Watch those bids
 

As a former powerseller under a different user name and a long time ebay user I should know better than to bid on stuff that I don't need...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1830020305

So now it looks like I will be driving a "new" baby benz home. I figured this one would go for at least 2 grand but I guess the A/C problem ran off many bidders. I had a bid in at 1690.00
Oh well, my daughter starts driving this year and what better car than a slow 240d.

Jim

That looks really nice! I love the color. Too bad its an auto.

I have my eye on an '85 euro 240D with a 4 speed real cheap.

That is a very nice color and I am sure your daughter will be thrilled... very cute car....

I thought the color was nice as well. I don't think I have seen one around here that color. I wish it was a four speed, but like I said it's going to end up in the hands of a teenage girl learning how to drive so the auto may be a bonus. Will post about it when I get it home next week.. Hope the seller was honest about the condition, kind of hard to pull a fast one on someone who already drives a diesel.

It appears to have been a rather well placed bid! Looks great. I'm betting it turns out to be a winner.

Talked to the owner today. He is the 2nd owner of the car. Has all the service records and books from when new. A/C leaked down last year, compressor is ok so should not be that bad to fix. Car has no oil leaks, uses about a qt. between oil changes. Valves were last adjusted about 3k ago, timing chain was within specs. Tranny was serviced in the last 6 months, new tires 5 months ago. Tire shop advised he would need shocks soon but he said he had not noticed they were bad. May be a sales pitch. Drivers seat was replaced with one from an 85 when he bought the car. Said the color matches but the headrest is different. When he got the car all the carpet was dry-rotted so he had it replaced. Ordered new floor mats from Mercedes etc. Sounds pretty good, will pick it up on Wed. or Thursday.

Great Car
 

Looks like you got a real jewel.

I'm jealous.

JCD

You've just purchased the "PERFECT" Teenager car!~ It functions, it has a large enough trunk to support large 18" head banger Woofers!
It has enough power to do an easy 70 mph and has Zero Power to burn rubber! Those tires will last 10 teenagers!

My first 240D, I was quite impresed, I soon found out I have an oddball and Rare 240D that'll do 90+mph! Runs great. So I sort of expected my last purchase (both on eBay) another 240D to run fairly fast.
Oh, it is real fast, if you get lucky to have a wind behind I can get it up to 78 mph and that is on a 3 mile wide open run!
I pulled out in front of a car - there "was" plenty of room, my wife yells, "Step on it!" and I said "I have it on the floor now!" - it is like taking off with a Model-T. A bicycle up to 20mph would beat it!

It runs well though, looks like a million dollar car but slower than all get out! It is just a slower pace. But like my son said, the perfect teen ager car!

And I run Amoco Premium and Diesel Kleen supplement in it. But the car sat for a year too. And the fuel gauge hardly moves!

On your car, the Only bad part is that it is an Automatic transmission.
My wife and I are Very Firm Believers that Every Child should learn to drive a stick shift.
Any one can get into a car, pull the gear shifter into a gear and step on the throttle and go - even a 2 year old can do that!
both my kids learned to drive stick shift before they were old enough to drive.
I taught my daughter-n-law to drive a stick shift (she learned in driver's ed on an automatic).
And guess what she prefers to drive? Stick shift. She just bought a Saturn with a 5 speed stick shift. I don't know what it is about females, but they seem to have a gift to shifting, every female I know of, they shift a stick like it had an automatic in it! Very smooth!
In order to teach the shifting technique you have to first teach clutch control, once they have that down, the rest is all about how long your fingernails are! :) Or be a grampa - because by then you're not so uptight.

I wish it was a stick as well. I to believe everyone should learn to drive on a manual tranny. I started at 8 with farm tractors, then at 10 when I could reach the pedals in my Uncles 1966 Dodge "3 on the tree" pickup. At 16 I had a VW bug (who didn't? ) and also got to drive Dads 240z and when 19 got to drive the RX7. Taught my girlfriend (now wife) to drive the RX7 and the fact that we got past that "learning experience" may be what has kept us married for 20 years:D
I have driven more pieces of crap old 2 ton farm trucks than I care to think about. Large crane trucks, tractor trailer rigs, etc. Used to be surprised at the number of 18-25 year old helpers I would get sent on a job with who couldn't move my truck because they had no idea how to drive a stick!

