So when I bought my 240D the guy selling said that he had another one that he would throw in for free as a parts car . . . I though to myself, bonus, right? Wrong.

I took a day to go pick it up last week. Rented a tow dolly and drove 3 hours one way to pick it up. Well, it wasn't exactly as I expected - and I wan't expecting all that much. I knew the car had been sitting for years and that the engine was shot - that much I was told. Unfortunately I didn't ask any questions (because I was thinking, hey its free, I'm not going to ask a bunch of questions about a free parts car). My plan was to bring it home, pull any good pieces for my running 240D and also pull the engine to slowly rebuild so that some day when this one goes I would have a back up in place.

Not to be . . . when I got there and popped the hood I was a little disappointed. This parts car had apparently been a parts car for some time. The whole top side of the engine was gone - no head, no intake, no linkage. Just me starring down into the bores that were filled with rats nests. the starter was gone so I could see the rusted flywheel. Headlight assemglies and passenger side rear lights - all gone. Ignition - gone. Inside, the dash was torn apart as various other things had been plucked. The seats looked half decent, but I don't need them. The body was rusting out in the usual places and, of course, all the rubber was deteriorating. In the end I felt bad for doing it since the guy had pulled it out from it's hiding spot for me, but I didn't take it. I suppose I could have hauled it home and pulled the IP and tranny, but having no idea what shape they were even in, I decided it just wasn't worth my time.

I guess even to haul it home and sell it for scrap I would have at least made back the money I paid for the tow dolly. I was just bummed though and didn't want to deal with it. Not to mention that the U-haul guys wouldn't give me a trailer to tow it on, so I had to go with the dolly. My father-in-law had offered to haul it for me and all I could imagine was having something go wrong with the rear end and only be able to get it half way home. Then have to pay more to get it home, plus put my father-in-law out (he was on a strict timeline and we didn't have time for delays).

Anyway, I chalked it up to another lesson learned (the hard way, as usual). Although this guy really wanted me to haul the piece of junk off his property, he was real good about the whole deal. Said he would have his son haul it off for scrap. Our trip wasn't a bust either as we had other things planned while we were in that area. Just out the money for the tow dolly I took for a ride . . .

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'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
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"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

I'm sure the dolley appreciated the ride.

Interesting read.

You were dealt a bad hand and played it well and Folded.

Sometimes you have to Fold-em!

Dow Dollies scare me.

You may have saved yourself more headaches than you realize.

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1982 300SD

I agree with your decision to leave this so-called parts car where it lay. The guy should have told you it was a picked-to-the-bone rusted shell with very little left of any value.

By the way, a year ago when I dealt with those rude, unprofessional, ill-bred dullards at U-Haul pushing broken, dirty equipment, was my last time. After that, I found Penske to be refreshingly professional, very reasonable, and flexible. Plus, their equipment is like new and it's clean.

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Don't Chrome them; polish them

I do a lot of uhaul trailers. Some a real dogs, others are in good shape. Rarely, can I get one on short notice though. Having all four wheels off the ground is good thing usually.

Having said that, did the parts car have an automatic or a 4-speed? For an automatic, start by smelling the fluid. If it smells fresh and is red/pink, age probably hasn't hurt it much.

-CTH

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- cth350@gmail.com
http://www.111lakeside.com/

Yeah, when he first realized (probably by the look on my face) that I might not drag the car away, he questioned what I was interested in it for. I said I wanted it for parts but that nearly everything I was interested was already gone, to which he replied - "What were you interested in?" I just though to myself -"Uhhh, anything . . . "

I'm not bad-mouthing the guy, like I said he was real good about the whole affair. It was his son who actually sold my 240D to me (although it was titled in the father’s name). According to the father, the son was supposed to specify in the sale that whoever bought the good 240D HAD to take the "parts car" too. The sale was never presented to me in such a way - in fact, when I first suggested that I might not be able to haul the "parts car" home, the son indicated that I could just make a "parts visit" - seems like some "parts visits" had been occurring for some time.

Forgot to mention that I did ask for and was given the car's manuals. I now have an owner’s manual since it was missing from the one I bought. So, that was pretty decent of him.

As for U-haul, I have dealt with them too many times as well. I actually considered not renting anything to haul it with until I saw it, but U-hauls wants to charge a whole lot more for a one-way trip than a round trip. Although, in the end I wouldn't have been out anything.

Lesson learned.

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'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

I guess this would qualify as the "know when to walk away," rather than "know when to fold em" or "know when to run."

__________________
'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

The original plan was to get the whole car up, but they wouldn't rent me the trailer because the tow hitch we has was rated at just under what they said it needed to be. The back upplan then became gettting the dolly and disconnecting the driveshaft.

The "parts car" was a four speed, just like mine. Even the shifter knob that I hoped was there was gone, too. Anybody have an extra they want to get rid of?

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'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

Sure, it's good to get em out and blow the dust off of them. The whole ride back I was looking for something to tow home.

__________________
'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

i'd of passed on it too based on the description. though if i drove 3 hours and the guy was going to scrap it, i'd just pull whatever good parts were on it and only brought the parts home. if it had bundts, i'd have taken those, too. the last thing you want is a parts car collecting dust in front of your house for all passers-bye to point 'n laugh at

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Same thing I was thinking, problem was that he didn't seem real interested in just letting me pick and pull - sort of hesitated when I asked for the owners manual. I figured I wouldn't push it. There really wasn't too much to grab though.

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'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

dude, you know they're making ghostbusters 3, rite?

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