I usually state in my ads-

this vehicles RUST is FREE.

im not charging for the parts of the car that have already undergone a painstaking decades long chemical natural process. Usually those services cost a lot of money

Some of these cars can be unique, however most of them are not.

By selling on eBay, you gain access to a worldwide market. Many of the California W123s get sold back to German buyers in Germany because they don't have rust free examples with turbos and everything looking like new. There's one guy in the valley who flips W123s and makes Youtube videos for them in German.

Some people import to other countries without a lot of old Mercedes in good shape.

I think some of the sellers think they have a good car, but don't realize what one is like with everything working in proper order. Despite many of the for sale cars having "issues", it doesn't make them more valuable as it costs $$$ to get everything to work, even if you are doing the work yourself. My term is that most of them have negative equity. It will cost more than the car is worth to get everything working right.

Dkr.

I paid $900 for my engine donor '85 300 SD. Ran OK but not perfect. I was able to drive it and assure that it was functional. Ugly interior and structurally rusty exterior. I think I paid a tad too much ($750 was probably more like it but it was there and available).

Then I paid $650 for my 240D manual trans donor. Decent body and interior, needed a clutch slave so you couldn't drive it to see how good/bad it was. I bought it from an independent shop in Raleigh and I don't know why they didn't fix it - seems like it would have been worth at least $1,000.

Both CARcasses ended up at PnP and I got much of my money back. Hope this helps set prices.

Dan

when you log into ebay you get to click the "completed listings" facet in the search options to the left. this gives you a much better sense of the marketplace because, though you can't filter out nonselling entries, the ones with prices shown in green _actually sold for that amount_.

JB3 in post #12...
 

.....has got it right.

I paid $480 for my rustbucket '77 240D in 2006. It needed a slave cylinder and a windshield but was otherwise in good enough shape that I drove it for three years and 24,000 miles before it became the tranny donor for my '83 300D. I paid $800 for that one in 2005, sunk some money into brakes, a front suspension rebuild, and a few other things besides the tranny swap. I got rearended last year resulting in a technical total loss. Insurance valued the car at about $2500 at that time. I spent about four grand fixing it and getting a needed repaint. I'd say as it sits with 335,000 miles, a pretty paint job, and a "rebuilt salvage" title, it's probably worth around two grand.

In other news, I looked at a '69 VW Type I yesterday with a few cosmetic issues asking only $3500. I was highly tempted, but I'm closing on a house soon.

OK I probably paid too much for mine... BUT

1. So far I haven't had to drop a dime on it to keep it running. I have chosen to put in a new lock regulator so it would shut off, and chosen to get new gaskets for the engine to slow oil leaks, but it runs well. I am staring down a master cylinder replacement right now.
2. It cost me a pittance in tar and sheet metal to get it on the road.
3. It has paid for itself (I use it to deliver food after work at night) after 13 weeks, the car is now generating revenue.
4. While on delivery, I get about 3 offers to purchase a night. 2 'regulars' are very serious - one owns a wrecking yard and wants it for parts deliveries, the other owns a restaurant and it reminds him of his childhood in the middle east. An indian restaurant has asked if I would wrap the car with their contact info since the car is such a good match. I could sell the car for about $3,000 any time. In the meantime, my tips are above other drivers with Hondas and Hyundais from the early 2000's who regularly have their cars down for wear items and computer/emissions issues.
5. I am now dropping about $500 on the car in winter-ready maintenance and brakes. In 2 - 3 weeks the car will regenerate that and will be making money again. I am toying with installing a WVO system and harvesting oil from the restaurants I deliver for. Just the $1200 +/- and labour is a hard pill to swallow. Especially since I can't afford to be carless for more than about 3 days at a time.

TL;DR - I paid too much for my car, and will be putting another $500 into it this week, and may invest $1200 in a WVO system, but the car has paid for itself, and is generating cash for me in the meantime. No regrets here.

Check with the restraunts first used oil I believe is regulated in Canada very much unlike the US. You would most likely have to pay market price for the used oil.

Good point Diesel Benz. Will have to look into that.

I paid $250 for my 82 300D which had 167,000 miles, That was over 3 years ago. I have spent around a $1000 in repairs in the last 3 years just do to age related things. They are still out there for really cheap just have to look. so I have a total of $1250 in my 300D that I have been driving for 3 years, I would say that's a good deal.

I bought my 87 190D 5 speed in July for $650

It came with pulled fenders and hood, and I paid Maaco $200 to match the paint.

I straightened the frame and radiator support, and have put over 8000 miles on it...

I installed new belt tensioner, and belt, and radiator, and upper hose... About another $600

The center bearing support tore, and is changed that... Dealer $50

MPG around 41 average (I gotta update my fuelly account)

If I were you I would forget WVO kit. The car is always hot at temperature so just dump a few gallons of oil from the restaurant into the half full tank. Run the car to almost empty or after delivery then refill it with diesel to half full again. You should not need to install any kit as there is no frequent cold start. It is like running a blend of diesel and WVO at 50% or less ratio. However, the final decision is yours and yours alone.

Back to the main subject. Seller can always ask the for earth the but you only need a dumb a$$ buyer to pay the exorbitant price. 99.99% of the time there will be no bite.

Hard to see why they would become collectible. In old Mopar world, where I also live, any 4 door is automatically tagged <$1000. Even w/ 2 drs and factory V-8, it really needs other desired rarities like a certain year range, 340 engine, 4 spd manual, Sure-grip rear, ... to command >$10K. People can ask whatever they want on ebay or craigslist. What matters is selling price (non-shill bids).

Sellers who've been smoking something are everywhere:

1987 MERCEDES 300 TDT OUTSTANDING CONDITION

Ten grand for an '97 TD? Relatively nice car, but not worth that kind of money.

This one might be a fair deal (I like the color):

82 Mercedes Benz 300D

Here's one with certified bad compression for an exorbitant price:

1978 Mercedes Benz 300D

This one is actually tempting to me:

1981 Mercedes Benz 300td Turbo Diesel Wagon w123

This one is listed about two thousand dollars too much:

1972 Mercedes Benz 220D, Bio-Diesel Conversion

This one is priced appropriately:

1987 Mercedes SDL 300 Diesel Gold