Rebootit, nice acquisition! It looks like the driver's seat and the passenger's seat are two different colors (palomino vs cream/parchment). My 1977 had parchment color Tex and I thought it was a very classy color interior for a Benz. Congrats on a nice 123. Envious, looking at those manual AC controls...

240D
 

Hi,

Replacing carpet would mean that one of the window seals is leaking. My 300CD turbo leaks and makes a "jaccuzi" as my friend likes to call it in the right rear floor area. I have read that usually means that new weatherstriping is needed.

I would try to get the diesel tuned really good to optimize acceleration because as a fellow teenaged driver, sometimes acceleration is required for getting out of places, aka the mall. If you turn your power emergency brake off, the ac, the car will accelerate faster, make sure to tell your daughter that. Show her how fast/slow it is. I have pulled out of places, and I really have wished that I was in my brothers W124 diesel because mine was slow. BTW take the 240D to the track and run the quartermile, its funny. I did that with my brothers car, I ran 18.1 with a 1.5 reaction time with the W124.

I too would really like it if my coupe was stick, but I dont really have the income to swap it over. I know how to drive stick, but I dont have a manual car. My friends brother has one, but he sucks at driving it because no one taught him. So it is good to teach your daughter how to do it sometime for her reference in the future. My my friends brother, revs his sentra up the 3k and lets off the clutch slowly...I told him, "so how many clutches do you plan on wearing out in a year?"

Since you were a powerseller on ebay, how would you recommend that I stay away from ebay so I don't keep buying stuff that I dont need either? LOL.

Thanks,

Austin

leaks in the rt. rear flor area that you can't see are also caused by clogged drains in the wheel wells and a hole rusted under the battery tray. My 300 would fill up that way and I thought it was window seals but it wasn't. Cleaning out the wheel drains helped but in a real hard FL. thunderstorm the rt rear still would fill up. I pulled all the carpets & seats off that side and turned on the hose. Water was coming under the floorboard near the front and running down the channels the vac lines are covered in. Then I found a small hole under the battery tray after removing it. Cleaned it out, filled it with spray foam, and bondo/paint and the leak is gone.

Spray foam - most would never think of using this stuff, but it has a lot of really neat uses besides insulation.
Where I first found out about using it was from a fellow that hand fabricates auto parts and he used the spray foam to make parts from fiberglass.
I had cab holes in my 1979 Ford F-250 and it now is water and dust free!
I had a Buick Regal that rust had eliminated a lot of the metal Detroit had made the car from. Rocker panels were foamed in and fiberglassed - worked great! I also filled all the holes so that the car didn't leak dust in on a gravel road. The door though couldn't hold the spray foam, just too much metal gone and so in the winter with the wind hitting the driver's door - was a Cold ride! I found that spray foam Does have its' limits as to what it'll fill.

I also found out the hard way, once you start to use a can, you have to use it all. I thought I could re-use like a can of spray paint. Not so! let it set a while, no more foam! It seals itself shut.

my 200d was a real POS when I found it. Paid $100.00 for it cause I liked the fins and the diesel. The thing did run, tranny shifted (auto) brakes worked. Had several holes in the rear quarter and rockers. All I wanted to do was make the car look ok with a decent paint job. Found the spray foam to be great for filling holes and since it is cured by water vapor it sucks the metal dry as it fills. After it cures it sands down very easy and takes glass great. Never had a repair fail or start to rust at the edges.
The only rust I ever found on my 300d was the spot under the battery tray. Looking through the posts here it seems to be a very common problem. The spot was about the size of a dime and whas where the water was getting in when the drains could not handle the amount of water from a big thunderstorm which can drop 2-4 inches of water in an hour or less almost every afternoon. Figured glass alone whould not displace any water inside this hole and besides if not backed up it may crack over time. So out comes a new can of foam. Pump that sucker full, wait for it to cure, glass over the top and paint. Since the tray covers it I didn't bother to paint. Leak was gone and the car has been dry ever since. I did replace the windshield seal about a month ago because it started to leak when going down the highway in the rain along the top edge. Bought the seal from fastlane, found a local shop that does all Mercedes warranty work here to install it for $50.00.
Driving to Naples tomorrow to pick up the 240. Will be kind of fun having a mini benz convoy of my very own on the way home.;)