On the diesel forum, I mentioned that individuals have told me that particular years and models have inherent weaknesses, while other ones seem to run well forever with very few problems. What's your experience been in this regard. (I'm asking in regard to diesels) And, besides loving old cars, why would a person choose a vintage Mercedes diesel over one from the late '70s to the present? Thanks for your feedback on this.
-Steve

Well, vintage mercedes ARE from the 70's...! as well as the 60's

Not sure what you are asking here. Mercedes diesels don't really have problems, other than neglect etc. and maybe the sixes head gaskets.

They are cheap to buy and cheap to run. buy one!

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Ed
1981 300CD (Benzina)
1968 250 S (Gina) 266,000 miles!
1983 Alfa Romeo GTV6 (Guido)
1976 Jaguar XJS-saved a V-12 from the chevy curse, what a great engine!
1988 Cadillac Eldorado (better car than you might think!)
1988 Yamaha Venture (better than a Wing!)
1977 Suzuki GS750B
1976 Yamaha XS 650 (sold)
1991 Suzuki GSX1100G (Shafty Gixser)
1981 Yamaha VX920RH (Euro "Virago")
Solex Moped
1975 Dodge P/U camper


"Time spent in the company of a cat, a beer, and this forum, is not time wasted!"

this topic with some erudition, including strong and weak points of build and design.

The one Mercedes I had a shot at that I wish I could have gotten was a '53 170DS sedan with warmed over '30s styling. The story was that a member of the Dupont family had picked it up in Paris because the supply of good gasoline in Europe postwar wasn't dependable enough to run the Cadillacs they'd had shipped over on the SS America. But there was plenty of diesel fuel available, which helped MB survive the postwar period by virtue of having a product that didn't need "gas."

A beautiful little jewel of a sedan...black, sunroof, suicide doors, and art deco gauges. The Blaupunkt radio could receive on more than eight bands, and I'm sure one could have picked up signals from U-Boats. Even such a modest ride as this would often be the oldest...and even the most interesting...car at many MB meets.

All models up to the W123 had a great suseptibility to rust, including the gas models. Better post war that pre-war, but still rusty.

MB took over production of the cylinder heads in the 60s and ran into cracking problems, but that is most likely fixed unless you find a very low milage 190D that has never been fixed.

The 615/616/617 engine doesn't have any inherent problems that I know of except owner maintenance failure.

AC is cranky on pre W123 cars, but no worse than anyone elses at the time.

It would be hard to say that any one is better than any other. 50s and 60s cars are very scarce now -- all rusted away in most cases (the american ones ditto), 70s getting that way.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!