Hopefully others won't miss your point. Who here is daily driving a Pontoon or Patent Wagon? Time moves on.

The last two weeks there have been a flurry of 300ds and 300sds coming into the SoCal pick and pulls according to my “alerts”. And this is after only a trickle of cars over the last year. Apparently it is seasonal or economy driven.

Unfortunately this is a one way street. The cars go in, get picked then crushed. Never to be seen again.

On another note I just got back from the SF Bay Area. Berkeley is off the charts. Hats off to all the folks keeping them going up there. I saw one 123 drive by every half hour as I walked around town. Down on the Peninsula in my old home of Los Altos there are still quite a few driving around. Interesting demographic there. In the old Silicon Valley neighborhoods it was older folks driving the cars, in Berkeley it was young people (at least young to me < 40).

Yeah it is going away. I’m certainly on my last ones. The JY scene has really changed over the last 15 years. I remember not even bothering to check if they had a car and I would show up and there would be two cars to pull from. Now I had to sign up for alerts and I’m discussing the same cars with other SoCal members when they hit the ground.

I have mixed feelings on the URO stuff. Yep, it does suck. The parts just suck and some have had to just go in the trash. But when they do work they allow me to keep my cars on he road for cheap. I just don’t use the cheap stuff for mission critical components that’ll leave me stuck on the side of the road.

Window gasket? Yeah URO is thin and crappy. But it seals and it was available.

Water, oil, tranny hoses? Heck no, use MB or find some good hose and crimp fittings.

One of the best yards to find W123 cars is the PicknPull in Moss Landing, CA (just north of Castroville on Highway 1). I have been there at times when they will have 4-5 123 cars including wagons and coupes. While these occasions are getting fewer as time goes by, the SF Bay Area seems to be a good area for classic Mercedes. The other nice thing about Moss Landing is the yard is located about 1/2 mile from the ocean. Very cool climate.

Parts cars are very infrequently now on the east coast of Canada. Rust long ago got the ones that owners used in the winter. This may be getting very close to the last chance to repair any deficiencies cheap and fairly easy on the 123s.


Those that have them locally are not abusing them anymore. Plus have little interest in even selling them. I am parting out an excellent running 240d so whoever in my family gets it gets all the parts as well. Also many of those parts fit my five cylinder models.


If I can get a member to supply a good bottom passenger front seat cover in black. The parted 240d has then a perfect interior set. Either there was a defect in the material or someone spilled perhaps a chemical on the seat. I favor a defect in the vinyl as it is so strange appearing. That is the later seat covers being a 1983.

Todays cars are so complex We as a family buy the most trouble free brands we can. The time is at past here where if I see a rusted out wreck with say a pretty mint interior. I will get them now as I think others would pay the shipping costs now for good un cracked dashes and sound original interiors. I have never seen a palomino interior go pinkish this far north yet. If the car spent it's life here. Also uncracked dashes are not that rare either.

Why should MB remake NLA parts when yours are not selling?

The supply of up to early 90's MB is all but drying up in Florida.

Last time I found a 85-95 Mercedes in the salvage yard around here, some guy was stripping them to resell on ebay. Any part alternator sized and smaller. I got a few parts before he collected it all.

Sad Days
 

Subbed .

I'll be daily driving a fintail one of these days. :cool: But, I'll likely be daily driving my W116 for many more years.

I've rounded up some backup such as starter, alternator, steering gears, injectors, cruse and climate control modules, speedos and a ton of other parts. I've rebuilt some and will finish after I get my project running.

I haven't shopped for parts in a long while. I even have interior parts including an entire set of zebrano trim to veneer. I'm about done shopping for parts.

That's the way to do it, I need to do the same for my W210.

Be sure to do some research on what interchanges as different models used the same parts.

97 C280 and 97 E320 same outside door handles.

97 SL320 and 97 C280 same HVAC control ( once version coding is changed )

Well there is kind of a rule. If you have a good spare part. What it is intended to replace usually will not fail. Now if you do not have a spare one it will fail.

I would rather use a really sound used original part over an aftermarket one today as well. Chances are it will outlast the new one. This does not apply to parts that are unpredictable.

In my opinion for the cost a used set of rear axels with still intact boots if cheap are a good item to grab while still available. If you intend to keep any 123 for the duration. Just mark them for the side of the car they came off.

Original replacements are really expensive. I have grown to dislike Chinese bearings and the current rebuilder of the old original axels will probably stop doing them at some point.

Where you will always be able to relube and reboot after inspection a used axel. Instaling them on the opposite sides also gives you new wear areas.

There is also a chance that if you relube or even just add lubricant to your current rear outer cv joints. They may last well beyond the total miles you can accumulate.


I think most failures are simply the lubricant has slowly escaped over the years. What I am absolutely certain of is had they been lubricated with grease they never would have lasted the miles these cars have seen. I base my thoughts on observations of front cv joint failures.

...

OUCH!! :eek::eek: