1978 Mercedes Benz 300D located in Cleveland, GA. $3000. 126,XXX miles.

Let me start by saying that I am a licensed Georgia Dealer. I am not a Mercedes expert. I will try to give an accurate description of this car.

I purchased this vehicle at auction a couple of weeks ago. It was donated to a charity. The story is that it is a one owner car. The owner was unable to drive any longer and donated the vehicle. I have the original title from 1978. The car has lived in Atlanta and the North Georgia Mountains.

OK. Now for the car. Car seems to be rust free. The only rust I have seen is on the exhaust pipe. The trunk only has surface rust showing were the rubber mat has rubbed. It could stand a really good clean up. I just knocked the dirt off.

The exterior of the car looks reasonably good. It has been resprayed at some point. The paint needs a good buff. The deck lid and hood have scrapes and the paint is starting to dull. It has a ding in the hood. A scrape on the right front door and right rear door. A ding in the right rear fender. Multiple door dings on the left rear door. The paint is also starting to flake at the bottom of the left rear door. The car has matching Michelin tires that are in good shape.

The interior is in good shape. It has blue MB Tex. The seats show little to no wear. The dash is good with no cracks. Carpet is in good condition. Wood has a couple of cracks. The chrome needs to be polished or replaced on a couple of pieces. The car has the original Becker stereo and speakers. The radio works as well as the power antennae. Gauges work including the clock. The only suspect is the fuel gauge, I do not know if it is accurate. Climate control works. I tried to get the A/C to work. I added freon and the compressor started to function. However, I noticed a leak and the compressor started to lock up. I do not know if adding compressor oil will fix it or if it will require a new compressor. All windows work except the right rear. Sunroof slides but is a little sticky. The vacuum locks do not function. Has the original first aid kit and owners manual. Tools are in the truck with the emergency triangle.

The car runs well. It starts up after the glow plugs have warmed and a tap of the throttle. The transmission is slow to change gears. It is getting better but you have to let off the throttle a little to make it shift. This is in all forward gears. Other than that the car drives very well.

Underneath the car shows signs of an oil leak and possibly a transmission leak. Not horrible but it is wet underneath.

Since purchasing the vehicle I have turned the front rotors. Replaced the front pads and wheels bearings. I replaced the rear sway bar links.

I have put more pictures of the car on ntyas.shutterfly.com.

Thanks for looking,
Scott

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Its a nice car but I think you need to work on a few things before asking that price......the things you mention with the transmission could be the linkage, throttle bushing, fluid service but if its leaking it will most likely need a rebuild....cost is upwards of 2k.....a few other thing I notice that should be noted....

Speedometer has been replaced, actually miles is anyone's guess....
Car is running hot
Original climate control servo....

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Nice thread-crap... Hope you have more to go on than just the pictures...

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RM Smith
1988 560SL

"Where is it again that we are going, and why are we in this handbasket"?

looks like a clone of my car! it is a beautiful car and color

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1978 300D

Cooljjay thanks for the reply. How can you tell the speedo has been replaced? Also, where should the temp gauge be? I will delve into it.

I drove the car home and to work this morning. The tranny has gotten better. I guess I wasn't waiting long enough for it to shift. It is changing a little over the marks on the speedo gauge when under hard acceleration. It does down shift and change great in traffic. Put about 60 miles on it so far.

Pay no attention to Cooljay he does this to EVERY for sale thread. He has no interest in purchasing the car he just wants to go on and on about these cars never having the correct miles because EVERY W123 odometer has been broken at some point. Also he will thrash your price, again pay no attention.

Car has an uncracked blue dash which is shocking, it also has orthopedic seats which is super rare for a 123. Nice car, good buy for someone.

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2001 G500 (45k and counting)
1991 350SDL (211 and counting)
1998 C43 (50k) Silver/Black (sold)
1995 E500 (40k and counting) Pearl Black/Anthracite (sold)
1991 300CE (50k and counting) Silver/Black Cloth (sold)
1983 300D - 79k Classic White/Blue Leather
2002 E55 Obsidian Black/Black
1996 S600 Coupe - 75k Black/Black (traded)
1984 300D -145k (sold)
Silver Blue Metallic/ Blue Leather
1985 300D - 87k (sold)
Manganese Brown/ Palomino Leather
2005 E55, 50k(sold)
Flint Gray/Black

HoustonM3, thanks for the reply.

