New to me: 1987 300TD (woo hoo!)

[Shortsguy1]

Today I purchased a 1987 300TD which was posted on CL on Dec 15, but nobody pursued it other than myself. I have been with my family in Minnesota until yesterday, so today was the first day I could check it out. Here are the details. I have lots of questions for all of you, but will save those for later.

Here is my best knowledge of the car:


189,000 miles, white exterior (yea!), blue interior (not so yea!), #14 head but no evidence of cracks (no oil in coolant or coolant in oil, and upper radiator hose is soft in the morning before starting car), original tranny with new fluid, new radiator, new water pump, original fan/clutch, has 3rd row seats, new tie rod ends, new front rotors and pads, older rear rotors and pads, no obvious sls leaks, new vacuum pump (at least it has visible fasteners on cover), new windshield, all the windows work (although I had to help the drivers window up), AC not working, sunroof not working, rebuilt drivers seat with new mbtex, p.o. uses DELO 400 oil every 3K miles, aftermarket stereo (original is gone), new windshield, needs new tires, rear wiper not working, and unfortunately significant rust at the front jacking points.



The odometer checks out according to Autocheck (although records are limited). Autocheck claims 6 previous owners, but the guy I bought it from thought it was mostly one family who moved the car with them as they changed locations. The earliest registration event according to Autocheck was 1996, so I am not sure what to make of that. Given the replaced drivers seat, I suspect either the odometer was turned back or the car was heavily used as a MB Service vehicle and the technicians forgot to remove tools from their pockets before entering the car. I gambled on the latter.


Overall, a pretty solid car but without maintenance records for most of its early life. It handles well. 0 to 60 time was a slightly slow 14-ish seconds so I need to address the low speed acceleration. Once the turbo kicked in, it felt quite quick. The ALDA screw still has its cover on it, so I may look into adjusting that. I did a road trip to visit my mom on Los Angeles Freeways today. It was 272 miles on odo or 257 miles on google maps (no gps for me yet). It used 8.745 gallons (I really tried hard to fill it all the way up the filler neck before and after). That means it got a reasonable 29-31 mpg during 65-70 mph freeway driving. I paid $2500. I thought I was getting a steal until I saw the rust. Now I think I paid a fair price.

The photos below are from his CL ad. I will try to take better resolution photos down the road. Anyway, just wanted share the good news.