I joined the "Cheap Wagon Club" officially today. 1981 300TD

[JimmyL]

Please allow me to introduce my entry into this "Cheap wagon club" that has popped up lately: I give you Smash, the garage door destroyer!



That is my youngest daughter who not only went with me today to get Smash, but also was with me when I got China.


Is that look familiar? Ha! We both rode riding lawnmowers over there. How white trash is that! I have a folding platform on the back of mine, and I needed tools and my battery jumper.

This is the wagon that about 7 years ago first kinda landed the thought of a diesel Mercedes wagon into my consciousness. I bought this wagon from my neighbor across the street. I have been watching it come and go for about the last 7 years. He just purchased a 2008 Vette and a 2009 Harley, so the wagon was banished to their backyard under a tree. This is where I picked it up from.





We've kind of had an understanding that he would give me right of first refusal, so when I stopped by to say hello the other day and check out his Harley, the deal was agreed to. Now, it certainly wasn't as cheap as Dan or Tyler's new wagons, but it wasn't too a bad deal.....
As it turns out, good reasons for it to be a cheap wagon.

This wagon is an absolute pig!!! Dirtiest car I have ever purchased. Scar was almost spotless compared to this thing. First I had to remove about 4 SERIOUS wasp nests! Not fun!
I opened the hood to check battery voltage and connect my battery jumper, and what an awful filthy mess under the hood!



I'm telling you, Shell would have had a heart attack just looking at it! It looks way worse in person than in that pic.
As a nice surprise, it started rather quickly just off of my booster, even after a good glow cycle. Houston, we have issues. Easily the worst vibration I've ever encountered. My guess is that the engine mounts are shot and the engine is laying of the cross member. That is how my white wagon started out. It is such a mess I can't really see the engine mounts.
So, I put it in drive and waited quite a while for it to kick into drive. He told me it would do that. {haven't checked fluid yet}
Drove out of the back yard and down the driveway. Hmmm, no power steering! Great! Even though I only had about 150 yds from his driveway to mine I buzzed down the road must "because". Pulled back in front of house, stopped and prepared to back down the driveway. Hmmm, no reverse! I'm sideways in the road and here comes a truck. Great. Pulled forward finally and got on my side of road. Shifted to reverse and it engaged. Great. Backed down driveway and stopped close enough for an extension cord to reach. We have vacuuming to do!
BTW, look past the hood and across the street. You can see the red Vette parked where I got the wagon from.



That is the driveway that this wagon rolled backwards down, across the road, down my next door neighbors driveway, in between their suburban and front porch and demolished their garage door. Knocked it completely off the rails. "Smashed" it, you could say......
They had to throw it away, and to this day have two homemade swinging doors covering their garage.

[JimmyL]

Good Lord was the interior gross! Nasty! Filthy! Spider-webby too!
It has blue leather, just like my white wagon. This is going to come in handy! More on that later....









Now OCD can be a wonderful thing. I promise you this: I could not have driven this car again before a complete interior cleaning. Not a detail mind you, but a serious clean. This could not be accomplished with the front seats in the car. They had to go.



Something disturbing is that I could see the ground under the passenger front seat. Oh dear! I'm gonna have to crawl under the wagon to look under there, because it almost looks like a tear from underneath. I don't think it was a rust through. No good pic of that yet.
I pulled out all the carpet, 2 layers. The original MB carpet has cleaned up pretty well so far. I had my mini shop vac, and trash can, spider web broom, and brush and dust pan. I used them all. Probably almost burned up the shop vac!



The only real rust on the car is on the driver's side rear quarter window, and it is bad. I never looked at the car before I bought it, and this was an awful surprise! Thank goodness for Chad's post on removing the window and seal, treating the area and re-installing. I have never done ANY rust repair or body work ever, so may try and get some help from ole Dan.



Jack points are fine, as it most everywhere else I have looked so far. Paint is gone! Almost totally! Geez, also reminded me that I hate Bundts!
Interior cleaned up decently so far. I love the loop carpet compared to the later fuzzy stuff.
And wouldn't you know it: I have 4 W123's, and each one has a trailer hitch! Weird.....

