Doktor Bert's 300SD For Sale:
 

Thought some of you So Cal guys might find this of interest....

1978 Mercedes-Benz 300 SD

We have decided to sell our 300SD rather than take it with us on a cross-country move.

Contact information is in the ad...Robert

You moved from Visala to Hesperia?

I thought you worked at the Mercedes dealer up there.

Seems like a sad bit of news.

Yes, we moved some time ago!

It's been a great car, but we need to downsize a bit...

Wow...
 

That is probably the most comprehensive, detailed, and helpful CL ad I've seen on an old Benz. Sure to go to a good home!

Hopefully....

Its far, but my father is on the hunt for a 116, I am sending it his way.

Good luck with the sale, I love the color!

Be a shame to see this prime example rust out in the OHIO salt.:(

Charlie

Yeah because all my cars are rusty pieces of ****.

Did you see my 126? It lived in Ohio from the day it was new.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...o/IMG_1234.jpg

My 124, total rust bucket, also bought new in Southern Ohio

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...o/90356202.jpg

If you care for a car, wash it every two days when driven in winter, or just plain park it, like I do, Ohio cars can be just as rust free. Interestingly, my rustiest car, is my SL with its bad floors and it was bought new in Los Angeles and live there until 2004. So, if I bought Doktor Berts car, you can sleep easy.

That said, I am not sure my father wants to come that far, I am not a 116 man, but he is and I sold my 126 so there is a long wheel base void in the collection.

Yes, I agree with Paul. That is a bit of an ignorant statement. I guess no one except those that live in CA should drive older Mercedes that are in good shape. :rolleyes:

I suspect that Charlie was only being playful. No doubt he didn't intend to offend anyone. Good luck with the sale, Doktor Bert. My 68 220D was also sold originally from ******** Montclair.

Haha. The car dealer A-U-T-O-H-A-U-S Montclair sold mercedes for decades in southern CA. It is funny that our forum won't allow its name to appear. It also appears on my license plate frame, so I wonder if I would be allowed to post a photo.

A U T O H A U S in another state is a competitor parts company to peach and pelican parts which is why the filter grabs it

Well, the 300SD refuses to leave. I have tried to sell it, but for some reason, it has chosen to stay, almost like the 1958 Plymouth from the movie 'Christine.'

So, at this point, I am looking into doing some upgrades to the car, such as tough up and cut/polish, rebuilding the seats and upgrading them with foam inserts, having the stock wheels powdercoated silver and stepping up to a 215/70R14, which 'Hammerwerfer' installed on his W116 without interference and it looked great too.

At present, I am also working on a plan to backlight the headlight surrounds to give the car a unique effect.

I recently tinted all the windows, including the windshield super-dark and it gives the car a completely different look.

For seats, I am thinking chocolate brown velour with acorn yellow piping to match the body.

Just thinking outloud at this point....

215/70-14s shouldn't be a problem on a 116 since that's what 6.9s roll on and I don't recall that the 6.9 has modified fender wells. How about some 15" bundts?

You might take a cue from Kent Bergsma and start with springs and pads from a late 126.

Sixto
87 300D

I want to keep the costs down as much as possible. I know I could change a LOT of stuff, but at present, I am just concentrating on making it look and ride a little better.

Who makes a GOOD dash cover for the W116???????

Since your CL posting is gone now I'll ask here... how much $ were you looking for in your CL post?

-J

$2800.00 OBO A fair price I thought for such a clean example, but everyone was offering $800/$900 so I kept the car....

Updates:

New windshield goes in Saturday along with a new gasket and I had them limo tint the entire glass. Both front door glasses tinted to match the rear windows too.

I am having a Kenwood AM/FM/CD with detachable face and remote installed along with a pair of 6X9's in the rear package tray, with foam baffles behind them, and a pair of 3.5" full range speakers in the dash in the original location.

Seats are being done in dark brown velour with yellow piping to match the body.

Got a set of Michelin 215/70R14's whitewalls on order too!

