Hypothetically, when would you retire an MB Diesel. My personal limit is the engine. I would retire my w124.128 when the engine needs a rebuild. I feel that would be the end of its service life.

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Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz

Not if it has a good body, in my mind.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Unlike most of today's throwaway cars, MB designed their cars to go well over one million miles IF (it's a big if) the owner performed proper regular maintenance per the FSM. In my estimation, only about 10% of the original owners performed proper service, thus shortening the life of the car.

That said, if you treat 'em right, you can hand the keys to your children and they in turn can hand the keys to THEIR children.

I rebuilt and swapped a 300D engine into my '79 240D when the old OM616 engine died.

The more people that call it quits, the better the value of my car is.

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93

I keep the 87 300d 5spd running as long as it's still entertaining to own. It's fun to drive, make noise and a bit of smoke etc but it's in no way a rational decision. There are far cheaper/safer/faster/more comfortable / more efficient cars out there today. A large part of that is the manual transmission. If it was still automatic I would've moved on a long time ago. When I get bored of it I'll dump it. I'm not taking this heap to my grave.

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

When it no longer amuses me.

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1981 240D Four on the floor, Orient Red over Parchment, bought with 154,000 but it's a daily driver and up to 180,000 miles, mostly original paint and all original interior.

Yep. those evil car makers take great delight in keeping minions like you down.

Modern cars are not throwaways in the sense that they are impossible to fix. They are throwaways in the sense that they are inexpensive to buy compared to the cost of labor to repair AND many buyers finance the car and never pay it off before they trade it in. In areas of high purchase price / low labor costs, cars are fixed over and over.

Cost of manufacture has gone down over the years pushing more and more items into the " not worth fixing when compared to cost of purchase " . That mower you bought in 1970 needed attention on a regular basis and was expensive to purchase. The mower you bought in 2019 is inexpensive, lasts a long time but repair labor costs have not gone down compared to cost of manufacture making it a throwaway.

Here is a real life example of a modern car giving an acceptable service life.

In 2017 I bought a lightly crashed 06 Chrysler PT Cruiser with 162 K miles. It is a decent car with great fit / finish and is an exercise in ease of manufacture. There are some areas lacking like thinish paint on panel edges and water getting between spot welded panels causing rust but it is an inexpensive car. This car cost $ 14,000 ( 18,800 today ) That is $ 0.0864 per mile less repairs.

Near as I can tell, the only repairs this car had was a CV boot , something that required the fuel tank to be removed , battery , brake lining. I'd say this car performed it's primary mission by providing good service.

I buy broken , 150,000 ish mile thrown away cars with decent bodies, spend way more on parts than the car is " worth " but get another relatively trouble free 100,000 miles at very low cost per mile.

As with all of my cars I change parts when they near end of service life rather than waiting for a random break down. I replaced the following parts that were original , nearing end of service life but still working: Timing belt / water pump / wires / coil / crankshaft sensor / all coolant hoses / 4 fuel injectors / 2 belts

The following were replaced because they were worn out: valve cover gasket / spark plugs / 4 wheel bearings / some AC o rings.

I pulled the alternator apart, lubed the bearings ( still had grease ) and found the brushes to have 45% life left. I suspected a AC evap leak so replaced that along with the still functioning heater core. It is a dash out job but , due to ease of manufacture , is super easy.

Really depends, but in my case rust or a wreck.

My W210 is rough, rust spots all over, cracked bumper, a piece of the back seat got chew by, something.

But the engine is healthy and smooth, my transmission is probably going out. I actually want to restore it with a repaint and full overhaul.

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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.

Depending on the individuals life situation. Few thirty to forty year old cars will have the almost constant reliability much newer lower milage cars have. As long as you do not buy newer junk brands. There is today some real garbage out there.

In our case we have to have this reliability factor. At the same time others may not need this almost absolute requirement. Plus there is a time and effort required to keep really old cars serviceable that someone may not have the time for.

Older cars and paid for service are no longer a good alternative. I guess I should qualify that with just how deep your pockets are and if you do not mind the cost.

I guess what I am driving at. A thirty to forty year old car will not work out well for all owners. Yet for some it is fine.

What I do not think is the greatest ideal is trying to maintain and keep a very high milage older car on the road. There are a lot of parts involved with a car and many are going to wear out with use and millage.

Personally I tried to limit my purchases to cars that appear to have no more than 200K when considering older Mercedes to purchase. Never going by the odometer but just general observations from experience. So my interest is as a hobby rather than trying to maintain really old cars for daily service.

