A driver walks across THE STREET to my yard full of MBs and asked if I would be intersted in a 190e ,he shows me a pic of it on his phone and tells me how he came across this low mileage car .Yes ,it involves a little old LADY who called him 3 months ago to get it out of her garage , a final sum of $800 was the final price.He then tells me hes ready to sell and has no interest in the car ,has me give him a price . Im peering at his phone with picture while listening and look up to see if hes joking or serious ,I begin to hunt for paper and pen to jot down directions and a time to see it without sounding to obvious about the car. The travel was less than an hour away ,pulled up the driveway to see the car parked behind on old truck , as I walk up I can clearly see its a true 87 190e 2.3 16v ,peered through the glass to see it has the automatic with a so clean interior ,opened the trunk and it was like a time capsule with everything nice and neat.Onward to today ,Im still needing to hear it run ,fuel pump most likley ,with 87 k miles it still has plenty of life to live and Im hoping for a future with this car as my own .I do own a nice 85 euro version with the 5spd ,if this one does make it home it will have a covered spot built for it.

I do not have that kind of luck.

I will attribute it solely to the fact that I do not also have a yard full of MBs.

Updates ,the car was a title nightmare ,a few days to work that detail out with the DMV. The car itself is in nice condition ,flaws with AN aging beauty always brings new challenges in the repair debt. It will require much of the same repair to the fueling system that my 85 went thru AND THEN THE REAL LIST CAN START .Im waiting for the timeoff to get started ,I like these fun ,fast little cars as much as my mid 80s diesels ,just in a different way .I picked the brain of a local Mercedes repair shop and his comment was that the car was ahead of its time in the mid 80s but was not going to win any medals of the line ,I agreed ,but the real joy I told him happens at 30- 80mph ,the motor just pulls and pulls ,perfect for road coarse ,tight turning action ,right were it was aligned to run.

Pics of your new jewel would be nice

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1985 300D 198K sold
1982 300D 202K
1989 300E 125K
1992 940T

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

I agree. If there is anything this thread points to, it is that to increase luck in these kinds of finds, one needs to have more Mercedes-Benz cars in the driveway/yard.
Just like playing the lottery. You double your chances with two tickets over just one...

Phil Forrest

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1972 220D "Trudy," named by a friend.

"The 220D sounds good... I suspect it is the only car that you need a calendar for, rather than a stopwatch, when doing acceleration tests."
Tom Abrahamsson