Is the Classic MB diesel market at an all time low right now?

[otto huber]

After nearly 7 years and 102,000 miles of driving my 300SD I've been thinking of moving on to something else. I've taken great care of the car not just to enjoy it, but in the hopes that I would be able to sell it for close to what I paid for it($2500). After browsing through Craigslist for the past few months and seeing 300SDs sitting up there for well over 6 or 8 weeks, I get the feeling that nobody is really interested in buying these cars anymore, that goes for W123s as well. The biodiesel fad is long gone, it's hard to find a mechanic who will work on them, and it seems like only DIYers would ever want such a car. This is my observation from Northern California where there are still a fair amount of these old MBs running. What's it like in other parts of the country?

[sloride]

All over the map here, rusted junk for the most part, going for (or should I say asking price) between $1000.00 for real crap to the outlandish $10,000 for a repainted detailed decent model.
I went to look at an 86 SDL with an asking price of 2K, it was junk, rusty, reeked of coolant in the cabin ran decent but wouldn't want to be seen in it.
To not offend the seller I said that is worth around $750.00 tops he said I'll take it without a seconds thought. I declined as I was not looking for a real needy fixer upper as his ad said nice runner good interior good body, all lies except the good runner part.

[ah-kay]

Just go out and ask your friends, relatives, coworkers or a stranger in the street, "Would you like to buy a car with 200K-300+K miles and 25+ years old for cheap?" and post their honest replies here. Then you have your answer.

[Simpler=Better]

Originally Posted by ah-kay

Just go out and ask your friends, relatives, coworkers or a stranger in the street, "Would you like to buy a car with 200K-300+K miles and 25+ years old for cheap?" and post their honest replies here. Then you have your answer.

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

[torsionbar]

Originally Posted by otto huber

After nearly 7 years and 102,000 miles of driving my 300SD I've been thinking of moving on to something else. I've taken great care of the car not just to enjoy it, but in the hopes that I would be able to sell it for close to what I paid for it($2500). After browsing through Craigslist for the past few months and seeing 300SDs sitting up there for well over 6 or 8 weeks, I get the feeling that nobody is really interested in buying these cars anymore, that goes for W123s as well. The biodiesel fad is long gone, it's hard to find a mechanic who will work on them, and it seems like only DIYers would ever want such a car. This is my observation from Northern California where there are still a fair amount of these old MBs running. What's it like in other parts of the country?

I think your assessment is spot-on. The spike in diesel popularity a decade ago was mainly due to high fuel prices at the time, $4+ per gallon. While diesels enjoyed high resale values, bloated gasoline SUV's took a huge hit, the used car lots had so many they stopped buying them.

I remember those days well, when a non-turbo w210 diesel was $10k and the turbo w210 was $15k+. Now the non-turbo w210 is $2k and the turbo is $5k.

Cheap gas means diesel is out of style, and gas guzzler SUV's are the fad once again. The only way these old Merc diesels will come back, is if there's another fuel shortage or crisis.

Until then, it's up to us nutty DIY tinkerers to keep them on the road.

[jbach36]

A few years ago I went to a MB mechanic. I asked him what he thought I could get for my car which I figured might be worth $3,000. He said $7,500. I said you gotta be kidding! He said no. You've kept the car up. You can easily buy an old Mercedes (diesel or gas) and put $5,000 into fixing it up to get it to where it needs to be.

So even if prices have dropped now, I have a good running Mercedes that is (in theory) safe to drive (not that I want to test that theory). There are some little repair blips on the screen from time to time, but all cars need repairs.

In the meantime, I have nearly new 90,000 mile tires on the car, lifetime alignment with a large auto chain, an engine that should probably run to 700,000 miles with few problems, etc.

Plus another gas shortage will come along soon enough.

In the meantime, I drive a high quality car that I enjoy driving, knowing that if I am in a crash, chances are this diesel car will probably not catch on fire. What's that worth to ya?

[cmac2012]

Originally Posted by jbach36

A few years ago I went to a MB mechanic. I asked him what he thought I could get for my car which I figured might be worth $3,000. He said $7,500. I said you gotta be kidding! He said no. You've kept the car up. You can easily buy an old Mercedes (diesel or gas) and put $5,000 into fixing it up to get it to where it needs to be.

So even if prices have dropped now, I have a good running Mercedes that is (in theory) safe to drive (not that I want to test that theory). There are some little repair blips on the screen from time to time, but all cars need repairs.

In the meantime, I have nearly new 90,000 mile tires on the car, lifetime alignment with a large auto chain, an engine that should probably run to 700,000 miles with few problems, etc.

Plus another gas shortage will come along soon enough.

In the meantime, I drive a high quality car that I enjoy driving, knowing that if I am in a crash, chances are this diesel car will probably not catch on fire. What's that worth to ya?

