Newest find - 1987 300D and W202 wheels
 

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 dying at the crushers hands. 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 tomorrow 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. I need a nice W124 palomino driver power seat if anyone has one, this one is worn. Or maybe a passenger palomino power seat could be fitted since those are more plentiful in nice shape.

No cracks in the dash...

Forgot to mention. Gave $100 for the set of four W202 wheels. He had just bought new center caps for them. Tires in very nice shape.

Luckyyyyy

Took about 4 hours. It's all together, and running. Didnt have an extra driver to get it home, so heading over there tomorrow with the wife to get it. I'll have more pics later!

To my knowledge, W202 wheels won't fit - they have the wrong ET.

I could be wrong. Did you get them to fit?

Sincerely,

Packer

I have seen wheels from a C280 sport fit on a 124 just fine.

Amazing that both of us snagged the same car for $400 at the same time. Yours looks like an even better deal than mine if for no other reason than the paint.

How does it drive? Take off the ALDA and prepare to be amazed.

Yeah, I cant believe we bought the same, year, make, model, and price all at the same time.

ALDA has been removed. It is very peppy. I'm wondering how it will be on fuel mileage without the ALDA. I'm not seeing any black smoke like people said without it.

It took 3-4 hours, but I went by the guys house that I bought the car from after work, and put the front of the engine back together. I was amazed at how well he kept track of all the hardware. The only thing I neglected to do was put the radiator shroud back on. I already was past that point, and it was getting dark, so I'll disassemble it another day. Looks like the water pump it quite old anyway, so may tear it apart to do that. Filled it with fluids, and installed a fresh battery, and after a bit of cranking, she started right up. Very peppy, I was surprised. The car must weigh much less than my long-wheelbase W126's. It hadn't been started in over a year when he gave up on getting it back on the road. He seemed surprised we had it running and driving in a few hours, but happy to see it was going to used as a driver, and not a parts car. He actually had a guy offer him $500 for it as a parts car then to the shredder. He opted to take my $400 offer to make sure it went back on the road. Cool guy. He took a video of it running before I left. I didn't have an extra driver, so I'm heading back there this morning with my wife to get it. I'll take some pics, and maybe a video of it running.

So, other than engine common issues which I'm familiar with, are there any other W124-centric problems that should be addressed or looked into on a new purchase?

I've actually got a 1987 300TD wagon, but I haven't touch it yet other than a few little things as it runs fine, and just needs freshening up with some interior stuff...etc. so I dont know anything about this chassis.

If they dont fit, they'll be back on CL sans the tires. :)

Yes. http://www.w124performance.com/docs/mb/articles/124.1x3_buying_tips.txt

W202 wheels fit perfectly on W124s. Two of my 124s have them (see signature picture below), and they look great.

Looks like you got a decent car, the first wheels I put on my 87 300D after I bought it was the W202 wheels, they fit great,I later put them on my 190E and upgraded to 16" wheels off a 92 SL500 on the 300D. Also the 97 clk320 wheels look and fit great on these 124's

Please pardon me I was reading too quickly and thought it was a W123.

Sincerely,

PE

Glad you're happy with the car! And yes, I was very excited to see it running in a few short hours. Frustration slowly got the better of me when epoxy kept failing on the keyway repair when I tried previously. Wish I'd paid more attention when you guys put it in on Friday so I'd know where I went wrong.