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

marco5 · #1 06-28-2019, 01:16 PM

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 · #2 06-28-2019, 01:19 PM

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

Father Of Giants · #3 06-29-2019, 01:35 AM

Quote:

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.

97 SL320 · #4 06-29-2019, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Father Of Giants

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.

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

Squiggle Dog · #5 06-30-2019, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 97 SL320

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

I'll be daily driving a fintail one of these days.

But, I'll likely be daily driving my W116 for many more years.

BWhitmore · #6 06-28-2019, 01:40 PM

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 · #7 06-28-2019, 01:50 PM

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 · #8 06-28-2019, 02:01 PM

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 · #9 06-28-2019, 03:16 PM

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.

Lance Allison · #10 07-01-2019, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay_bob

W163 ‘Alabama Trash Can’

OUCH!!

marco5 · #11 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.

vwnate1 · #12 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 · #13 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 · #14 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.

jay_bob · #15 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.