I wandered here from the how many miles thread, and i just can't belive this car has THAT many miles, it looks soo clean in the pictures.

Goes to show these cars run forever if taken care of. So cheers to you and the p/o's :)

Luckily, the people I got the car from kept the body and paint in good shape.

I built the engine/transmission 70,000 miles ago. I change the oil regularly (anywhere between 5000 and 15000 miles depending on how busy I am) and I keep the tappets adjusted, other than that, it is simply driven everyday. I make a lot of trips back and forth from palm Springs to the High Desert to see my family. That's a 217 mile, round-trip daily commute.

Most of that, out through the open desert, is 90-100 mph with the cruise control on and the A/C on max blowing 36-38°F out the vents.

The W116 is rather primitive in nature, but it is a very solid and reliable car.

The seats are really starting to show their age, but they are getting replaced later this week.

I am fortunate that this car spent it's entire life in California and I am yet to find a single rusty area on the car anywhere...

I just noticed your location changed. When did you move from Visalia to Palm Springs? If I recall, you used to work at the Mercedes dealer. Do you work at the dealer in Palm Springs?

A few weeks ago there was a brand new black w116 MB dash cover on craigslist. I'm looking for a brown one so I passed it up. I don't remember the price but I remember it being reasonable. Maybe this will work for you. Just be sure to look into how it really looks and fits. Don't know of anyone personally that has purchased one of these. Value is not bad and is tempting. No brown available apparently. Will not work for me.


Mercedes Benz Parts & Accessories - Mercedes Dash Covers - Custom Fit

Or make your own
EuroMold 2011 - 3D Printed Car Dashboard! - YouTube

Many years ago, I worked for the dealer in Visalia before it was shut down. I then worked briefly for two Visalia MBZ shops, but the owners were incredibly unethical and I was very happy to leave them.

I currently work for a private Ferrari/Lamborghini collector.

I am kind of in between at the moment, living in Palm Springs (La Quinta) during the week and driving back to the High Desert on weekends.

I just returned from Florida in June where I briefly worked for Lamborghini/Ferrari of Miami. I absolutely hated the weather in Florida and missed my family. The $$$$ were incredible, but I was happier to come home.

Think I may try and sell it one more time....

1978 Mercedes 300SD 2nd Owner:

Beware, the Pay Pal scams are rampant on Craigslist!!!!!

Cruised in to work this morning at 120 mph all the way from Banning to Palm Springs on I-10 East, virtually no traffic whatsoever!!!

3.07???

Yes, same axle as seen in my You Tube videos. 120 mph indicated (stock speedo with 205/70R14 tires) turning 4700 rpm indicated on stock tachometer. I snapped a couple of pics of the cluster this morning, will try to post them later.

Alas, and no one seems to want the old W116...

Another last-minute funding issue for a perspective buyer. Funny, it is as if this car doesn't want to leave me, almost like the Plymouth Fury in the movie Christine. My plans are further complicated by the fact this is my daily driver at present, so selling it and shopping about for a replacement isn't an easy option.

Why do cars like this never show up around me when I'm buying.. I would love to own your car....alas, its not to be...

Like the cars I want to go and look at are all 155 miles away in L.A. traffic!!!!!!

Wait, it's still your daily driver and you're hauling down the freeway @ twice the speed limit w/ 3 month expired tags/registration?? :eek:

And posting pictures on a public forum of the speedo and youtube videos of it? Apparently you've never read about the people arrested for doing exactly this. Not smart.

Yes, that is correct. And we just put the tags on it this week. Pretty hard to get arrested in California, unless you do something really terrible....

After much looking and tire kicking, I just wasn't able to find a suitable replacement for the 300SD for the money I could get out of it. I saw many super-clean cars, with perfect apint and interior, but all were 170,000 to 200,000+ mile cars. While some of them certainly drove nicely and were light-years more comfortable than my W116, I kept thinking about the engines & transmissions.

