Been trying to find a less than perfect, but acceptable w124 diesel. Almost impossible it seems these days. Not expecting cream puffs that are between 24-31 years old but it seems these cars are all about trashed these days or people want $8500 for their clean 300D and I just don’t see something like that worth more than $3k on a good day. Here’s yesterday events

Craigslist Prospect #1 92 300D 2.5 270k miles. Looks a bit ugly first impression, nothing a good wet sand and buff couldn’t clean up. Clean interior. $1600 obo.

Upon arrival, see the car. Rust everywhere, quarters fenders doors, sunroof is about to rust a hole and the sunroof is calked shut. There’s sheet metal self tapped holding up the headliner. There’s some toggle switch mounted on the vent with wires zip tied running to the fuse box. Guy who’s showing it to me says “it might start”. Turn key, glows. Zero crank. Vents blow out hot air except the two centers that blow nothing. Threw him the key and he said you want it? $1300 no less. I said scrap it, it doesn’t even run and it’s rusted everywhere! The ODO read 380000 not 270. What a joke!

Car #2. 95 E300 345k miles. Looks REAL clean in pictures. $2500
Lifter noise, head gasket leaks oil, block heater cord has two extensions and flops around near the fan shroud. Wiring harness looks a mess like someone rewired it running to the shut off valve. Hole in wheel well. Rear brakes shot. Shifts super smooth but kind of kicks into the next gear and just slips in. Tires about to blow out from dry rot.

Brake lines ran and crimped super hard at the rear wheel it looked like it was going to break. Water in coolant system. Muffler is rubbing the control arm and safety wire hung it up. Vibrates hard when driving at low speeds. Subframe mounts are rusting. Injectors are shot and puffing white smoke at idle, reeks of diesel.

Guy asks me what it’s worth and I told him about 7-800$. He says I’ll throw it on eBay they’re going for $4-5k. The paint was great on the car and hid everything but that was about it. Maybe Stevie wonder would buy it for $5k.


So I’m getting to the point is there any diamonds in the rough out there anymore or just overpriced garbage and unrealistic sellers? Looked at a few besides this. I saw a 92 with 90k miles for $8500 on Craigslist

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

I have noticed a few too, complete scrap piles of cars yet the owner says the oldschool look is back and people are paying 10K for these - I know what I got.. no lowballers man!!

I think they are mostly impressed by youtube videos or something else.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

It's because you live in the North East.

Snow, salt, and ****e weather ruin all cars.

If you want diamonds in the rough, take a month trip to California and pick one up.

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

There are good ones here in California at reasonable prices. I rescued mine from a barn about six years ago and have put almost 100k miles on it. I couldn't get it past 60mph on the freeway and the hood star was missing. Everything cleaned up and it looks very nice now and pretty much everything is working as it should. The only time it let me down was right after I put a rebuilt starter motor in it and the replaced starter motor failed out of state. It would be worth it to find a member here check out the car and plan to fly in and drive it back.

I really hate the state of California, but the lack of rust is one thing that the state has going for it. If the state government could regulate it, I'm sure they would find a way to make the old cars rust out.

Dkr.

First off. If you find a clean example you'd better be ready with cash in hand and be the first one to check it out because it'll go fast even if the price is a little high.
I found a 1999 e300. Called the owner first day it was offered and got on a train and met him at the train station next day. Paid his asking price. Drove it home. About 800 miles.
He told me he had a bunch of calls. Which I would've expected.
So you're in competition with others who are willing to pay more for a clean car.
The owner even had a guy who was willing to pay more than the asking price. The seller was a retired deputy sheriff. Very nice guy.
I usually don't dicker if the car is a good runner. Even if it has a few issues.
Some people expect a 25 year old car to look showroom. I don't.
Just sayin.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Yeah condition is everything if prices are reasonable.

Nice cars in the 5-9k range are around. They move fast.

Bad cars and rusty w116 cars in the $5-12k range. Tend to sit.

Nice cars in the $10-50k range that sit forever then ??

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)

I'd rather spend 5k on this

https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/cto/d/alexandria-mercedes-2007-r320-cdi/6942692255.html

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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.

Run away! Those are pure crap.