Everybody likes to hound me for pointing out the truth....amazing how the world works now...

The orthopedic seat option is very nice and not seen often....because of that and the warning triangle in the trunk this very well may be a euro import which would explain the speedometer change....but it was very rarely they transfered the km over to mph....this is suppose to have a 115mph speedometer with a chrome cap in the center...

The temperature should stay at 175, its possible to climb that high if the ac is on but here in Arizona my car even when it is over 105 will never go over 175....you probably have dead spots in the radiator and or the fan clutch is bad....

This is what the original speedo is suppose to look like...

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It does look like a nice car. The condition of the seats and exterior supports the low miles imho.

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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.

Can't attest to the speedo... on the temp; however:

In the pic where the temp is over 175, the engine is not running. Easy for the gauge to show heat soak from just having been shut down after reaching running temp. The other pics with the engine running, the temp is below 175.

Also, seeing that the temp is in Fahrenheit and oil is in psi, the whole cluster must have been changed, unless euro-equip is to be calibrated thusly. Black center cap is suspect on the speedo... Part number appears to be same as you posted, but hard to tell last 4 digits, and reads max 115mph indicated.

To the OP... Best of luck with the sale. I wish you were closer and i had more time to investigate.

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RM Smith
1988 560SL

"Where is it again that we are going, and why are we in this handbasket"?

The original title is from 1978; so if it was a Euro car; it would have been in Europe in just 1978.

It IS a 115 MPH speedometer.....but is the trip meter stuck on 888?
Is the odometer even working?

Anyway I think it looks very nice, and I am very tempted.

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"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration...
don't Fail Us Now"

The aftermarket racor water seperator is a nice value added feature. Id be interested in seeing how the fuel lines are routed to it though in greater detail. It looks from the pic like they run through the front spring

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

While the speedo has been changed that is indeed the correct oil,temp,fuel gauge for that year and I think the temp looks normal or at least that is where my 240D is usually running.

After looking at the pictures it looks like it is priced correctly. Nice car.

After looking at the photos again, it appears the dash is from a later model W123, as the glove box does not quite match and is the earlier style. Which even further goes to show that this car has had a-lot of love by its owners over the years. Someone cared enough about it to replaced the dash with the almost IMPOSSIBLE to find blue dash.

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2001 G500 (45k and counting)
1991 350SDL (211 and counting)
1998 C43 (50k) Silver/Black (sold)
1995 E500 (40k and counting) Pearl Black/Anthracite (sold)
1991 300CE (50k and counting) Silver/Black Cloth (sold)
1983 300D - 79k Classic White/Blue Leather
2002 E55 Obsidian Black/Black
1996 S600 Coupe - 75k Black/Black (traded)
1984 300D -145k (sold)
Silver Blue Metallic/ Blue Leather
1985 300D - 87k (sold)
Manganese Brown/ Palomino Leather
2005 E55, 50k(sold)
Flint Gray/Black

Nice looking car. Don't know the market there, here in Raleigh that would likely take a couple/few months to sell at the price. Older MB diesels, even clean ones, aren't moving quickly.

OTOH, if my 300CD were sold I'd go up there and give it a look. Not quite at that price since the a/c fix is spendy, but having just found out that 35 years old is the majic number for no more inspections in NC, I'm going to be in the market for that year MB diesel.

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Eric, CPO, Submarines, retired.
Here's a sig line...
Mine: '68 Corvette LS1/4L65E, 83 240D, 2000 GMC 4x4, 08 FLSTC Anniv
Hers: '72 Corvette 454/4spd, '99 MB SLK, '93 Metro vert, 78 240D, '92 Silverado, '65 Fjord Rustang, '59 Fjord Fairlane, '17 Slingshot.