O.K. , I'm back .

I know for a _fact_ there's a cherry Navy Blue dash within 75 miles of wherever you live in Jersey ~ you cannot ask the counter guy and expect him to know ~ they handle too much fast moving stock to ever keep track of the older junk , I've found good stuff in East Grunt Ohio by looking in the way back of yards... in Ca. the SMOG eats the crap out of anything not metal , when I'm down East I always find rust buckets with perfect trims and upholstery .

Junkyard guys are hoarders ~ they hate to throw anything remotely useful away - in the City they have serious space issues but country junkyards are gold mines of low milage Hard Parts and upholstery , seats , dash's , radios etc.

Lat time I was in West Texas , listening to "there's NO MERCEDES anywhere near here " , it took me 30 minutes to find a low milage 240D that the paramedics had cut the roof of of the get the injured people out , the impound guys had dumped at against the back fence for " someday " , I could have bought the entire thing for $500.00 with title and keys , good for parts only but it was clean as a whistle when they rolled it down that embankment .

Then there was the junkyard in Ft. Worth who had buildings full of W-123 parts , he'd made a killing shipping it to Africa in the 90's and now was crushing it for scrap value as NO ONE WANTED ANY OF IT .

You've gotta beat the bushes...

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

lol, you have a phone number? Thanks though, i guess i have to try a bit harder.

__________________
1985 300TD Turbo Diesel Wagon
273,000 miles

I found a TD to-day but the dash was horrible . I _did_ stop and check it out for you...

I used to post up about the navy blue glovebox doors I'd find , I've damaged a door or two removing them so I generally don't touch now .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

uh-huh... tell me where i can find this West Texas junkyard. I've looked. A few old Mercedes picked clean. Maybe Houston.

OTOH there are at least six W123 300TDs in this town of 2000, three white...

__________________
83 300TD, 260,000 miles, aka "Dusty"
6 vehicles, 2 cup holders (both in the dump truck)

I dunno ~ it was north of the freeway , when I see a town I get off and drive the old highways until I find the local Police Tow & Impound , stop and chat the guy up , there's always lots of weird old cars way in the back , folks passing through who have breakdowns or wrecks often never pick them up .

Beat the bushes son , that's what I do .

Three white TD's ? sweet .

I'm still looking at TD's , will find a good one one of these days , the economy's in the tank so lots of good vehicles are popping up for sale .

I'm about to sell off a buncha old VW's & a Mercedes all at a dead loss I know

For those who've never traveled there , West TEXAS is sweet ! lots of space and not a lot of jerkoffs , really nice country , some small older towns from the 30's & 40's that'd be nice to retire to , I love visiting TEXAS .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I found a nasty old 300TD to-day , it was full of dirt and junk , I tried to remove the bottom aluminum window trim but those little spring clips are tough ! one broke it's rivet and the others wouldn't let go , I bent the trim a little bit before it came loose

I was able to run my hand up under the pinchweld from inside the car after the spare tire was removed and feel for rust ~ only a tiny bit on this car .

It had a newer rear hatch that said " TurboDiesel " , the glass , latch and wiper were all good but it would not have fit in my car to bring home even if I could figger out how to drag it to the front gate....

I'm learning fast and hope to not get burned on my first wagon purchase .

BTW : the spare tire was held in place by a long 'T' bolt ~ is this correct ? .

I'd still like to know if the M-110 Gasser engine's SLS pump will fit a Diesel as there's lots of thrashed European 300TE's about...

Thrashed though

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I did once find a lot for sale in West Texas full of air-cooled VWs in decay including many Ghias. I almost made an offer on the lot to get the cars.

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83 300TD, 260,000 miles, aka "Dusty"
6 vehicles, 2 cup holders (both in the dump truck)

That's what I'm talking about ~ I find the best & cheapest stuff far from where you'd expect it to be....

I once found a clean , running 1951 VW Split Window Beetle parked on a TEXAS farm in the middle of nowhere , it was left between two other old American junkers that had been shot full of holes , the Beetle was not touched , just full of mice and dust , it's in a private collection in So. Cal. now , I shoulda kept that one .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

If you happen upon a wagon with black interior, I'm looking for the removable interior door across from the spare tire cover in the back. Behind this door is the fuel filler pipe etc. Mine has two clips to undo it.

From personal experience......in the past I've pulled parts when advice was given; then I try to sell the parts and no one wants them.

What I do now, is try to pre-sell the parts before I pull them. If I told you the number of pre-boxed parts I have in my garage, I think you would be surprised.

The 2nd row seat with headrests, 3rd row seat with the 2 side panels where the seatbelts come out are quite rare and can be sold. I would suggest you move this thread to the PARTS forum.

The head off the engine is quite valuable because of the SLS --- it could be installed onto a low mileage 300D engine from a sedan and then be dropped into a wagon without any loss in functionality.

Good Luck with the parts and your back.

__________________
daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

I now have a good idea of what to watch for , thanx to all the good suggestions .

I'll keep an eye out for the black first aid kit & Triangle cover .

I have a shyteload of parts I got from other old cars , everyone insisted they'd pay good $ for and I occasionally toss in the scrap bin or the trash .

Makes me sad as I usualy wait until I find some outlying yard getting ready to clean out and I offer slightly over scrap value for the entire car , strip it and leave the chassis & engine etc. behind so the yard makes 2 X profit , if I sell a thing everyone's happy but I don't really Ken Flea-Bay so I don't sell there .

This thread is fine right here as I'm not buying nor selling .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better