Depending on how it's been treated, it can look worlds different. There's an SD for sale on this forum with a bit over 100K miles on it, that looks 5X worse than the engine compartment of my SD with 305K miles on it. Not all people care for their cars as I do, so it's unfair to use only what I have put miles on to contrast with. Actually, my Brother's 240D with 375K miles looked very similar to my 300K+ MB engine compartment. It's just how and where a car is stored, and how it's treated.

Yes the odometer, that's what I meant. The seat looks good only the side edge has a small tear along side the stitching. I will taking pictures soon.

Okay, I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one. It has been sitting outside most of the years. I heard while the original owner still drove it, he kept it mostly In a she'd then after he died it'd been under a tree ever since

Well, not necessarily so....for the steering wheel/brake pedal pad/ OR seat.....the brake pedal rubber pad of my 14-year old E300TD I bought new, looked less worn than the CDI I bought with less than 1/2 the miles. Same can be said for the seating surface - mine was pristine......I have seen too many 96-99 E300s with half the miles that look trashed. A good friend of mine has one such 98 E300 he brought over for me to show him some maintenance care work the other year. Good God, what a beat ta H E Double L condition car he brought over with only 70K miles! On a car as aged as the one he's looking at - everything is a wild card. There are no two cars alike, just because of their age and mileage. It is all encompassing with how the car was cared for that matters. I wouldn't expect a very attractive engine compartment in the one in question. The exterior looks pitifully neglected......but who knows until he investigates it....

posting pictures is fairly easy.
however getting pictures that will upload like I did above is less so.
first the pictures have to be small. even the average cell phone camera takes pics too large for our forum to upload. so you need to upload them to either your computer and resize them so they will fit, or to a photo hosting site like picassa or photobucket or flicker or similar, then use the IMG link to post them to the yellow square icon above the message text area of this forum.
in the condensed sticky thread I saved a youtube video about hosting pictures and linking them to forums like this one.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

That car looks very savable. I would buy it in a heartbeat and the worst case is you have a decent parts car.

I jewel in the rough ,a few cuts with a buffer with a light compound,a soapy rag dampened to rub out the old smell off the vinyl interior and a vacuum .One return trip to see the seller would be nice ,bring her something ,a plant perhaps to put in the ground were the car sat for so long.

Excellent post!!! and great idea.....I always love taking a return trip in the cars I bought.....gives an amazing warm fuzzy feeling to bring back something.....I just rebuilt a 1870 platform rocker yesterday....that a thrift store treated like a cheap ikea folding chair.....amazing feeling I get from it!

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One of the nicest 300Ds ive ever owned looked exactly like that when I went to look at it. You might be amazed as to whats under that dirt. The dirt in some ways can protect it. Could be a diamond, could not, but for 200 bucks, we aren't talking a big risk here.

Mine was a 83 grey market 300D, bright red, black cloth seats, ect. Looked horrible, moss and crap hanging off of it everywhere, 4 flat tires. Cleaned up, looked fantastic, had no rust on it. Still kicking myself about selling that car.

Traded the guy a small dirtbike for it initially. He wanted the car out of his woods, I didn't need a childs dirtbike, a match made in heaven.

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Alright so I went and paid for the car today and will be picking her up tomorrow. I'm very excited as to see what can be made out of this car. 200 is not a big risk so I won't feel to bad for losing it. I'll keep you guys posted! Thank you to all who have contributed to this thread. This forum is great!

i guarantee you, in one form or another, will get way more than $200 back from it. even if its a parts car, if the hazard switch works that is 1/4 of your investment back right there...

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1981 NA 300D 310k miles

nice....looks like it just needs cleaned up and all fluids purged.
does it have manual windows?

Can't wait to see pics of it once you get it home and start cleaning it. I can think of many stupid things to blow $200 bucks in and that car is NOT one of them. Good luck and hope to see it running soon

if you get overwhelmed... feel free to bring it to me, and I'll give you 300 for it.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Woooo! That's exciting . Be sure to keep us updated on the project.

Vs... tsk tsk tsk. Don't let your neighbor hear you say that .

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."