I discovered the downside of having an older car that I know is worth more than the market will pay. I was rear ended in my cherry '87 325i a few months back. 228k, engine incredibly strong, one tiny body ding that really would bondo out easily, even a working cruise control, crack free dash, and rip free headliner. The lady driver - Toyota Sequoia - is from a well fixed background - her hubby a VP at a top software company. Good liability policy, and a good thing as the newer Honda behind me was also totaled and the Lexus I was pushed into probably sustained $2k in damage. Legal minimum property damage liability package here is $5k, not per vehicle, per incident. One friend said I should count myself lucky that the ins. co. offered my $3400 and change. I took it, after much attempting to raise it, minus $600 to keep the wreck. Everything I read said it's very hard to move them on property damage and lawyers will hardly ever take such a case because they know it's such a long shot.

I bought my 300SDL, a single owner car that spent most of its life in OR a few months back. 303 on the odo, perhaps not the smartest thing I've done but it's in pretty good shape all in all. In hindsight, I should have put in a boneyard 126 gasser odo with 150k before I registered it - not to defraud anyone - but to get a more reasonable ins. settlement in the event some clueless tank driver wipes me out. I suspect there was no history anywhere of the car's mileage. Too late now, oh well. Seems I've read that it's hard to swap speedos in these anyway, not sure.

[jake12tech]

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"

[97 SL320]

Originally Posted by jbach36

In the meantime, I drive a high quality car that I enjoy driving, knowing that if I am in a crash, chances are this diesel car will probably not catch on fire. What's that worth to ya?

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.

Originally Posted by kuene

The cars sold on BAT are picked apart like few other sales forums I've seen.

BAT is selective about what cars it handles, and it doesn't really auction off beaters unless they are very rare.

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.

[dkr]

I think it's a little looney to be thinking about resale value. If you thought you were going to make a profit, you probably should sell it.

Dkr.

[dieseldan44]

you have to be a DIY nut job to want one of these cars...like all of us...i mean lets call a spade a spade.

if you put up the car and its in good shape, or post it on the forum, you'll find someone who wants it and is willing to pay for an owner who is knowledgeable, honest and took good care of the vehicle.

[moon161]

Originally Posted by dieseldan44

you have to be a DIY nut job to want one of these cars...like all of us...i mean lets call a spade a spade.

Yes. I think there's a diversity of exact reasons, but they all have this in common.

[satyr]

Originally Posted by dieseldan44

you have to be a DIY nut job to want one of these cars...like all of us...i mean lets call a spade a spade.

if you put up the car and its in good shape, or post it on the forum, you'll find someone who wants it and is willing to pay for an owner who is knowledgeable, honest and took good care of the vehicle.

I wish that was true, but sadly that is not what my experience has been. I think among the "nuts" like us, there are a few who are looking to take others for a ride, at their own expense. A while back, I posted about our beloved w201 euro diesel with manual tranny on this board (and only this board) and calls we received ranged from ridiculous to downright insulting. One guy who wouldn't give his name said the car was worth no more than $150 which he would be willing to pay, but we would have to pay him for the fuel to come and pick it up. Another call came in and the guy basically whined about how hard it would be for him to find parts, etc. and wanted us to buy parts and make repairs before he would even come and look at it. The worst was the guy who wanted us to pay him to come look at the car.

After a few months, my neighbor met someone who loved diesel MBs and had a history of driving them while stationed in Europe. He said he wouldn't scrap it or sell it for parts and would use it to commute for work as I had. In the end, we got $300 for it. So, I have to agree with the OP that the market for diesels is shrinking while crappy "hybrids" with their 3 year lifespan, and gas guzzling SUVs are showing up in more driveways. I think the VW scandal hurt the diesel market for all manufacturers too.

I just wanted to post about our experience though, because I also think that as the market for diesels shrinks, our numbers as MB dieselheads, is in decline too. So, don't fool yourself by thinking you can post about your ride on here and someone who is knowledgeable, honest, and appreciative of your work to maintian the car will reach out to you and offer you a fair price right away...

[vwnate1]

"I'd hazard to say even the lowest crash worthiness car built today is still safer than your 1980 anything. "

This and the other 'not as safe' comments could only be made by people who've never seen any Mercedes' after collisions .

I seem them flipped, head - oned, rear ended, 3/4 hits, T-Boned and every other collision you can imagine and nothing stands up like these old Benzes do ~ they have very carefully designed crumple zones that give their life that you may walk away from collisions that would be fatal in almost any other car .

I vividly remember a parked W126 that was rear ended by a Semi going full tilt ~ the rear bumper was almost up the the rear window yet both rear doors open and latched O.K. and no one died, not even any blood was spilled .

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by vwnate1

"I'd hazard to say even the lowest crash worthiness car built today is still safer than your 1980 anything. "

This and the other 'not as safe' comments could only be made by people who've never seen any Mercedes' after collisions .

I seem them flipped, head - oned, rear ended, 3/4 hits, T-Boned and every other collision you can imagine and nothing stands up like these old Benzes do ~ they have very carefully designed crumple zones that give their life that you may walk away from collisions that would be fatal in almost any other car .

I vividly remember a parked W126 that was rear ended by a Semi going full tilt ~ the rear bumper was almost up the the rear window yet both rear doors open and latched O.K. and no one died, not even any blood was spilled .

You have no idea how much safety technology has advanced since the days of the w126. I'll take any 2017 US market compact over a w126 in a crash.