[JimmyL]

Now, I know for a fact that this wagon will never be close to Tylers or Dans, but it did come with a couple of cool bullet points.
First, as mentioned earlier, some of this wagon will meld with my white wagon. I think it is going to be quite an undertaking, but I think pretty much everything behind the drivers seats is gonna be swapped.
My '85 wagon has a 3rd seat, but it was added and is "different". Didn't have the head rests and the seat and carpeting are done quite differently.
Here is the '85 wagon rear area:





And the back of Smash:





The '85 was an add on, and only has lap belts. No shoulder belts or head rests.
So, I will have to decide how much of the loop carpet pieces to swap over. I imagine I will have to swap over all the back pieces, because, my neighbor later brought me over a very very unexpected bullet point:

Tada.......



It takes special pieces up on the headliner and also the outside wheel wells for the rear seat belts. Also the rear hatch door cover as it has the eyelets for the cargo cover pullout piece.
Was a nice surprise.
I know I will have a ton of less pleasant surprises, so I will try and enjoy this one in the mean time.....

[turbobenz]

Hey you were telling me about how you wanted that wagon! congrats

[TylerH860]

As the self proclaimed reigning king of the cheap wagon club, welcome!

Now... Get to work. I had mine close to new spec within 2 weeks.

Was there any damage to the back end of the car after its run in with the garage door?

Oh... and if you need to get rid of that frivolous third row, let me know.

We need more pictures, dammit. Surely you know better. Oh, and perhaps how much you paid for it?

*edit* I see you're loading more. Good, good.

[TylerH860]

If its sitting next to a barn, err...shed... does that make it a barn find?

Our wagons have something in common. Both were used as breeding grounds for wasps.

Mine had some serious wasps nests in it from sitting in the barn... Hint: Look behind the corner lights.

These were the nests in the corners.


and some more.

[JimmyL]

Originally Posted by TylerH860

If its sitting next to a barn, err...shed... does that make it a barn find?

Our wagons have something in common. Both were used as breeding grounds for wasps.

Mine had some serious wasps nests in it from sitting in the barn... Hint: Look behind the corner lights.

These were the nests in the corners.


and some more.

Those aren't wasp nests city boy! Those are dirt dauber enclosures full of spiders. I guess they lay eggs in them and provide spiders for food. Everything I pull out of my garage is loaded with them, and I find them in my cars everywhere too. They like to put them in between the IP and the block for some reason.
There was a big red wasp nest right in front of the driver's side rear door, pretty much where your butt brushes past to get in the car. Several of them were all of a sudden bumping into the windshield {from the inside!} so of course I bailed out and took off running......
Um, not a parts car!

[JimmyL]

Originally Posted by JimmyL

I know I will have a ton of less pleasant surprises, so I will try and enjoy this one in the mean time.....

Well, for the first time in weeks it finally rained last night. Well, we now have standing water in the rear passenger footwell. Great..... I just fought that in the white wagon and had to have windshield and seal replaced.
I vacuumed the hood hinge areas, and will clean out sunroof drains, but I imagine I will need to try and seal the windshield. Many threads on that.

And just for grins:

