Fact is, some "brands" have no manufacturing capability whatsoever. They cannot "make" anything.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

For those of us who have vintage Mercedes Benz automobiles in the fleet, a problem began to emerge about five years ago. For years you could go to the dealership and purchase pretty much any part for any benz going back to 1927. For some reason, MB has decided to stop stocking many parts for the vintage market.

That means in order to keep our older cars running, we are forced to turn to third-party parts providers and we get situations like the OP. It is a sad situation and to me it says MB has become just another car company like Ford or GM. Buy it today, drive it five years then TRADE IT FOR A NEW ONE.

Several years ago, I visited the local MB dealer to buy a part. I overheard a young car salesman asking an older car salesman about my '82 300D parked outside. The older salesman said "Son, that car is a car salesman's worst nightmare. Those diesels will last forever. And the people who drive them will keep driving them them forever."

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

I had some salesmen walk up at fletcher jones in Newport Beach CA as I parked right next to an SLS gull-wing. The smiled at me and turned 180 deg on one heel and walked away. I bought an exhaust hanger doughnut.

China stuff is hit and miss. I am powerless.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles

Well this is the proof from another poster .

Attached Thumbnails

 

Went to local MB dealer (130 miles RT) to get MB diesel return lines. They made it VARY clear that they DID not stock any parts for the older MB's, did not want to work on them, and that they were NOT interested in looking up, and ordering any parts. Thankfully we now have the internet.

The local Stealership (Belmont CA) was subject of a investigation into it installing non-OE parts and some car owners took their cars to an Indy who discovered cheap non-factory parts were directly involved. I just did a search (NOT a Google!) and found the story on the Internet:
"October 5, 2015 — Mercedes-Benz parts are the focus of a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging the automaker charged customers premium prices for cheap parts. Lead plaintiff Steve Ferrari claims Mercedes advertised it used only genuine parts when the automaker was charging double for non-Mercedes replacement parts.

The lawsuit says Mercedes-Benz owners have lost at least $6.5 million paying for non-Mercedes parts that aren't as good as true Mercedes-Benz parts. Based on court documents, the plaintiff accuses Mercedes of committing fraud, negligent misrepresentation and violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

The racketeering charge is based on the relationship between Autobahn Motors Inc. and Sonic Automotive, both companies allegedly part of the scheme.
The suit claims the operations manager at Autobahn Motors is the person who started and managed the alleged scheme, advertising for years that only genuine Mercedes parts were used as replacement parts. Mercedes allegedly has always known about the scheme because of its close relationship with Autobahn.
The plaintiffs say the defendants knowingly sold the non-Mercedes parts and committed fraud by advertising the parts were genuine.
Sonic Automotive is named as a defendant because it has over 100 dealerships tied to Mercedes-Benz. (cut)"
https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2015/mercedes-benz-parts-lawsuit.shtml

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!