Scored a cheap 1987 300D!
 

Guy was selling something of a beater of an 87 300D...asking $1200. I called just to satisfy curiosity, told him I had no driveway room.

He calls back a week later, says I'm the only one who called on it, he's sending it to the crusher for $400, but I can have it for $400 if I want it. Soooooo.......there's always street parking!:D

This will be a way to develop my largely non-existent wrenching skills.

The good: drives fine, everything feels solid, new radiator, ball joints, and water pump; recent brakes. And did I mention it cost $400?

The bad: No AC, rust at jack points, faded paint, peeling clear coat, minor seat rips, won't shut off with key, cruise doesn't work, broken odo, aaannnnddddddd......turbo won't spool up.....huge plumes of black smoke when I floor it.

Should be an adventure....or something like that.

Congrats on your find! It would be a good parts car at minimum.
Keep looking for the well kept 87, pull what you need off of this one, and scrap it for your money back. That would be my plan.
Hows that saying go: "The most expensive car is a cheap Mercedes"

Sounds like my SDL when I purchased it on a whim many moons ago...

I wish you luck with it!

are you going to register, insure and have it inspected?

i suggest you part it out then sell the carcass for $400

Not until he figures out what's wrong with it, and cost to repair. What's described so far mostly isn't expensive. Besides, there were only ~2500 of these imported to the USA, it would be a shame to scrap it unless it's beyond hope.

:boat:

in that case, i stand corrected. hang on to it!

THIS IS WEIRD!!!

I had to check where you were from because I thought the guy I bought mine from may have sold his car twice!! Haha. I just picked up an 1987 300D also. Nice shape overall, some typical rust-through near the front jack points, but rear area seems solid, trunk is solid, interior is nice, paint is fair to good. He had it listed for $700, or said it was going to the shredder, so I waited about a week, then let him know if he didn't sell it by the time I got back into town, I'd give him $400 for it site-unseen to keep it from the crusher. The next week when I got back into town, he emailed me and said come get it. He is a cool guy, I talked with him for awhile. I'm heading over Friday hopefully to pick it up. And I just drove for almost 2 hours tonight testing a transmission vacuum fix in my 240D to go get W202 wheels and tires to put on it. From the pics I've seen with the 8 hole W202 wheels on the W124's, they look nice. Here's a pic of the car, and the wheels from both ads. Cant wait to see pics of your car too!

Depends on what you want out of the car, and how good a DIY you are.
My first 240D was a tired, rusty $200 Craigslist special. I patched the worst of the rust (which cost very little except time) then put about $900 to turn something ready for the crusher, into a useable car. Plus, never having owned a diesel, I think the knowledge I gained learning about them was priceless.
OTHO, it definitely would have cost many thousands of $$$$ to properly restore this car. But I was able to use it as-is (also it wasn't my sole transporation) then get most of my money back when I sold it six years later.

Happy Motoring, Mark

I don't really have the set-up for properly parting out a car (no place to store stuff). Since it really is perfectly driveable, my thought was to work on it a bit then sell it. My goals are to learn what I can and hopefully make a little money....certainly no desire to keep it long term.

Just patch it up and fix it as you can and use it. Sheet metal, screws, 2-part marine epoxy and rustoleum did mine wonders.

Ironically, for all its flaws, it has both encapsulation panels and a hood pad in great shape! Go figure....

Whatever you do, don't make half as s repairs that will need to be re-done. I hate fixing crap that the PO messed up out of laziness. Ignorance & even stupidity they can't help but shoddy work just to get something out of site is wrong.

Surely there's a more pleasant way to make the same point. ;)

The two encapsulation panels alone were worth the $400 if they are in good shape. The rest of the car was FREE!

:stuart:

Cool...I will inspect when I change ATF. Anyone want some panels??