You cannot use them in the winter here anyways as the salt would finish them fast. So as year round drivers they are out of the question to start with here. Still show me the right Mercedes diesel car at the right price. I would buy it.

I have been driving for 61 years. Everything has changed in that time frame relating to car ownership. It will continue to change. The speed of change for almost everything has also increased so it is wise to pay some attention. Far too many people are not from what I observe.

Having owned and maintained two W123 - 617.xyz vehicles over approximately 20+ years and 450,000 miles, you good people humor me and I thank you:

The "new" wears off of a new car pretty quickly. I work PT at a wholesale auto auction and have driven almost every car and year that one can imagine within reason.

I cannot imagine anything else giving me the satisfaction that my 1983 W123 diesel does. I actually look forward to driving it and swinging an occasional wrench. I have had it for 8 years and do not plan to replace it.

I don't think I'd ever get rid of my car if the body was still good. The body on mine has some rust issues, former crash damage, and badly needs paint. But, I've already restored it mechanically almost completely, so I might as well stick with it. I'd rather keep one car for a very long time than playing a game of buying one after the other because I get bored with it or don't want to put more money into it. There was a time when I'd put a few dollars into a car, and then something else would break, and I'd get discouraged and sell it and buy another car, and it would have something break, so then I'd get rid of it and buy a different one. It was a waste of labor and money to do so as I always sold at a loss.

I think the only thing that would make me give up on my W116 300SD daily driver is if it rusted beyond practically saving, got wrecked so badly that even doing a front or rear end sheet metal transplant wouldn't fix it, I got an insurance payout that would allow me to buy a similar car with a very nice body in the color I want, or someone offered me enough money for it that I could get a good head start on my fintail wagon project, but then I don't know how I'd get to work.

Regarding modern cars, they are all ugly to me and too difficult to repair. I want a simple car that's not made with a bunch of plastic parts that have to come off every time I do a repair, which risk breakage in the process. Obviously my W116's interior isn't the best example of this, but it's far better in this regard than even the next chassis. No car maker is building the kind of car I want, so I'll stay driving the cars that were made when they were.

At some point I'm going to go from daily driving my W116 to daily driving a fintail wagon, but it needs a complete body rebuild (two cars cut into one) and a full restoration, so it won't be any time soon. The fintails are more my style because they are even simpler cars with that recycled 1950s styling and even have a lot of safety features like crumple zones, collapsible steering wheel and column, padded and recessed interior parts, disc brakes, and so forth. It's safer and better-handling than a similar-looking 1950s American car would be, and with the turbo diesel engine I installed, it will also get decent fuel economy.

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Stop paying for animal enslavement, cruelty, and slaughter. Save your health and the planet. Go vegan! I did 18 years ago. https://challenge22.com/

DON'T MESS WITH MY MERCEDES!


1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Highly Optioned, 350,000+ Miles

Oh, and for the record. I still use a 1960s lawn mower (starts on the first pull), and if I owned my own home, practically everything in the house, including all the appliances would be vintage. My grandma's pink refrigerator from 1953 was still working when her house from 1947 was sold this year. In the meantime, my modern fridges have constantly failed due to things like plastic parts breaking and circuitboard issues. They don't make things like they used to! Actually, this old mower has been less of a hassle than the newer lawn mowers I've owned (which were complicated, flimsy, and had too many parts which would keep breaking). This one outlasted them all.

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Stop paying for animal enslavement, cruelty, and slaughter. Save your health and the planet. Go vegan! I did 18 years ago. https://challenge22.com/

DON'T MESS WITH MY MERCEDES!


1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Highly Optioned, 350,000+ Miles

Squiggle Dog, your posts help make my life more enjoyable. Bravo.

As I was changing the mower deck belt yesterday and sharpened the blades. I thought about we have had this particular ride on mower for more than thirty years. Could be forty even. Yet overall it still is in pretty good general condition. A craftsman probably built by Murray. Even the tires are still good.

I do not know who built the one at the cottage. It is a MTD and they may have been the builder. It is newer and has various problems plus tire issues with the carlise tires on it.

I asked the wife to look out on the local swap and sell for a pretty new craftsman mower. The last ones sears sold here before closing up looked very similar to our old one.

That MTD needs replacement soon. Or a serious rework. Both the home and cottage lots are of similar size and terrain. So the service both have seen are similar. Except the mtd is only twenty years old. I looked at many in the 2,500 price range for a replacement. I just do not think they are as good as that old craftsman model by a substantial margin. I will Maintain the craftsman as needed and problems develop. I have replaced nothing other than batteries,belts,and oil. Plus a set of blades and straightened a blade shaft because of stupidity by me.