hey everyone!

I've been over in the parts section looking to hawk the motor out of my old 1987 300D. I had a few people ask me about purchasing the whole car so I figured I would drop in over here and put an ad up for the whole thing.

First thing's first, mileage!

152,971 miles on the clock (which works!), one of the lowest odo readings I've seen on these cars. Engine runs very well, the car is still capable of the factory 0-100 km time. The head is an original 14 series but it is NOT CRACKED. It does not pressurize the cooling system, loose power or exhibit any of the other signs of a cracked head.



As you can see the car has been partially dis-assembled in perpetration for parting it out. I've not sold anything off it and all removed parts are included in the sale. Nothing has been removed that would keep it from driving.

The engine is all factory, totally un-molested. Sadly I know little about the service history, however it received oil changes twice a year for the time I've had it. It does not consume oil or blow blue smoke, here is a video of one of the car's last cold starts before it was put in storage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IYPL1v6C58

As you can see, she produces only the faintest little puff of smoke from a cold start and starts running clean within seconds. Visible towards the end of the video is thin smoke rising from the engine compartment. I have sourced this to a stuck breather valve and it doesn't always do it, especially once it warms up.

The electrics are a mixed bag. Windshield wiper works perfectly, electric seats are fully functional. Headlights, indicators and all the things needed for it to be road legal are functional. It seems to have electrical/vacuum gremlins as only the driver's window rolls down and the seat controls are work fine, provided that one of the doors is open!? The HVAC gave up the ghost shortly before the car was placed in storage.

Mechanically she is all there, but this is definitely a parts car on account of the body. The paint is bad, but not from sun damage. It is very odd, it does not appear sun-damaged. My theory is that it was kept under a dirty/low-quality cover for a long period of time as the paint on the hood, roof and trunk lid looks like this:



Millions of odd little scratches. It was just like this when I purchased it.

The car has sustained body damage from two back-to-back minor collisions in which the other driver was ticketed both times. The front right bumper is slightly pushed in which has broken the headlight lens (although the light itself still works). The left rear quarter panel is also well dented from a separate incident. On top of all that an errant tree branch cracked the windshield quite badly during a storm. Despite my best efforts I had poor luck driving this car.

However, I've saved the best for last. The crowning glory of this car are the seats. They have been removed from the car and placed into storage. Not being a California car didn't help when it came to rust, but it did wonders for the leather:



The camera flash and florescent lighting in the place the seats have been stored does the color no favors. If I am approached by an interested party I will go to the trouble of dragging a seat outside to shoot one of them under the sunlight so that the true color of the red leather is fully visible.

Both elements of the rear bench seat and the front passenger seat are practically perfect. No cracks, tears, marks, stains, burns, etc. The not-visible-when-installed fabric portion of the backs of the rear bench seat is torn however. The leather is still supple and feels wonderful. The drivers seat, predictably, is the only one which isn't perfect. A 4 inch tear on the low side of it's corner nearest to the door hinge along with another 1 inch tear and minor cracking on the squab all conspire to place it in average used condition at best. All the electric motors still work great though and a decent interior shop could manage the repairs.

So there you have it! Based on completed listings on eBay my asking price for the motor was $1500; similar to what I've seen for used high-mileage units of questionable operability. Time and a need of garage space has compelled me to set my asking price for the whole turnkey car $1100!

If you don't mind being uncomfortable you could actually drive the car home with the help of some temporary plates. I have access to a dual-axle race trailer and I could make arrangements to deliver the car for a price. I have a good camera and instant access to the car. I will provide whatever additional highly-detailed photographs that an interested party requests. I could even provide video of the car driving in its current state. Thanks for looking!

__________________
Once proud Mercedes owner

Longed to tune up my rare OM603 motor into a V8-eating grumbly monster. Doing research on the potential build made me realize the astronomical costs involved. Drove it stock for two years, body is too far gone to be a practical restoration. I now wish to part it out, so that parts of my once-glorious machine may live on in the form of others' projects.