Brief version

VIN WDBAB93A1BN002917
Model 300 TD TURBO
Chassis 12319312002917
Engine 617952 12 002964
Transmission 02 075508
Order 0 0 705 55168
Approx. year not defined
Lights BOSCH BOSCH
Cab 01060
Dealer United States (USA) (705)
Interior leather blue (232)
Paint
930 silver blue metallic (с 01.01.1979 по 31.12.1984, с 1994)
32 Unknown code
Options
252 radio Becker Mexico cassette, full stereo, electronic, LW/MW/SW/USW, for Saudi-Arabia only
Becker radio Grand Prix with remote control - USA (с 01.04.1974 по 31.03.1976)
Becker radio Grand Prix TR with remote control - USA (с 01.04.1964 по 30.11.1972)
radio Becker Mexico cass., full stereo, electr., L/M/S/U -Saudi-Arabia (с 01.03.1985 по 30.11.1990)
Becker radio Mexico casette, full stereo, electronic (USA version)
Becker radio Mexico cassette, full stereo, electronic - USA (с 01.08.1980 по 30.09.1983)
radio MB-Exquisit - Gulf states
radio MB-Exquisit - Gulf states (с 01.07.1992 по 01.06.1993)
411 mechanical and hydraulic sliding roof (с 01.10.1965 по 31.10.1993)
steel sliding roof (с 01.02.1963 по 30.09.1965)
440 bumpers with guards, front and rear (с 01.10.1970 по 30.04.1974)
bumper with horn and rubber buffer front and rear (с 01.03.1964 по 30.09.1970)
tempomat (cruise control) (с 01.09.1975)
467 central locking system and instruments with english lettering (с 01.04.1970 по 31.10.1993)
461 + 462 + 463 (с 01.07.1968 по 31.08.1969)
491 USA version (с 01.01.1963)
524 Reims adapter IV (с 01.04.1962 по 28.02.1963)
paintcoat preservation (с 01.01.1964)
531 automatic antenna (с 01.01.1963)
542 lockable glove compartment (с 01.02.1963 по 29.02.1986)
575 front folding armrest and right front seat with seat height adjustment
front folding armrest and headrest, left (с 01.04.1970)
571 + 574 (с 01.01.1963 по 29.02.1968)
588 Thermoking air conditioner and electric window lifters (front doors) (с 01.04.1970 по 31.12.1972)
automatic climate control and electric window lifters (front and rear doors) (с 01.01.1977)
593 headlamp flasher and turn signal lamps - italy (с 01.01.1963 по 31.07.1965)
headlamp flasher and turn signal lamps, front, crystal clear (с 01.08.1965 по 31.01.1967)
heat-insulating glass, rear window pane (с 01.02.1967 по 31.01.1971)
heat-insulating glass, all-around, heated rear window pane (single-sheet safety glass), band filter
green heat-insulating glass all round, heated rear window, single pane safety glass - tinted strip (с 01.01.1972)
639 radial-ply tires, elimination of warning triangle (с 01.11.1973 по 31.10.1974)
elimination of first-aid box and warning triangle (с 01.08.1977)
640 aluminium disc wheels with radial-ply tires (с 01.10.1969 по 31.12.1989)
tires with tube (с 01.01.1963 по 31.08.1965)
15-hole light alloy rims (с 01.01.1990)
668 662 + 666 (с 01.01.1963 по 28.02.1963)

673 high-capacity battery (с 01.01.1964)
801 Change of year of model, last figure shows new model year
844 instrument housing at instrument panel leather trim (с 01.10.1965 по 28.02.1968)
folding seat bench in loading compartment, reverse to direction of travel (с 01.10.1977)

[SwampYankee]

Originally Posted by JimmyL

The '85 was an add on, and only has lap belts. No shoulder belts or head rests.

Congrats Jimmy, not a bad looking TD and some goodies to boot! If you feel the need to find a home for pesky "add on" 3rd seat I'll find a home for it. Tyler's a young buck and doesn't need such a thing.

[Rashakor]

Congrats! Jimmy.
Now i am really going to need to put back together my wagon (remember... green interior)

[JimmyL]

Originally Posted by SwampYankee

Tyler's a young buck and doesn't need such a thing.

Yea, those young guys are better off with a large flat area in back.....



Well, I simply couldn't stand it, I had to get it to the carwash. So, I reinstalled the drivers seat, sopped out the rain water in the passenger rear floor, added about a 1/3 qt of tranny fluid, put a little power steering fluid into the filterless reservoir, reinstalled my charged battery, put the booster in back, just in case, got my wallet, a roll of quarters, my cell and off I went.
Mind you the inspection expired in '07 and my registration expired early in '08. And my oil cooler line was 1-2mm away from the steering box because of driver's side engine mount with no rubber left. I did make sure the oil cooler lines weren't against any moving belts are other parts.
Well, the tranny engaged at least, so off I went. It actually doesn't drive too bad at all, but it does completely skip 3rd gear even when shifting manually. Hmmmmm..... Will have to search on that one and maybe submit questions later.
Didn't see any police on the way thank goodness. Pulled into the carwash and man, it was on........
I sprayed engine degreaser for the first 4 rounds of 3 quarters, and I sprayed it everywhere I was and wasn't supposed to. Every flipping flapping nook and cranny possible. Then I rinsed and sprayed every last remaining chunk of the hood pad which was already all inside the engine.
After using almost the whole 10 dollars I headed back to the house, and had a completely uneventful trip. Car drives well.
Here is my polished turd......

Before:



After:



Before:



After:

[Whiskeydan]

Ready for ebay!

[Chad300tdt]

Wow ... under the hood cleaned up well. Looks like you'll be needing to flush that brake fluid.

The PO of my wagon told me a tip ... when you suck out the fluid from the brake reservoir, pop it off and run it through your dishwasher. It will come out white and new looking again. It works.

[bgkast]

That's quite a collection you have now! So you are relegating it to parts car status?

[TylerH860]

Originally Posted by bgkast

That's quite a collection you have now! So you are relegating it to parts car status?

Disregard bgkast's post Jimmy. Clearly he's lost his mind.