A couple of pics from today. Promised the wife I would get rid of it as soon as it quit running - that was about 1991 or thereabouts. I am the original owner. Still cranks in about half a second and runs like a top.

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Nice. Let me know when youre serious

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)

Even though I've had terrible experiences with our lemon 300SDL, I still yarn for a good condition W126 diesel.
Clean car.

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1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.

My lesson learned, don't buy a car based on the body, my E300 has ugly rust spots but it has the mechanically sound engine and suspension out of all the cars we own.

My brother's E320 had massive dents on it and skirt damage at purchase, but is mechanically sound.

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1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.

Cars never quit unless you decide to quit repairing them. Silly wife. She should have seen that coming. Even an old Mercedes is cheaper than a new wife.

edit: how many of those garage doors are yours?

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Just sold the big house after 35 years and moved in the townhouse. No more yardman. Yay.

Trying again: Here is the SD in Jan 2021. I ran it out of diesel fuel yesterday but it started up easily with a couple of gallons; did not even have to use the pump. So I filled it up and clocked exactly two hundred miles on the Atlanta expressway system at about 68 mph.

Filled up again completely, so much that I could see the diesel fuel in the neck of the filler tube. Checked the mileage and calculated 29.3 mpg. And with 264K miles on it. Have never really done a calc with expressway driving before and was pleasantly surprised. Usually get say 16mpg and maybe 24 mpg combined. (OK, do not get it - I have tried twice to get it to show the pic right up side up; no luck. Not sure why.)

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Looks great after 3 decades of ownership! Nice!

Nice!!

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)

Beautiful!

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

Very nice. They definitely don't make them like this any more. A modern S Class will become an electrical/computer nightmare after a few short years.

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Current fleet:
1998 E300 turbodiesel
2008 E320 bluetec - leaky oil cooler seals replaced
2012 S350 bluetec
2015 GL350 bluetec

Sold:
1996 Passat TDI
1997 E300 diesel

Beautiful 300SD! I drove one for 12+ years, loved it. Will get another some day.

264k miles in 39 years....thats not even 7k a year! Its had an easy life!

I drove mine ~130k over those 12 years.....sold it still running great but dying of rust.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

A 1 owner early W126 is a very big accomplishment in itself. You'd be lucky to find one today that isn't on its 4th or 5th owner.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

My poor 560SEL needs a bath in the worst way but it's supposed to rain all this coming week so no real point. At least it's grey so it doesn't look terrible in traffic!

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Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

They're hard to find but I was only the second owner of my 1982 300SD (bought in 2003). And I was third owner of my 420SEL (bought in 2011)....second owner only had it for a couple years though before giving up on maintaining it and thus selling it.

Usually the condition follows the ownership patterns....1-3 owners usually result in a pretty well cared for car....the trashed ones have a huge list of owners.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)