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#16
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I'd say this car saw some pretty heavy corrosion at some point in its life. The engine bay seems to indicate this. Pretty heavy corrosion of the aluminum parts, and the rusty booster. The air cleaner lid usually suffers from this with peeling paint and rust, the one on this car was probably replaced with a good part when going up for sale. Notice how rusty the clips for the lid are. There's also surface rust on the injectors, EGR, IP deliver valve holders from the look of it, etc.
It has also seen some rust repair. The change in color and texture around the jack point indicates this. With any luck it was done properly (rust cut out, new metal welded in, sealed and painted) but it's hard to say since you didn't own it at the time. You can certainly try the magnet test - if the magnet sticks you at least know it was repaired with metal rather than fiberglass or body filler. I'd check around the other jack points for similar repairs. I would also suggest you get down under the doors and 1) feel underneath the door where the blue arrow is pointing to look for holes in the metal and 2) pull back the door seal to see if it's rusted out behind the seal. Both are very common rust issues. I also noticed the plastic covers are missing from the rear wheel wells in the trunk. I generally think this is an indication that the trunk has been leaking and the covers were removed so it could dry out more easily. I'm not sure if this is normal, but I noticed the difference in paint patina/color around the bottom of that picture well. I know that replacement panels were available from Mercedes, so this might have been cut out and replaced due to rust. So take that for what you will. If this car hadn't had body rust that needed repair like this I'd say it would be worth every penny of the asking price. With these rust repairs, well, price is harder to nail down. But it certainly doesn't help the value. If you love the car, and can verify the mechanical condition of it, use the rust repair issues to help negotiate the price to a point where you're comfortable.
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1979 300D 040 Black on Black - 1985 300D Maaco job (sadly sprayed over 199 Black Pearl Metallic) on Palamino http://i.imgur.com/LslW733.jpg The Baja Arizona Oil Burners Send a message if you'd like to join the fun Left to Right - UberWasser, Iridium, Stuttgart-->Seattle,, mannys9130 Visit the W123 page on iFixit for over 70 helpful DIY guides! |
#17
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Oh, side note - inspect the dash carefully. If it is actually crack free, as it appears in the pictures, and you can verify it's not a dash cap, that alone is worth quite a bit!
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1979 300D 040 Black on Black - 1985 300D Maaco job (sadly sprayed over 199 Black Pearl Metallic) on Palamino http://i.imgur.com/LslW733.jpg The Baja Arizona Oil Burners Send a message if you'd like to join the fun Left to Right - UberWasser, Iridium, Stuttgart-->Seattle,, mannys9130 Visit the W123 page on iFixit for over 70 helpful DIY guides! |
#18
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Where do you guys see it's $500? It's $5500! I often wonder how people can tell condition of the car's paint from these lousy photos? Even with excellent photos, it's not possible to tell. You must see it in person before committing to buy.
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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now 83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD! 83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked |
#19
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Now I'm reading that as $5500, too, which also seems high to me. Then again, I usually buy the bottom-of-the-market Craigslist rats for as little as I can and fix them up. It's nice, but if it were my money, I wouldn't want to pay more than $3500-$4000 for it, which I consider to be a lot for a W123. Once again, it is nice, but it's not a coupe or a wagon. |
#20
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The car does look good. Like others, I am puzzled by the brake booster. If brake fluid spills, it does take paint off. But hard to see that happening over whole surface. If it is a replacement, then why put it in without painting it?
Is there some bubbling at rear window? If so, it would need fixing and top repainted. $500? Maybe offer him $4500 if he can answer questions already raised. They are great cars but at it's age, be prepared to spend more money on maintenance going forward.
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Graham 85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5 |
#21
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The paint looks much like any other factory paint I've seen - but that's just the impression I get from the pictures. As far as I can tell the car looks great. Great / good enough to go and see it. I'd hope not to be disappointed.
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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver 1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone 1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy! 1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits! |
#22
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That is how I got ripped off on my CD. The vendor used what I presume were the pics he was sent when he purchased it. At first I thought it was another car, but when I examined them carefully there were some tell-tales that confirmed it was the one I purchased, many years previous. $5500 is a lot of cash to shell out for a w123 sight unseen. Caveat emptor. I bought my current 300d on the basis of iffy pics but it was $1600 and I had confirmation of the low mileage (~88k) from documents the vendor provided. But I was holding my breath until the flatbed rolled up outside....
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Mac 2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d “Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22 |
#23
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totally repainted
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#24
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Mercedes Benz 300 Series Diesle | eBay I would get Carfax or equivalent and see how long he has owned it and what other work is recorded.
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Graham 85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5 |
#25
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I have bought a lot of cars off eBay but I only visit to look at the crazy ones from Cali now (when I hear about a $30k wagon, etc.).
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Mac 2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d “Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22 |
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