W123/W116/W126 Junkyard Finds - going away slowly - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

marco5 · #31 07-01-2019, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lance Allison

OUCH!!

HAHAHHA LMAO!!! - Do people there just drive them and not even change the oil? Just drive 100k until motor seized and claim insurance? Or change the oil at Jiffy Quick Lube every 35-40K....

Yeah I'll have the premium oil please... as they put Walmart dyno oil in.

Walter K · #32 07-02-2019, 11:05 AM

The W116, W123, and W126 cars have not slowly disappeared from junk yards around here, they disappeared quickly like turning off a light switch. I'm still looking for a decent replacement fender for an 83 wagon, and there has not been a suitable replacement locally in over a year.

I have located a car that is a potential parts car that I will probably pick up for the fender, if not other parts, although I don't have lots of confidence that it has seen any sort of care in the last decade.

Wish I had had the chance to pick up more parts, as it looks like it is pretty much all over around here.

Regards,

D.

vwnate1 · #33 07-02-2019, 12:07 PM

Kind of rough to say it plain like that but it serves well to illustrate that "poor" really is a state of mind, not how much money you have or not....

Yes, there are plenty of people who deliberately drive their vehicles (and usually everything else too) into the ground .

I had customers like this, one in particular for years, she trusted my shop but she also knew that coming in for an oil change before that little red light on the dashboard flickered, was wasted money .

I showed her the owner's booklet , she didn't care - she knew I was just trying to get her to spend more than necessary .

I knew a Subaru family up North in the 1970's , one Woman didn't understand the need for oil changes and at about 32,000 miles her car stalled and wouldn't re start, she had it towed to the dealer who explained this to her and she said 'oh well, it lasted this long with only gas fillups, how much to buy another new one ?" and drove off happy....

Lastly, it's easy to bag on the South but this typ of "poor" mind set is every where and usually these people are *very* rpound of their ignorance .

Diseasel300 · #34 07-02-2019, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vwnate1

Kind of rough to say it plain like that but it serves well to illustrate that "poor" really is a state of mind, not how much money you have or not....

Yes, there are plenty of people who deliberately drive their vehicles (and usually everything else too) into the ground .

I had customers like this, one in particular for years, she trusted my shop but she also knew that coming in for an oil change before that little red light on the dashboard flickered, was wasted money .

I showed her the owner's booklet , she didn't care - she knew I was just trying to get her to spend more than necessary .

I knew a Subaru family up North in the 1970's , one Woman didn't understand the need for oil changes and at about 32,000 miles her car stalled and wouldn't re start, she had it towed to the dealer who explained this to her and she said 'oh well, it lasted this long with only gas fillups, how much to buy another new one ?" and drove off happy....

Lastly, it's easy to bag on the South but this typ of "poor" mind set is every where and usually these people are *very* rpound of their ignorance .

"Alabama Trash Can" refers to the ML series, mainly the first generation. They were the first vehicle produced at the then-new Alabama factory and had comically bad build quality compared to what MB was producing elsewhere. They're considered a "garbage" car, hence the name "Alabama Trash Can". RUN, don't walk away from those cars.

Lance Allison · #35 07-02-2019, 03:16 PM

When I said "OUCH" it wasn't meant to be derogatory toward anyone here on the forum.

I've heard that AL plant turned out some pretty horrid W163's in their initial batches. Seems as if the ones still running like to show up at the friendly neighborhood BHPH lots or on CL.

That said, I also know a few people with cars that were nice when they got them but went straight to the crapper quickly. One in particular is a friend with a W210 with dark tan goop all over the inside of the oil cap and in the valve cover, barely anything in the coolant tank, straight ammonia in the windshield washer tank, and standing water in both rear footwells so bad i'm surprised there aren't frogs and water mosquitoes in there. And OMG the rust.

You can see light through the panels and no one will put the car on a lift because the posts would poke through. This car should have been sent to the crusher years ago, but somehow it keeps soldiering on.

97 SL320 · #36 07-02-2019, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vwnate1

I showed her the owner's booklet , she didn't care - she knew I was just trying to get her to spend more than necessary .

Now try and be a shop somewhere and deal with fixing this car when everything is broken and the car owner screams they are just being ripped off.

jay_bob · #37 07-03-2019, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diseasel300

"Alabama Trash Can" refers to the ML series, mainly the first generation. They were the first vehicle produced at the then-new Alabama factory and had comically bad build quality compared to what MB was producing elsewhere. They're considered a "garbage" car, hence the name "Alabama Trash Can". RUN, don't walk away from those cars.

Yes that was my point about the W163. No disrespect to the user, but to the vehicle itself. One of the many dark reminders of the Daimler-Chrysler marriage from the 90s.

The W164 is much better. I have one that just turned 155k and got my mileage award in the mail last week. My older son drives it and aside from a few cheap interior pieces it’s going strong.

The W166 is basically a W212 interior on an SUV body with the proper build/finish quality. My wife drives this one and it’s doing great with 65k miles.

All that said, there is a thriving market here in the urban south where the 15-20 year old MBs get their final owner from a BHPH lot. Typically these are lower income folks who are motivated to buy an MB for the image, and fail to realize that proper maintenance is necessary. Taking it to quick lube once every 2 years won’t cut it.