I have added a gasser to my fleet. Picked up a 420SEL that was for sale locally on craigslist. I am the third owner....came with a STACK of records from day one through 114k....(has 140k now) Second owner was local and only had it 4 years and used it in the summer....did basic maintenance....

Original owner spent over 35k in his 15 year ownership on extremely meticulous dealer maintenance. Big items on the list include a full engine rebuild at 90k and a trans full rebuild at 97k! Never seen snow, car was in Kentucky and Florida 95% of its life. Paint is near perfect, interior is 9.5 out of 10....runs great, can move very quick!

Only things it needs are new shocks and fuel pumps (very noisy).....other than that.....virtually nothing! I'll change some hoses on it over the winter while it sleeps..... here's a few pics, I'll try to get better ones later....and my diesel will remain in the stable, I will ALWAYS have a diesel. This car will not be driven Nov-April

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Nice find!

Add "Euro headlight conversion" to the winter to-do list...

__________________
2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

NICE!!!

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

I'd say keep the original headlamps. Just get new doors and convert the sealed beams to something that takes an H4 bulb.

The gen2 W126 lights don't take sealed beams.

Take the fixtures, deposit them in the trash where they belong, and get factory ecode lights

-J

__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Yes on these cars and the early 124's the headlights were really lame. The best thing you can do is upgrade to a QUALITY set of Euro's.

Beautiful car by the way!

My $0.02,
Larry

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Hella and Bosch 9004 fixtures are some of the worst, most feeble lighting devices I have seen. I don't how a company that usually puts out excellent lighting instruments could make ones that are so crappy. It's not just Mercedes who used those, VW, Audi, and other makes were cursed with them too.

-J

__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Beautiful car. My favourite colour (same as my 300d).

Congratulations and enjoy.

__________________


Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Don't necessarily blame MB, VW or Audi for the crappy lights of this period. In Europe their lights on the same models were fine. The problem was the outdated laws at the time that had been requiring sealed beams. Once Ford worked so hard to get that ridiculous law repealed, it took a while for them to work through the unclear lighting rules that replaced them. I have to give the makers a little slack. It was tough for them to work through the new laws.

Larry

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Larry! Welcome back!

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

The gas station owner will love it!

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Yeaaaah.

My work commute is only 12 miles round trip.....so the cost is negligible.....

I agree on the headlight issue. At the very least I'll replace the doors so they're shiny and clear again.....Euro's are a bit pricey.... With silverstar bulbs the lights aren't that bad.....not as good as modern cars but plenty good for me. Its wired so that I can use the fog's with the marker lights by themselves, neato!

First order of business is the fuel pumps, they sound worse than any I've ever heard, just like a dying motor with its bearings screeching.

The prev. owner put Chinese "Triangle" brand tires on it that sound like an airplane over 20mph....going to have to ditch those in the spring too....

Its nice having a car where its needs list fits on a small sticky note instead of a piece of letter size paper!

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

I'd love to believe this, but I have seen similar vintage 9004 fixtures that make a passable beam pattern. The best I have ever seen are the Cibie fixtures on the VW Fox They actually manage to have a descent cutoff and a good difference between the high and low beam!

I think that the Germans simply didn't spend the time to design a good fixture around the DOT's requirements

-J

__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.