Good deal..
 

..or so it seems. I have no association, etc etc. Just found it on ebay. It was hard for me not to press the "buy it now" button :)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=598056738

somebody grabbed it!
 

http://www.pixhost.com/pixm/mambo-king/300d12.jpg
can't believe it has over 300k on it! Wish I would have clicked buy it now, last night...

It's easy for me to believe 300K miles. My ex brother in law has an original '86 300D that has much more than that on it and it has never been apart. All you have to do is change that oil often.

Have a great day,

I Confess
 

I did it!

It falls in line with my five rules for buying a car on EBay:

1) Must be a local car.

2) Must look good in a CarFax report.

3) Owner must submit to a brief inspection before completing the deal to verify VIN and that it matches the description. (Sub-Rule: Don't take the check with you on that visit.)

4) Seller must not have a feedback rating of ZERO. (Or less :) )

5) Price must be right!

I had strongly considered the recent '87 in Syracuse for the same "Buy-it-Now" price that had a stated turbo problem. The way the bids worked on that one cleared out the "Buy-it-Now" price, and it subsequently sold for $3025. EBay #597749024

But of course the deal violated Rule #1.

In this current case the seller stated on his "ME" page "I make this simple offer. If the item is not as described or is not in excellent condition, you can return it for a refund. No delays. No hassle."

The mileage would probably scare off most people without diesel Mercedes insight. 300,000 miles is about half-life on these cars if maintained properly.

Took me about five minutes to get the CarFax run and press the button. Will let you all know how it turns out!

Ken300D

(Glad the name still applies!)

Ken330d

congrats. I did the same thing last month when I bought my 95 300E 132K The car was even better than it looked and I'm very happy. Did you say it came from Conn.?
Bought mine by just placing a bid and it popped up reserve met.

CarFax showed it had been registered in CT in the past. It's currently a VA car. Do you recognize it somehow? Gee, I hope this isn't a famous "look I rolled over my '87 300D" car from ShopForum's past......

We have had some of those, you know......

:)

Ken300D

No don,t know the car, but mine came from Conn. and i'm in Mass. about 1 hour away.
The funny thing is I was bidding on a car in the williamsburg va. area and lost it.
bye the bye I was also in williamsburg on some business the week before actually fort mc gruder.

I've been watching ebaymotors mercedes section for over a year now, I check every day (I know im sick).. and I have seen this car on there about 2 other times. First time I saw it, it had like 310K. It was in Cape May, NJ. Then it had like 315K and was in Dover, DE. (may have been one more listing in there). But I assure you, it is the same car that was listed atleast twice over the last year. Different ebay names and locations. Maybe somethings funny, maybe not. Thought i'd give you the heads up. Best of luck with it!!

John

BTW, that turbo problem 87 300D with 260K in Scranton, PA on eBay started at $2500 buy it now also!

I did the pre-buy inspection today. It started and ran well, and the transmission shifted OK. It looks very good inside with the exception of a 1"x2" hole in the driver's seat left bolster. Sheet metal is all straight - no evidence of rust or body work. It has some rock chips and I think a "keying" mark that needs touch-up paint. Good tires. Wheels need to be refinished. Car did not smoke on startup - didn't even sound like a diesel.

I have also seen the car on EBay at least one previous time. In fact the current seller used some of the digital pictures from the previous seller's auction. He also said he had tried selling it previously on EBay but the buyer didn't show up to complete the sale. In talking with the current owner, he went over some of the items that he had fixed at the dealership:

- Replaced leaking fuel hose.
- Replace air conditioning high-pressure hose and recharge (expensive!)
- Install missing auxiliary fan, main fan, fan clutch and shroud. Previous owner had rigged up two aftermarket electrical fans of some type.
- Replaced power antenna.
- Has a nearly new DieHard battery.
- Replaced some vacuum hoses.

Apparently one of the previous owners was a businessman that did a lot of commuting between CT and AZ - so the miles added up quickly. Hopefully it spent winters in AZ to avoid the salt!

So, on the surface it looks like a good deal. Time will tell. I need to get started on changing out all the fluids and filters when the sale completes next week. I could tell by looking at the fuel filter that it was VERY old.

Now I get to start learning all the little problems with the W124 from the ShopForum. Sure has save me a lot of trouble on the W123.

Ken300D(s)

Was it fast? It should be the fastest diesel you have ever driven. Like fast as a 124 300E. Beware of OVERLY quiet diesel engines, the 603 is a quiet engine but you should still hear some classic diesel clatter with some popping in there, the 603 sounds different from the 617. A OVERLY quiet diesel engine may indicate low compression, how did it start?

It started right up but may have already been warm. You could tell that its not a gasolene engine when its running, but the sound is nothing like the truck engine in the W123. We didn't go out on the highway - it seemed to have good power on the city streets.

Is the engine in this car the same as the turbo that went in the '87 190D? Also, does this car have some kind of trap oxidizer or catalytic converter?

Supposed to take delivery tommorrow and drive it home - will know a lot more after that.

TD I saw your CV - nice car. Probably not as cheap to drive as the 300D but fun....

Ken300D

[FONT=times new roman][COLOR=darkblue][SIZE=3]Congrats!
Having no regrets for having paid 5k for mine, I think you got quite a deal!

Craig W. Amos
1987 300D Turbo

Took Possession
 

I'm reserving judgement for now on just how good a deal it was.

It drives well, runs well, has lots of power (yep, the turbo kick-in is more pronounced than in the W123 300D) and is very clean inside and out.

It will probably turn out to be a "reasonable" deal. I'm looking through the previous owner's service tickets, and I see one where the owner complained "engine runs rough and smokes blue when started cold". The ticket says "possible valve guides/seals, possible fuel injector problem, possible compression."

Now I haven't started it cold yet, so it will be interesting to see how it acts. It certainly purrs when warm. I'm hoping that the owner just wasn't used to a diesel. And my W123 300D will sometimes blue-smoke a bit when first started.

The transmission shifts quite well, and (wonder of all wonders) the cruise control works! It's a little amusing to see how all the controls didn't change all that much between the '82 and '87 versions.

So, worse case, it needs a replacement/refurbished head.

Ken300D

If thats all it needs, you got an excellent deal! (kicking myself for now pressing "buy it now" when I saw it :)

How's the front end, brakes, rear end? Best of luck with it!