I enjoy the cars as a hobby and love fixing them. I've had 9 mercedes so far. I never once bought them and expected to see any money back, and I certainly lost a ton of money on them in parts and the price of the car. But to me it doesn't matter. I have fun. The only car I made back money on was my '98 e300 I sold about 5 months ago. I bought it for $600 that needed paint, rust repair, fuel leaks, glow plugs, suspension work, turbo rebuild and put $1800 into it and sold it for $3500. every other car i lost money on.. what i have in my stable now will probably be "driven until the wheels fall off"

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

i agree - w123s are not a wise investment.

but if you have a decent wagon, don't let it go for a couple thousand without doing some more research. wagons, wagons, wagons. they have a special appeal far above and beyond the sedans or coupes.

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Andrew
Montclair, NJ
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1982 300D Turbo
120k
Petrol Blue Green

Counterpoint to Sev, California buy back cars are supposed to get crushed immediately. They're not set in the yard to be parted.

One point Otto makes is that we used to be able to buy a fixer upper driver, sell it to at least recover the cost of parts to make it a decent runner, then buy the next fixer upper driver. I've had my SD on Craigslist for a month with a handful of inquiries and no visits. I'm asking $1800 but I'll settle for something closer to the $1000 the state will give me for it in October. I guess everyone who wants one has one. Whatever I get for it is unlikely to be the 116 SD I've wanted forever because I won't be able to give it away a couple of years down the road.

Sixto
83 300SD can be yours
98 E320 wagon

My neighbor had his rust free, yellow wagon on Craigslist for almost 2 months before someone in Los Angeles drove 5 hours up here to the Bay Area to buy it for $1800. He originally had it listed for $2700 and had only one local person look at it.

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'81 300SD

Otto, tell them about the offer to trade my SD for a couple of collector mopeds. Wifey won't let me near motorized cycles.

Sixto
83 300SD can be yours
98 E320 wagon

your neighbor and other rust-free wagon owners should consider BAT

$32k 1984 Mercedes-Benz 300TD | Bring a Trailer

$26k 1983 Mercedes-Benz 300TD Turbo | Bring a Trailer

$15k 1984 Mercedes-Benz 300TD Turbo | Bring a Trailer

$18.5k No Reserve: 1982 Mercedes-Benz 300TD Turbo | Bring a Trailer

$7300 No Reserve: 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300TD | Bring a Trailer

$5000 (this on has rust and other issues) No Reserve: 1984 Mercedes-Benz 300TD | Bring a Trailer

$14.5k 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300TD | Bring a Trailer

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Andrew
Montclair, NJ
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1982 300D Turbo
120k
Petrol Blue Green

I doubt those expensive cars from that source are being purchased by our members. Most are probably not inspected properly before purchase either.

The money spent is totally irrelevant in that a percentage of our society today have deeper pockets than ever before on average. I will and often do pay more than market for a desirable item in much better condition than average.

I just have limitations in how far I will take it. If you make a million a year it becomes just pocket change. I am not one of them.

A friend was riding in my car the other day. 230k. He was amazed I had kept it that long

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

It is all worth it at the end, forget about the resale value. It does not matter.

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Not MBZ nor A/C trained professional but a die-hard DIY and green engineer. Use the info at your own peril. Picked up 2 Infractions because of disagreements. NOW reversed.

W124 Keyless remote, PM for details. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-used-parts-sale-wanted/334620-fs-w124-chasis-keyless-remote-%2450-shipped.html

1 X 2006 CDI
1 x 87 300SDL
1 x 87 300D
1 x 87 300TDT wagon
1 x 83 300D
1 x 84 190D ( 5 sp ) - All R134 converted + keyless entry.

Re your region, this SF Bay guy is asking (actually demanding) $26,500 + $1500 delivery for a "super-rare" 1985 300D https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto/6151210722.html
It does have new belts and a battery and only 96,500 miles, so certainly worth more than asking price. Sounds like a guy who will rant and spit if you offer only $20,000. If you see it up for a year, that might bracket your expected selling range, or watch what it goes for on ebay (which he plans).

