Just visited my mechanic, and beside his shop were a number of cars being dissassembled for parts.

Among them is an '82 240D with some pieces of trim I needed, but there were other goodies inside...the plastic packet containing various papers and manuals that came with the car, even the orange hangtags on cruise control and headlight operation, stuff generally removed and tossed when the owner has had about two days with an "ordinary" car.

This car expired from "blunt force trauma" to the front induced by a UPS truck and was totaled. My mechanics had removed many parts that would prove of use, but the car was about to be sent to the junkyard. Just about 200,000 miles on the clock...not much rust to speak of...the car clearly had been well taken care of during its lifetime.

Very few cars have such inherant substance to last more than 20 years...none built today, even fewer back then. But the manuals, booklets, and hangtags bespeak owners who had bought something of quality, and taken intelligent care of it. It was sad that the car was a goner, but it looks like it had a good life.