Hi!

A few years back I had a 240d, stick shift, I got for $450. The glow plug relay was shot and the previous owner just floored the gas and cranked it for 20 seconds until it caught, or the battery was flat. I painted it with rustoleum diluted with mineral spirits and a roller ("$50 paint job"), and "fixed" the relay with a pair of "cube" relays and a push button. Got bored, pawned car off on a college kid. It was cool though.

I live in Maine, rust is a thing, and I got the bright idea to fly south to Raleigh-Durham, NC when gas was $2 and I could catch a one-way flight on Southwest for $113 or so. My wife and kids were at a wedding and this was my own vacation. TL;DR I bought a 38k mile rust-free chevy cavalier, drove it home, flipped it, and thought, hey, this is a thing, I'll do it again.

I landed in Raleigh on Thursday, had an appointment to look at an 83 300D. Was trying to line up other beaters but the mercedes owner was the only guy able to return my calls and show cars. Since I knew my previous w123 I knew what to look for, more or less, and checked this thing out. No rust. No vacuum, either, and it only shut off with the STOP lever. Drove good even though it was parked for two years, stopped good, smelled bad. My spidey sense was tingling that I should possibly run away so I lowballed the guy but he accepted and then I had to follow through.

I picked NC off a map due to mostly non-freezing temps and therefore little to no salt. They do state inspections so the cars might have been somewhat maintained. I called ahead to their DMV and they issue temp tags to out-of-state license holders. (When I showed up in person they claimed no can do... my heart sank... but I mentioned I phoned ahead, and suddenly, it was legal.)

I returned my rental car and took the bus to a within a couple miles of my car, stuck my tag on, and hit the road. Made it a couple hundred miles and a siezed caliper boiled my fluid and disabled my brakes. PEACHPARTS HAD ABOUT 9000 USEFUL THREADS on brake jobs replete with pictures, tools needed etc. that I was able to access via smartphone. So, thanks, guys. I rolled to a stop on an interstate offramp and walked to a CarQuest. They didn't have brake parts for a 32 year old imported car but could get them on a hub run in two hours. I fixed my ride in a Lowes parking lot as dark was falling and made it home to Maine.

BTW, the vacuum issue: Of the two little 3/16 barbs coming off the main vacuum line, the 2nd one (nearer the brake booster) doesn't pass vacuum for whatever reason. I think it had a crack as every vacuum joint has yellow snot (gorilla glue?) applied by a previous hack. I switched vacuum lines to the other tee and now the car shuts off from inside.

I might lurk around here, I'm sure any questions I have will have already been hashed out.

Oh, BTW, here's a video of the misadventure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tKUs2bv7HQ

Welcome to the forums !

__________________
1985 300D 198K sold
1982 300D 202K
1989 300E 125K
1992 940T

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

Great story. Be sure and relate your next (mis)..adventure!

__________________
'89 260e (212K Mi.), '92 400e (208K Mi.), '92 400e (not a misprint) (146K Mi.), '95 C220, '81 240D--Sold