'76 300D purchase advice

[Paul H]

I found a '76 300D with 47,500 miles, 2 owners, looks nice inside and perfect outside. They say is won some classic Mercedes awards 3 yrs running. It has been in Oklahoma most of its life. The asking price is $6000 from a small dealer. What do you guys think? This is for my daughter. We have 2 other Merc D, but I don't know much about a '76.

[Skippy]

I wouldn't believe that mileage unless there is strong documentation to support it. The market for these cars is generally soft, so six grand seems a little high even for a nice example.

[Paul H]

Thanks,
They said they have it, but a salesman "lost" it.
Could be fishy, but it looks super nice.
There is no way I'd pay $6k for it, I bought a '79 300CD that has lots of miles, but is super nice and paid only $2k for it.

[Kpmurphy]

on the craigs list ad
THIS BEAUTY STARTS AND RUNS, i sure hope so for 6k
http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/ctd/2348996898.html

it does look like a clean cut car in the 4 pictures
the big question has it been sitting for very long? has any thing been replaced in the last 20years? if not a lot of rubber will need to be replaced at some time.
check both front and back window seals are they cracked? do all the power windows work? look underr all floor mates and trunk mat for rust. check the fire wall for rust. Flex joints are they cracked. DOES THE AC WORK? OK gets hot.

[Paul H]

Thanks also!
The dealer says he is selling it for a friend and the friend has is in a car show this weekend. I'll check out all the rubber.
PH

[Skippy]

Meh. U.S. market model with slushbucket and power everything. This does not excite me. Now it were a euro four speed with crank windows and no sunroof, then I might be getting a little excited.

[BrassMonkey]

I'm sure you guys have noticed with the gas prices going up - these old diesels are getting very very popular / pricey. I'm on my second one now & honestly - I didn't "steal it" but I came close. But then again - it sat in his drive for a year & it didn't run. So to him $500 was a great price for a 79 240D with 61k miles. I will spend $2k just bringing it back to life & stopping the rust from eating it completely away. So - a good car will go for $3k easy - a better one will go for more - Heck - check eBay - some on there go for crazy prices. All depends on the market.

[newtodiesel]

If you are not a DIY person, just getting all the rubber bits and pieces replaced wil be very expensive. Upper control arms, lower control arms drag link steering damper , ball joints, engine mounts body mounts, you name it, after 20 something years most of the rubber pieces will need to be replaced, not to mention the winsheild, window door, trunk seals, windsheild seals are expensive and the best fitment is from the dealer I do believe..plus check all the areas for rust rust rust...look under the battery tray especially..jack points, trunk wheel wells, bottom of the doors...mite be a pretty car..but those are the things I would check..does the odometer work? For that price I would want EVERYTHING PERFECT!!!

[diametricalbenz]

I would run away, offer them 3K (half) at the most. Just by the very fact that they describe the car as "starts and runs" means it generates enough power to hold idle!

The mileage is BS if they can't prove it which is a immediate red flag. They're just repeating what they read in an ebay ad. /8's just don't hold their value even though they are perfectly good cars minus the rust issues which can be avoided if it was well taken care of.

[JimFreeh]

A /8 can have multiple hundreds of thousands of miles and still look like less than 100K if it was taken care of properly.

Take a close look at the driver's seat bolsters, the pedals, and how well the driver's door closes. If the driver's door takes more shove than the LR door, that suggests high miles. Check this with windows down or another door open, the last door closed will always be the hardest since it's working against air pressure inside the car.

Jim