W123/W116/W126 Junkyard Finds - going away slowly

[marco5]

Remember 10 years ago? You'd walk into a junk yard and have a line up of 20-25 SD's, D's, TD's 1970-1990's?

The same junk yards I see today have maybe 1 or 2 with nothing left in them. So many are being crushed it's sad. There's a lot going around still, used parts, especially in california and etc but in 10 years from now, it may be very difficult to find parts.

[jake12tech]

They’re a dying breed. I can’t telk you the last time I saw a w123 around by me in PA or NJ.

[BWhitmore]

Subscribe to Row 52 offered by the PicknPull chain of auto wrecking yards in California and Nevada. You specify the model car you are looking for and Row 52 will notify you by email if one is located in one of their yards giving you a picture of the car. It is totally free and periodically they provide discounts on certain types of auto parts. If you are a distance from where the car is located they have parts pullers who will pull the part and ship it to you for a fee.

[okyoureabeast]

The cars have surpassed the 30 year old mark.

They're moving into hard to find "antique" territory. All of those stashes that we used to rave about from original seats, boxed OM617 engines, etc have long been exhausted.

It's a shame because it makes daily driving these cars a bigger risk

[BWhitmore]

Unfortunately, Mercedes, in my opinion, does not have the same respect for the W123 cars as they have for the more expensive models despite the fact that the W123 was produced in numbers that far exceeded other models and basically provided Mercedes with income during some tough times in Stuttgart.

[jay_bob]

Yep now all I see in the pull a part is early 2000s gassers that have been bought at the BHPH lots and driven to failure due to no maintenance. Lots of W220s, W163 ‘Alabama Trash Can’, W202/W203s and W210s.

The cars from the dark years of the D-C merger are coming home to roost.

[Screwdriva]

We're partly to blame for the problem. So many of us buy cheap aftermarket parts from suppliers like URO, further demonstrating to Mercedes Benz that demand for quality spares is falling.

I'm in the midst of restoring my 43 year old W115 240D and have been able source 99% of the parts needed from Mercedes Benz US/ EU dealers with only 3 exceptions:

1) Engine stabilizing strut (sourced from a Mercedes specialist in Germany)
2) Heater Blower Motor (Not available anywhere)
3) Radiator (Behr unit Not available anywhere)

Source your parts from the dealer if you can. And if you can't contact their classic parts departments to log your request for that part. They track requests and remanufacture accordingly.

[BWhitmore]

I have had a “fleet” of W123 cars (sedans, coupes and wagons) over the years and was lucky enough to travel to Northern California quite often and also have a patient wife who was OK with me spending hours in wrecking yards pulling 123 parts. I now have only one 123 car but still plenty of good used parts. The best yards to find 123 cars was in the SF Bay Area.

[97 SL320]

Originally Posted by marco5

So many are being crushed it's sad.

So it's OK when a person driving one of these cars can no longer care for it and sends it to the salvage yard for others to scavenge parts? It's sad that someone has lost their trusty soul.

Originally Posted by BWhitmore

Unfortunately, Mercedes, in my opinion, does not have the same respect for the W123 cars as they have for the more expensive models despite the fact that the W123 was produced in numbers that far exceeded other models and basically provided Mercedes with income during some tough times in Stuttgart.

So what you are saying is MB is greedy and caters to the higher end cars whose owners are not cheap?

If MB could make $ by supplying 30 year old cars with parts, why would the " greed " not kick in and parts flow freely?

Over in this thread https://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/399740-broken-console-pin-need-new-one.html Our guy wants to pay $ 10 for a console pin to fit an unspecified car ( we have to guess ). Are you willing to front the costs of manufacture? Seems like a good money maker no? When can we expect to place an order?

In another thread, a person made window sliders for themselves and a few extras to sell. Being they are the engineering type, they kept an accurate record of costs and priced it to break even or make a modest profit. They were inundated with " I want to pay less " , " I want to trade parts " and not much " Thank you for making parts unobtainable elsewhere that improve a weak design."

Originally Posted by Screwdriva

We're partly to blame for the problem. So many of us buy cheap aftermarket parts from suppliers like URO, further demonstrating to Mercedes Benz that demand for quality spares is falling.

. . .

Gee, the voice of reason falling on deaf ears.

Originally Posted by Screwdriva

Source your parts from the dealer if you can. And if you can't contact their classic parts departments to log your request for that part. They track requests and remanufacture accordingly.

Nope, the STEALER is evil and never buy parts from them, just complain that MB pushes parts to NLA that no one if buying.

[97 SL320]

Originally Posted by BWhitmore

I have had a “fleet” of W123 cars (sedans, coupes and wagons) over the years . .. I now have only one 123 car. . . .

This should answer why many parts are NLA

[BWhitmore]

I am not saying Mercedes is greedy. They are a for profit business. I am saying they might see a number of W123 owners willing to buy genuine parts for their cars if they were available. I also am not implying that 123 owners are cheap. The majority of 123 owners that I have encountered are hard working generous people who value the 123 car for what it is - a well engineered car that given the proper care will outlast the majority of cars built today. I started collecting 123 parts over 25 years ago. I have sold many on Peach Parts, at very fair prices. I do have a number of NLA parts that have been for sale on this forum for months but no takers.

[okyoureabeast]

Originally Posted by Screwdriva

We're partly to blame for the problem. So many of us buy cheap aftermarket parts from suppliers like URO, further demonstrating to Mercedes Benz that demand for quality spares is falling.

I'm in the midst of restoring my 43 year old W115 240D and have been able source 99% of the parts needed from Mercedes Benz US/ EU dealers with only 3 exceptions:

1) Engine stabilizing strut (sourced from a Mercedes specialist in Germany)
2) Heater Blower Motor (Not available anywhere)
3) Radiator (Behr unit Not available anywhere)

Source your parts from the dealer if you can. And if you can't contact their classic parts departments to log your request for that part. They track requests and remanufacture accordingly.

All three of these should be capable of being rebuilt domestically. You'll have to find a guy capable to work on it, but there's no reason why that can't be done.

[ROLLGUY]

I recently sold six parts cars, a shed full of parts, and a back yard filled with body parts. They are all going to be shipped overseas. Here in CA, many of these cars are going back to there "roots" because of them having little to no rust. Yes they are even getting scarce in the yards around here......Rich

[Father Of Giants]

Originally Posted by jake12tech

They’re a dying breed. I can’t telk you the last time I saw a w123 around by me in PA or NJ.

I just saw a W123 today, one time two different W123 minutes apart. Spotted a few W126's as well.

They're still around in the south, I have noticed NO ONE is selling their W126's anymore, I used to get a full page of W126's on craigslist two years ago. Now hardly anything shows up, also the value of them has gone up a little as well.


Even the oh so common 420sel only shows ONE result with my area maxed out.


Like I say, I'll just jump ship to the next gen when the old one dies out. Later I'll be driving old W211's.

[Squiggle Dog]

I can say that I buy genuine Mercedes parts most of the time. When I don't, it's because the part is either no longer available, or totally outrageous and not affordable (say 20 times the price of aftermarket). I'm poor, but I'm not cheap. I blame this problem on you guys who want to only put bargain-basement-price parts on your cars. Haha.