Theres a dealer here that has a 79 240d in pretty good condition except it doesnt have a/c and has some weird rigged glow plug switch. He wants 3800 for it. It has been there over a year. I offered him a grand. No dice. That car is just gonna sit. it starts right up too.

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1984 300SD Orient Red/ Palomino
1989 560SEC
2016 Mazda 6 6 speed manual
1995 Ford F-150 reg cab 4.9 5speed manual

I wouldn't until I examined this thing in person for rust-Very Thoroughly

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Does it come with the Pope?

$16,000 for a glorified troop carrier? i wish i had your money. seriously. can i get a loan?

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

SITREP.....

Where to start....I was hugely impressed by this 280GE. The paint is new and is in good condition. There was some minor signs of rust in the usual places, around the bottom of the windscreen and a small spot on the door sills but its nothing major (I'm happy to report that there was no rust under the drivers floor mat). The frame and the underside components look to be in really good shape, even the rubber bushings. The engine does have a good amount of power, I really was surprised at just how good it was to drive. The steering was the biggest surprise, it was a bit loose for the first inch of travel but other then that it was felt a heck of a lot lighter to steer then the W463 G500 that I was used to. I'm not sure what it was that made it feel so good but it was probably a combination of possibly softer springs, rear wheel drive and being lighter perhaps? I was also surprised on the test drive to find that even at around 50 mph its surprisingly quiet inside without the roof being on. I was talking to the owner of the company at a normal tone like I would in my SDL. I also have to pull a Jeremy Clarkson here and say that I felt brilliant driving that truck. Normally convertibles put me off because the entire world is watching you...but in the G your sitting above all the people and more importanly your covered by the pillar. To be perfectly honest this stripped down 84 felt better to drive then an 04 full of toys model. I am hugely impressed.....


HOWEVER- I'm sad to report that not all is well.
1. The AC belt was disconnected so who knows if its functioning
2. The right side exhaust manifold had a pipe sticking out of it that was capped. Possibly some past EGR valve of sorts?
3. Throttle was a bit heavy but I think some grease would sort that out.
4. There is no kickdown in 4th gear. Pushing the pedal to the floor in 4th gave very little power so most of the test drive was done in 3rd.
5. In a problem very similar to Vipercrazys W123 the idle is very high, (1,500 RPM) and going from neutral to gear makes the whole truck want to get up and go (The whole truck feels like it lifts up)
6. The Odometer is stuck at 56,000 or so.
7. The cooling fan has a switch to engage it. When we finished the test drive he asked how the temperature was and it was fine. That might not be a bad thing because i've read on this board that some people do put manual switches for the fans in case the auto-engage systems aren't working correctly.
8. Exhaust is leaking a bit under the hood. Not sure from where.
9. They said that they just got the truck in a few days ago and haven't had time to sort these issues out but that the plan on it......
10. And worst of all he doesn't seem to keen to negotiate on price. I said nonchalantly that i'd give him $15,000 right there and fix it myself and he started talking about the condition which I retorted by saying that most G's of this vintage go for a lot less then that and he went back to the condition again (Which I kinda have to agree with) But Stil $30,000 is WAYYYYYY too much for even this truck. I think $15,000 is more then a fair price. The Ebay bid started at $16,000 so that give you an idea of how much he probably picked it up for......

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

thanks for leaving me a message, my idle is high because i put it there, the car misses badly when its hot sitting at a light. it still shakes the car but its not obvious to someone the first drive.
my car loves to kick down but shift quality is laughable cause i have a 722.122.

i found a 280GE euro 5spd with recaros(real 80's recaros) that just had $20,000 worth of worth done to it on philly CL. i think he wanted 25k.
this was about three months ago
if you frequented w123 gassers you would have seen it

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He mentioned that when they first brought it in they played with the idle as well because it was "running badly" He then said that they ran some sort of fuel injector cleaner through it and it worked much better afterward but they then had to readjust things back down again. This truck shakes quite a bit when when you bring it to a halt.

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

yea i ran lucas in the gas for about 800 miles and it didnt change anything

i need to check my vacuum at the pressure regulator, was thinking of that today.

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I defiantly knew more about Gwagens then this guy buts he's still pretty cool because he's big into old school German cars, Mercedes in particular. I was talking about vacuum lines being a potential part of the problem for getting it running tip top.

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Sounds like it needs some work, despite the asking price.

If they are asking a very high price and some mystical wealther sucker comes in to pay it, they are surely going to be put off by those issues.

Typical car dealer.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

theses cars have the worst designed vacuum line to the fpr ive ever seen, it goes from the valve cover breather strait to the fpr, they are fairly close but the rubber breather hose always has an oil slick, the vacuum hose slides right off and you cant tell when the seal is good. the vacuum line is so tiny no clamp fits there i tried duct tape but even that looses its grip in oil.

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Well when it sits in his showroom for 3 months and no on takes it we'll see if he decides to take my offer. Also I just noticed that it got pulled off of Ebay...I wonder why

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

My favorite bit was the throttle linkage....through the wall, along the engine, then over it, then along it again to finally connect to the actuator. Theres what, 6 connections on that thing?

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Yeah you can probably get this one if your patient. No one is going to pay near his asking, eventualy he is going to want to get rid of it. Just stay friendly and call him every few months asking about it.

I think $15k is a really good number for that truck BTW, I'd offer $12k in 3 months.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200