Personally, I consider my 1984 & 85 an ender's game. Some critical parts are extremely expensive or "not avail". The engines can't be affordably rebuilt, though I have a spare one in-work. But, w/ hot-rodder mentality one might re-purpose the cars. If I ran out of engines, I might consider a spare Mopar small-block and tranny I have lying around and the IRS would let it perform well. I am not wedded to diesels (like most here). Having 20 gal of gasoline behind the rear seat is not as comforting as diesel, though many U.S. pickups did that. If the M-B dash proves too much, one might retrofit a complete dash w/ climate system from a newer junkyard car, and same w/ seats.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

The all-caps is a nice touch.

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The cars sold on BAT are picked apart like few other sales forums I've seen. Usually some members local to the car visit in person and test drive - then report back in the comment threads. The seller is also expected to engage directly with bidders in the comment area, and more often than not additional photos are requested and uploaded. As you can see, crustier drivers sold for 5000 - so we aren't talking about all crazy values. BAT is selective about what cars it handles, and it doesn't really auction off beaters unless they are very rare.

The car buying crowd on that auction site is some of the most finicky and knowledgable collection of car lovers you will find anywhere - the idea that these are a bunch of rich aloof collectors is far from correct. You have your porsche crowd, your land rover crowd, your datsun crowd, your benz crowd - etc. When a peachparts member sold his china blue sedan (with non-original engine I belive) on there last year I think it went for 8k or so.

solid wagons really can command a premium value if you clean them up and put them in front of the right folks and engage honestly with the bidding audience in the comments.

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Andrew
Montclair, NJ
--------------
1982 300D Turbo
120k
Petrol Blue Green

I would not count on that, diesel on hot exhaust would be a problem. Besides, modern cars will have better designed fuel system than older cars.


And that is the point of BAT, a place for serious buyers go to look for better cars rather than wade through C list scrap.

Another issue, I think in modern times the number of interesting driver cars is outpacing the number of people interested in owning them. Have a look at the 90 -01 R129 market. Yes 50K mile wrapped in bubble wrapped museum cars go for $$ but the " this is still a really good car regardless of what brand is " ones struggle to bring $ 7 K. ( for a car that was $ 85 to 95 K when new, it's criminal paying less for a car than the guy that bought it new paid in sales tax, even equalizing dollars to today. )

The mid / late 50's was a step change in continuing improvement of car design and reliability so more are bound to exist and be worth fixing. 25 years is the standard bearer for "antique" , I'd say that there proportionally are more 1992 cars in regular service now than 1967 cars in 1992.

Not the market. It was months, hours everyday, of fighting insurance to get my pristine '85 300TD-T from $3,000 to $6,400.

Also, bought the '85 280TE in good shape for $1,000. Thee years ago bought a '79 TD with less than 150,000 miles on the odometer, rusted out and dead engine, for $200.

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Current fleet:

1985 Mercedes-Benz 280TE - Waiting for heart surgery.

1985 Mercedes-Benz 300TDT - Rear ended 23 September 2016 and now looking for a new home.

1979 Mercedes-Benz 300TD - Parted out.

1964 Volkswgen Beetle - Vater's since September 1968 and undergoing a restoration.

1971 Volkswagen Sunroof Squareback with F.I. - in need of full restoration.

1971 Volkswagen Squareback automatic with F.I. - Vacationing with her caretaker until he is in better health.

BaT is a fun site to watch and proves that some of these cars are going for pretty decent money. Which is funny, because you sort of assume all the hardcore MB diesel fans are on this forum, but few people here acknowledge that any of our cars might be worth more than $1000-$2000, tops.


Like you said, it helps if there is something unique about the car, but above all it needs to be mechanically and cosmetically sound.

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