I have a line possibly on a '91 300D 6-cyl (OM603) with 144,000 miles or so on it. The body is straight, original paint (gray / black), slight cracking in clearcoat, interior clean, maybe a loose panel, and stretched seat cushion, no cracks in dash. There's a dripping oil leak in front and weeping leak on differential.
I'm thinking I won't go over 4750 for it.Is it worth even that much? What's it likely to sell for if I brought it here and put 40,000 miles on it?

afaik in that year US got the 300D w/om602 2.5L turbo & the SD w/om603 3.5L turbo.

it looks very nice, not my color, but nice

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1991 300D

No it's from overseas. Looks like it has om603, and I'm hoping, with that late of year, the newer head (not #14)

I'd wager its in Japan or Canada based on the Japanese license plates and photographs from a Japanese auction house.

Near impossible to put a value on. The most you're going to lose is $4,750, so the risk isn't high.

Who knows cleaned up on eBay to the right strange Benz enthusiast... the sky is the limit. Clean 87 300Ds can bring that, and cleanr 90-93 300Ds can bring that. So I doubt you stand to lose much.

Are you asking us for advice on buying and selling cars, or are you asking if at $4,750 is that a fair price for a car you are going to drive and enjoy and you don't stand to lose much?

If its the latter, I'd say yes its worth it.

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

Yeah, planning to buy and drive for several years. I'd like a wagon eventually, but need a commuter now, so down the road want to see if it would still get some value back. Edmunds says for the 2.5 it's only like $1,640 :O

i'd go $2700

in addition to the work needed previously mentioned, a car of this vintage will surely need more in the years to come. the milage at which you project to sell it things like transmission, head gasket, vacuum pump etc. start to weaken

but you love this car, so you go $4750 if it checks out

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1991 300D

Ah well, it ended up selling to someone else. I never ended up bidding on it because of the oil leak, and the shipper would require me to have it fixed before getting on the boat. Looks like someone else picked it up. I think they got it for 3,450 .
if anyone else is considering, Japan auctions seems like a good way to get well-cared for diesels.

Thanks for your guys' input. So, I did end up getting it after all -someone bought it as I mentioned above and relisted it at a different auction house and I got it for a bit over their price. Turns out the oil leak was solvable with some temporary stop leak I had put in (I'll remove and replace gaskets/ seals when it arrives).
Here's some of the dock photos: https://goo.gl/photos/LvLzZ4LNRazrJytZ9 . So far this has turned out to be a pretty smooth process for what looks like a well-taken care of ride. If anyone is considering doing the same, I will say the auction price is part of the story - must also factor in about $2K - 2.5K for shipping/ broker fees. Japan Car Direct is the place I went with for this buy. Only thing I'm unsure of is where to source some euro headlight lenses for LHD road cars (these ones will point into oncoming traffic b/c set up for rhd roads). Any one know a good source for these - is there a peachparts affiliate in Europe ?

Total cost is around $5,500.00 ?

Since I'm having an import agent handle the import paperwork, it's coming out in 6000+ range With patience, I guess one could get a similar one for around $2000-$3000 original auction price, plus $2000-2300 for shipping and duty fees. Pacific Coast Auto Auction is supposed to be a good exporter as well and charges a few hundred less, though the owner was harder for me to get a hold.

I'm fortunate to be within a few hours of a port city, so I can p/u on my own as long as I bring all the paperwork (they overnight it to you way before the car gets there), which saves some costs.
Any one interested can see how to file their his import paperwork for such an import at this guy's blog: https://wittymelon.wordpress.com/portfolio/importing-vehicles-into-the-u-s/

Make sure it ships roro! Avoid containers!!

Looks really nice. When I bought my '95 diesel I had the center drag link replace and control arms amongst other things. So expect to do some quick maintenance. That car looks like it'll last for 10 more years easy.

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dtf
1994 E320 Wagon (Died @ 308,669 miles)
1995 E300 Diesel (228,000)
1999 E300 Turbodiesel ( died @ 255,000)
2006 Toyota Tundra SR5 AC 4X4 (115,000 miles) rusted frame - sold to chop shop
2011 Audi A4 Avant (165,000 miles) Seized engine - donated to Salvation Army
BMW 330 xi 6 speed manual (175,034 miles)
2014 E350 4Matic Wagon 128,000 miles
2018 Dodge Ram 21,000 miles

So is this really a turbo 603 or did it turn out to be a 602 like a U.S. market 300D of this era would have?

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89 300E "Benzer1" 15.924 Uncorrected
93 400E "Benzer3" 14.200 U.C.
95 E420 "Benzer4"
92 300E "Benzer5" 16.299 U.C. Future turbo CNG
87 300D "Benzer7"
87 300D "Benzer8"
87 300D "Benzer9"
87 300D/70 AMC Javelin "Sidewinder-Benzer"
87 300TD "Benzer11"
06 E320 CDI "Benzer12"
05 E320 CDI "Benzer12A"
71 AMC Javelin AMX 401 "Sidewinder"
74 AMC Hornet 401 "C.K.10" 13.63 U.C.
74 Bricklin SV1 "Presto" AMC 360 pwrd.

Turns out it really is a om603 (6-cyl) with the newer head style. Runs pretty well, almost no blowby that I could tell through the oil filler cap. I think it needs a new glowplug or two since it misses and puffs smoke when starting and cold a bit. I've put in new synthetic diesel oil and capped the EGR. It cruises along pretty well. I feel like it could be faster, though - no turbo surge as I'd expected, and kind of underwhelming off the line. I'll be doing a diesel purge and reaming the glowplug holes as well (maybe clean out the intake manifold at same time).

I have a nice set of us spec headlights. I'll sell reasonably.

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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.