DO NOT BUY THIS CAR!!!

I have personally driven this car, spoken with the owner, and inspected it.

I am not a licensed mechanic, nor even a good shade tree mechanic, but a 19 year old with a W123 and an internet connection.

Yet,

I am of enough expertise to know that the respray on this was crap, the rotors were warped like a pringle and the steering wheel had about on inch of play in it before it would engage in a turn.

It drove like a zamboni.

Shifted terribly - wonder if this was a K1 spring problem or 3/2 Valve issue. Don't recall, didn't know enough about old benz's at the time. It was the first W123 I had ever driven and I said to myself why would anyone drive a car that shifts like this. Then I drove another this seller had for sale and noticed this car was a lemon.

The trim piece that fits on the bottom of the hatch was held on with drywall screws.

The owner has a warehouse full of VW Cabrios (Why?) and while a decent enough guy, should not be involved in the car business.

He also has (2) 240 wagons purchased from police auctions (Junk) and a Non Turbo wagon converted to a turbo with no clearcoat for sale for ~5000$!!!!!

Just because someone has been advertising on Hemmings since the Reagan administration, doesn't mean they are selling good cars.

MBCA Roadstar members have advised me to steer clear of this benz "flipper"

Harsh, sure,

But try to sell a car to my mom and hit on her at the same time in front of her son?...

I'm sorry but that's not polite.

All right. It sounds like we're going to have to put this guy on THE LIST.

Dkr.

Old cars
 

The point of old Mercedes is they are cheap and somewhat easy to work on. For anywhere between $12000 and $20000 I would get a much nicer much newer 05 or 06 CDI with an in line 6. Worlds ahead of anything before it And much easier to work on then anything after it.

Yes, I suppose that one point of old Mercedes wagons is that they are cheap and easy to work on. However, there are other reasons to own and drive one that are probably worth mentioning. Some were well said in that youtube video by the Car and Driver editor-in-chief https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOenDrFIj8Y a guy who for the price of a phone call could have a Veyron in his driveway tomorrow but is now tooling about in a 300D, it bears some thinking.

Car's, for better or for worse, convey something about us. Henry Ford, for all his insistence that cars were merely transportation appliances and his buyers could have one in any color they wanted so long as it was black, could never squelch out our tendency to read stories into the the metal contraptions that carry us around. Almost as soon as the things got invented it meant one thing to drive a Duesneburg another to drive a Cadillac and the more sensitive you are to your surroundings the more you might read into things. Jay Gatsby certainly wasn't driving no black Model T when he and Daisy killed that guy any less than he wasn't a man in a pink suit.

So what does a w123 wagon say? Well, of course, it all depends on the context and that is the fun of it, because it can be very hard to read. One of the things it probably does say is that you are thinking your own thoughts since this is not likely to be the car to drive is you want to telegraph to the world how big a line of credit the dealership will extend to you, the size of last year's bonus or your net worth. Or perhaps not. Back a few years ago I was having chat in Bridgehampton with a friend in a different line of work who kept the wolf from the door managing a pretty good sized hedge fund. He makes more money most years then I will make in my life. It happened that I was wearing a new watch, a ref. 5127 that I was feeling pretty good about, he noticed it and then showed me his own timepiece. Timex. "only watch I every wear" he commented. And the thing didn't even have a sunroof.

If they cannot tell the truth about it getting 30 MPG's, what else are they lying about? X2 on the fender paint not matching under hood paint.

What does it say about me.
 

I really only drive Mercedes because they are diesel. And I can run them on WVO. I work in a restaurant the oil is free to me. I started running WVO in 2000, diesel was $1.39 per gallon at the time. I had VW's and realized after about 5 of them that they are not really me. It is all of the little things going wrong that gets me.

I work in a restaurant as a cook obviously I do not have much money, but I do not get watches either must be because I work with my hands and have to wash mine hands all the time but I never really did like watches. Besides in the modern world of almost everyone has a computer phone in their pocket who needs a timex. Watches are a thing of the past Luxury accessories are a different story if you have the means. Or as Ferris says "if you have the means I highly recommend..."

I have had many Mercedes since 2000. First was a rod bender with a bent rod. Then a few 300D's and SD's, but nothing is like my 2005 CDI. The 1999 Turbo Diesel does not even compare. The power and performance of the "sweetride" as she became know was a great car. Especially burning WVO. I recently gave that car and the payment that went with it to my older brother who drives 3k miles a month so that he could have the fuel savings.

I now have a 2006 Buick Lucerne with 216k miles. Also a good car I have to put gas in it but that is OK I drive 2 miles to work for the last 8 months, instead of 35. And I still can take my wife's Jeep CRD for long trips and to gather grease, it is WVO powered also.

The thing that no one person has been able to explain to me is Honda's and Toyota's they are so boring. And they are high maintenance. Thanks for letting me vent.