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The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

They say there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes. You can easily buy a crappy one but then have to put $5,000 to bring it up to where it should be because someone didn't maintain it along the way.

I have a very nice '91 Mercedes 300d. The reason it's nice is because I keep it up which takes time and money. If/when I go to sell it, I want more for it.

If you get a crappy car, it needs a ton of work because nobody changed the oil or anything else, they let the car go to crap and now you have bigger problems than had they simply done the small stuff. Plus what is your time worth? There's a cost factor to fixing all this stuff.

So go ahead and buy a cheap one. You'll spend $5,000 in time, money, and aggrevation fixing it. Or spend more for one that's been taken care of that you can drive the day you get it.

I paid $880 for my 300SDL and probably have $5k in it now but I have mostly fixed everything with new parts and I know it was done properly. I'd rather buy a cheaper one that doesn't have any huge issues than pay a lot of money for less worn out parts that need replacing either way.

LOL a friend was stuck with of these and literally couldn't give it away.

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

I spent $2k on a 93 300d two years ago maintained with service records. Threw lower control arms on it back brakes and tires. I’ve had about 30 Mercedes Benz diesels the past few years. I still don’t see a clean car being worth over $3k. Not really unrealistic

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

I see the expensive ones sitting. I don’t see anyone breaking down the door or know anybody highly interested in these old diesels besides a few people on the forums. Most people assume they’re expensive to maintain unreliable garbage and wouldn’t want a 20+ year old car.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

Biggest piece of crap ever produced by Benz. Those things were a joke. I worked on quite a few when I was the Benz dealer.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

If I go looking chances are I will not find something acceptable for the price I want to pay. Instead I seem to accidentally run across suitable candidates when mot really looking. I will pay good money for exceptional cars though within reason.

Also since you really cannot rust proof older Mercedes with the factory spray on coating. The south is a better source for them.

It is just me perhaps. I do not want really high millage cars. Simply because even more maintenance may be required.

I do have people drop by that want to sell them as it is known I have them. Where some get the ideal of what they want to sell them for is beyond me. I have no wish to burst their bubbles. So just decline any interest.

If for any reason you have to use them in the winter in the rustbelt areas. I would strongly suggest pick another brand. As for some of the newer ones the servcability is so suspect. You cannot give them away in our region.

My daughter and son in law are visiting from northern Ontario this week. They are in the process of selling their auto related business there. They are driving an old 2008 Toyota rav 4 I believe. with four wheel drive. I resecured a rattle with the converter shield. I looked around and it was still spotless underneath. So I had a real look.

No stone chips or dents. Interior is still as new. Very low miilage example. So I asked the daughter to sell it to us when they want to. As long as the damage was not severe when they got it from the insurance company. At the age they would have paid almost nothing for it. I could not find the repaired area and I looked. They buy almost all the insurance write offs way up north. They have no competition there locally. I will talk to the son in law later today. This thing still looks so close to a new vehicle you would never see one locally in this condition after three years here. They have been travelling deciding where they want to resettle. Having had enough of the cold up in the north. Our cost in the family unknown but at the wifes and my age. They will remember what we have done for them and cater to the old fellow. Plus I mentioned it would be for the wife. I probably will have to either go there to pick it up or have it shipped.

Why are they driving something so old on their trip? They have more modern vehicles. The additional space in the back and it really is not an old car in the general scheme of things. Except perhaps for the previous owner that probably got a lot less than what it was worth from an insurance company. If it was sourced from them. When the daughter told me it was just a 2008 it really surprised me.

After some thought I think the low milage is because the highway to the closest place you can call a town even is three and one half hours away from their northern city. The highway gets closed for periods of time seasonably. Even the roads in their city from time to time. The snow and cold conditions there are brutal through the winter. It may also just be a car they picked up somehow. They ship parts all over north America. Air freight in the wintertime is my guess. In the far north they pack the snow down on the roads rather than remove it was my experience many years ago when I was on a visit in the north. Things may have changed but it worked. For those that worked in the northern mines the pay is very good and you get a reduced income tax rate. I went a half mile down in a modern northern Canadian mine many years ago. It was either the number one mine or number two in Canada for profitability at the time.