Questions about purchase of '79 240D

[Woodsie]

Hello all. I am consdiering the purchase of a 1979 240D for what appears to be a very cheap price. I have not seen the car yet but will on 6/13 in early afternoon.
It has a hole in the oil pan. Is this a troublesome repair? I have received conflicting information on the amount of work involved. From what I've seen here, it seems like an easy repair. The owner was told it would be a $1500 repair so maybe there's more wrong. The car was not driven w/o oil. It was shut off right after it was damaged.
The owner believes it has just over 150K miles. It has a rebuilt engine (not sure why) but has not been driven for 4 years. Anyone have any experience resurrecting one of these cars after such a long time period of inactivity.
Most likely it will need 4 tires and I've had some trouble finding tires specifically for this car. Any thoughts?
I sincerely appreciate any suggestions made and I hope I can join the ranks of Mercedes users in the next few days.

Todd Woods
Round Rock, TX USA

[WANT '71 280SEL]

Go to the diesel discussion forum, there will be more than enough help there, they are obviously all big diesel gurus.
David

[jrmd01]

get an official MB mechanic to check the car. It'll cost you some $$$$ but repairs on ANY MB cost $$$$. If this car checks out O.K. I'd say buy it. My mom had hers for 15 years and that sucker is still going strong. It's so dependable that my dad wants to buy one for my sister.

If it's really just a hole in the drain pan, just buy the pan in install it yourself. But that quote of $1,000+++ tells me that's it's something more. I had my transmission rebuilt on my 86 300E for $1700. My transmission was really bad.

Good luck.