My dad and I went to look at another 1987 300D today and I thought I'd fish for opinions from you guys. The car is owned by a 91-year-old who bought it new and is pretty fond of it, but can't really drive it anymore ... it has basically been sitting in the lot at the retirement facility, getting an occasional drive. It has 178,000. My dad met this man by chance a few months ago, and got chatting about the car ... at the time the man did not want to sell ... my dad left him his number in case he ever did (not the first time my dad has done that when meeting someone with a nice old Mercedes). Well, now he needs to sell it. It is not listed anywhere yet. He and his daughter showed it to us today. They really weren't sure of what kind of price to ask, and despite reading many for-sale posts and conversations I'm not totally sure what to tell them (goes without saying, I hope, that I want to be fair and honest). I don't think they're looking to make much on it, just to get it to someone who can use it. Here's the scoop:
Good:
-Car is very near rust-free, from what I could tell without disassembling it. We are told it was seldomly driven in winter conditions, even though it lived it's whole life in Maryland and Delaware.
-Paint is basically very good, original champagne metallic ... owner says it was never repainted and I don't see obvious signs of a repaint. There are tons of tiny surface scratches in the finish, as if someone cleaned it with an abrasive pad, but I am almost certain these will buff out.
-Needs serious cleaning in and out but all the bits and pieces are there and straight, no dents, dings, tears, cracks, etc.
-Started pretty easily on a 30-degree day after obviously sitting for an extended period (battery was dead, we had to jump it). No ominous engine sounds at idle or throttle. Oil pressure normal, temps normal.
-Shifts great. I was only able to do somewhat light driving, though.
-No oil in coolant, trans fluid looked and smelled OK
-No blow-by
Bad:
Needs a lot. The owner obviously cares about the car, but I think a lot of things have just been missed because of his age. For the same reason it was a bit of a challenge to dig for information from him. He told me it's always had maintenance done, but no engine work or suspension work. His daughter is pretty knowledgeable about cars in general, but does not know every detail of what he's done with the car. I think he's been pretty independent up until recently, and he (understandably) still wants to be. She did give me the name of a mechanic who's serviced it in the past (mainly a Porsche guy actually), and said he would be a good person to ask about the car's history and maybe get some clearer answers. In no particular order:
-Ball joint boots are majorly cracked
-Front LCA bushings are pretty much gone on the back of the wishbone
-Rear tire camber looks drastically negative, though I didn't see obvious worn linkage back there. I'd like a better look though. It was very cold and I didn't want to make this 91-year-old man stand out there too long.
-Major vibration in the car at idle, I suspect motor mounts, which looked lower than spec (I did not measure) ... but could be something else
-Brake fluid looked black
-Coolant low, about an inch to 1.5 inches below full mark. When we arrived and opened the hood, the reservoir cap was sitting upside down on the reservoir. The owner wasn't sure why. A bit disconcerting. This also made the upper rad hose test moot. Not sure if it's burning coolant, leaking it, or if some was lost out the open cap.
-Oil leak(s) down engine. Hard to tell where. Some looked to be from oil level sensor, but I did see some under the head area and down the block. Level was OK but not sure at what rate it loses it. Forgot to ask if he has to add oil (duh). Belly pan was on so I couldn't use puddles as gauges. Trans encapsulation panel is there too.
-Return lines totally shot (no big deal, other than it suggests perhaps not much attentiveness in the engine compartment)
-Doggish on back-road hills (all four of us were in it), though it seemed OK off the line on flats. Not as spritely as mine. I know this could be a number of things ... filters, overboost lines blocked up, EGR still plugged in, rarely driven and never driven hard.
That's all I can remember right now. My thinking was, given how much needs to be done just to get the car in driving condition, and the unknowns about coolant and oil leaks (we did collect an oil sample and will have it checked for coolant), that this is a $1,500 car. I'm really not sure what the price should be though, to be honest. More? Less? The body condition, IMO, makes it a good candidate to fix up, but it would expensive and time-consuming to do so off the bat. At the very least I think it needs the ball joints and LCA bushings to be safe.
A lot of you have bought and sold these, so I would appreciate any input. My dad would like to have one of these again, and I'd be happy to have something else to play with. I do like fixer-uppers. But bottom line, I want to be fair to these people and I do not want to rip anybody off ... including myself. If my dad and I don't buy it, we at least want to give them good advice.
Sorry this was so long ... just wanted some experts' input.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)