tyl604,
Just noticed this thread, so thanks for updating it!
It reminded me of my own experience. Wife's '85 300D sat undriven in garage for 20 years. She wanted to have it towed away by an auto buyer for $100 which would have been a terrible loss for a car in great condition, although undriven, with under 64k miles.
I would have liked to have reconditioned the car myself, but wife wanted everything done yesterday, so had AAA tow it to a foreign car repair shop that had done routine maintenance on it 20+ years ago. $5600 later, it runs every bit as well as it did when new, and it is a joy to drive.
I really enjoyed this thread and think your '85SD looks great!

Thank you much appreciated. Actually is a 1981 so now 37 years old.