We are all running into the same brick wall; more and more parts for vintage MB automobiles are showing as NLA. The dealerships don't seem to care about our problems and it doesn't appear MB cares. It is starting me to rethink these cars for use as a daily driver......

Yep

like what? Ive found that the parts sites including Pelican have gotten worse and worse. Theyd rather carry and sell a million types of oil additives and irrelevant tools, compared to parts. I havent hit any major snags yet. Some stuff that has to come from Germany and can take a while, but that might be expected...

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)

I had to travel 200 miles last week for a diesel fuelctank for my 300D. I can definitely relate to this. If you need the little interior things you can create models on a 3D printer their is a selection of things you can make

https://stlbase.com/browse/mercedes+benz+w123/

The only thing the dealer can do for you is check to see if another dealer has any NLA stuff in stock. Dealer-to-dealer parts swaps are pretty much a daily occurrence....

I wish MB had simply made an announcement ten years ago to alert us to their plan of going NLA with 1995 and earlier parts. I know I would have begun stocking up IMMEDIATELY. The way they have done it has left most of us hanging high and dry........

I have stocked up on 300d parts that I knew long ago were getting difficult to find.
good old junk yard finds..

so far so good that nothing major has been needed.
but it has a positive psychological effect to believe that I am sitting on parts that might prevent an unnerving episode..
But for those that have no space to keep junk, I fully understand that NLA is a total pain.

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1979 300D 220 K miles
1995 C280 109 K miles
1992 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe 57K miles SOLD
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1979 240D 140Kmiles (bought for parents) *SOLD.
SAN FRANCISCO/(*San Diego)
1989 300SE 148 K miles *SOLD

Sometimes a gently used part will work; other times the repair requires a NEW part.

Starts to occur naturally at some point with almost everything. Mercedes delayed the onset pretty well. Far better than most if not all other auto manufactures.

Unfortunaly, aftermarket parts are suspect if not already known to be very poor in quality. Salvage yard cars are not held longer term usually now either.

Time using the 123s as daily drivers will be decreasing with time. Energy costs may also make them less practical. At a certain age what parts are available may become very expensive.

Our 39 Buick is a real joy to buy parts for. Was not this bad years ago. Funny when something is really no longer available. What you would pay to get one.

Up until not that long ago, you could waltz into your local mercedes dealership and order parts for cars going back to 1927.

Possibly the sub contractors that are either aging out or have lost interest.

Some of those firms were also really small. If you study how Germany recovered the indusrtial base as fast as they did.

Their factory space was decimated and represented high overhead. Possibly more important to build shelter first for the population.

So small industry started again in peoples basements. Some items sold worldwide today from Germany still originate from basically homes.

Volkswagens assembly line closed down on rainy days. Employees just stayed home. Massive holes in the factory roof existed.

I have only had my 240D manual for over a year now and have busy latching onto spare parts or repairing things for the long haul. This is the first Mercedes product I have ever owned and really enjoy working on/ driving the car. It’s a solid platform as is but who knows what the future brings. Although the car runs well and does not smoke or burn oil i am fortunate to live in an exemption area for emissions so that helps.

Almost everyone on here probably has more experience on parts locating than I do. Having said that does anyone have any thoughts on parts that break and are hard to get that I should locate and stock for the future?

1978 240D
Manual 4 speed
178,000 miles
Name: Schnecka

I would start with the bare essentials to make sure the engine fires up and the car drives.

try the glow plugs, glow plug fuse and plastic housing,the glow plug relay.

establish what type/brand of brake calipers you have.
you can get junkyard finds for cheap and open them up. If the piston bores are decent and piston sides are excellent smooth,then rebuild them ($20 kit each) and keep as spares.

Think about smalls like certain bolts etc. Like the nuts to hold down the oil filter housing cap. (ever drop one and never find it?)

Emergency flasher relay.

look at parts online stores for high priced smalls that you can pull at a junk yard.

brake vacuum line etc..

__________________
1979 300D 220 K miles
1995 C280 109 K miles
1992 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe 57K miles SOLD
********************
1979 240D 140Kmiles (bought for parents) *SOLD.
SAN FRANCISCO/(*San Diego)
1989 300SE 148 K miles *SOLD

Appreciate that!

A little over a decade or so ago I use to tell a lot of my customers that were looking to buy w123s to go ahead. They're easily rebuildable and there's plenty of parts available. But, most people always would always opt for a less expensive after market part rather than the more expensive OE part. It's probably not cost effective to continue to manufacture quality parts to a small market. My customers that were into serious restoration didn't care about the cost, but the everyday drivers would always complain about the price of OE parts. I've seen it on all of the MBZ forums in the last 25 years. Everyone looking for cheap deals on parts. So, IMO, I think that a lot of vintage car owners did it to themselves by being too cheap to pay the price. To this day, I have a good inventory of W113, 108,123 and 126 parts that are NOS still in the MBZ or bosch boxes that people still want for nothing.