300D, bought new, 215k+ miles, donated to Purple Hearts veterans charity but I have parts for sale: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-benz-cars-sale/296386-fs-1-owner-83-mb-300d-turbo-rebuild-parts.html

[QUOTE=jnc19610;2305487]I've driven all sorts of orphan cars... (cars no longer made... karman ghia... merkur, etc......)

the killer for old cars on the road is... if you go out of town... and they die...
who fixes it... how do you get home.

I think that 10 years.. is the 'economical' life of cars....
after 10 years.. you start fixing expensive stuff... but.. the cars can be bought cheap.

I don't really want a car over 20 years old... I have one.. it's basically an antique... a 1970.... ok... 40 years old.. it's vintage... where am I going to take it?....



If Iam out of town and it breaks down, there is U-Haul. been there done that. Hauled it home 500 miles, could have left it there, but to leave all those good parts? not on your life.

then I would have to buy another one for 2 to 4K and then go through everything. It was cheaper for me to buy the new eng, radiator and whatever else new I replaced and now have a dependable car.

the demise of this 123 will be some one running into it, the Government and it`s stupid laws regulations will some day not let me register it.
or I get too dang old to pick up a wrench, or crawl around PNP any more .

I wouldn`t be afraid to take this car anywhere. I keep up on the maintenance, and don`t let things get run down.

As far as old goes, My 82 Datsun is 28 yrs old and has 456K miles. took it to portland, Or last fall, 700 plus miles one way. They will run for ever if taken care of.

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I think these cars can definitely be driven as daily drivers for a long time, but we will start to see a big drop in finding people driving them daily in the upcoming years.

Two things to keep in mind regarding the W123 are the vast numbers of these cars that were sold worldwide and secondly, because they are MBs', they lived a better life than some cars. That by itself should help them survive. They were more likely to get their service than a honda or domestic sedan.

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1983 300 Turbo-"Nora"
1983 240D Auto "Lucia"-slowest on earth-1st love
1985 300 Turbo-Blue Goose-slowly plucking parts

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...ly15/mbsig.jpg

They are so well built and engineered you can drive one forever as long as you keep it up.

There is nothing else that, that would work so easily on. The vw beetle has similarities in servicability and quality but is much less usable as a car and very rust prone by comparison.

(I'm not knocking it, it was after, all designed in the thirties.)

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I'm glad you didn't tell me this while I was depending on a 123 diesel for my livelihood! I covered five states driving 50 to 70 thousand miles a year. My success absolutely DEPENDED on my car getting me hundreds of miles reliably and on time.

My diesel 123's NEVER made me so much as LATE for a meeting, much less miss it altogether. I never even carried a tool box in my 84 240D until after the 300,000 mile mark and I was in Lubbock during a cold snap. My heater blower motor (aftermarket a/c and air handler) was trying to quit so I decided it was time to go by Sears and put together a bit of a toolbox to carry on the road. I started home and it was COLD with no heater blower. I stopped for some penetrating oil, got behind an abandoned service station out of the wind and took the motor off and drenched it. This managed to get me home. Since I was headed home on a Friday, it didn't make me late to a meeting.

I don't care how many YEARS are on one of these cars, and don't care too much how many miles either as far as long range dependability goes. If one of these cars is properly maintained it will get you there. Period! End of Story! I have almost a million miles of experience with them that I base this on.