Since I sometimes commute 1,000+ miles a week to and from work, to be with my family nightly, reliability is paramount and, as much as the 300SD is primitive, it is very reliable.

I now have about 55,000 (or so) on the complete engine/transmission rebuild and things are going very well in that regard. Over the past 5 weeks, I have logged over 4,000 miles on the car.

Now I am the first to decry spending money on these old cars, because it seems you can just never get a return on your investment, but I am at a point where some money needs to be invested.

I had hoped to find something more modern and with good interior, so I could coax my wife out of my 2001 Mustang GT, but it would seem that nothing short of a newer (2000+) XJ8 will get her out of the Mustang. With our son in private school, that just isn't feasible at present.

To that end, I decided to do some work on the old 300SD.

Last week, I had a new windshield installed with a new OE rubber gasket.

I am having one of our wheel techs restore the wheels back to their original silver finish this week.

I have been running 205/70R14's for the past 16 years and I am thinking of stepping up to a 215/70R14 for a little better ride. I am looking at the Hankook Optimo H274 which is one of the few decent whitewalls still on the market.

The polish and detail departments are going to cut and buff the entire car and then hand wax it to protect the original finish.

I found the original speaker holes in the dash would accept a 4X6" speaker. I found a set of Cerwin Vega SS 4602P that were a drop-in fit. A pair of Cerwin Vega HED 1693 6 X 9's were easily installed into the rear shelf.

For a deck, I wanted something that had the plug-in MP3 feature. The Kenwood KDC-152 was modestly priced and had the features I wanted. It dropped right into the dash where my Dad had installed a OE Honda AM/FM/Casette many, many years ago.

Our local dealer in Palm Springs gave me a beautiful pair of "Mercedes-Benz Palm Springs" all-metal enameled license plate frames, to replace my worn out MB of Fresno frames.

Next will be solving the seat issue. Since the estimates to rebuild the sagging, 34 year old seats and cover them in cloth, is between $1,200 and $1,800, I am looking at adapting some Jaguar or Volvo front seats in and perhaps rebuilding the rear seat myself and just having it recovered.

Much, much more work than I wanted, but as much as I like the ride of the 2000 BMW 740/750, I hate the transmissions....

I think you made the right decision in keeping it.

I think the old adage, "I'm putting more in the car than it's worth" is a terrible measuring stick in deciding whether to keep a car or replace it.

Cars are a depreciating asset, and when you add the cost of fuel, depreciation, car insurance registration, maintenance, and repairs, we are all upside down on our cars after about 5 years of ownership.

And besides, the single most expensive component of car ownership is depreciation, and you car has zero depreciation at this point.

The car looks great now. It is a classic, and will only look better as it ages.

Good points,

No to decide whether to go 205/70R14 or 215/70R14....

If you mean Optimo 724, otto huber just returned a set because he couldnt get a smooth ride out of them at... umm... legal speeds. The 727 is a better rated tire. I don't know if it comes in whitewall. Otto got a set of Michelins.

Sixto
87 300D

Wow, the Hankook 724 in 215/70R14 is amazing. The ride is smooth, much smoother than the Dunlop Citations they replaced, even when new. Ride is exceptional thus far....

What a difference 5% makes - http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/wheels-tires/325963-new-tires-feel-like-%24-%5E.html

Sixto
87 300D

These Hankook's are very nice. Perhaps I just got lucky?

The ride with the 215/60R14 is amazing and they look 1,000 times better than the 205/60R14's they replaced!!!

Stick with Michelins. They are just the best. You cannot go wrong.

If I drove something like that I would paint it black and live out my Mr Eddy fantasies on a daily basis. I'm happy you decided to keep it.

Agreed, but couldn't get them in whitewall.

Dr, Burt, this sure is a close cousin to your car.

Mercedes-Benz : 300-Series 300SD in Mercedes-Benz | eBay Motors

Thought it was your at first.

Charlie

It took 4 hours to install the MTX 4"x6" speakers in the dash and retain the original grilles....

Very close indeed!!!!!