I'm leaning toward saying the price you suggested is a little high, especially for a person-to-person transaction.

Most people I talk to think of the 190D/E as a mini-Benz, more on the order of a BMW 3-series.

Have you considered looking around for a '82 or '83 240D? Or a little more power in a 300D up to '85? Or an even bigger 300SD?

$5000 can buy you a nice 240D/300D if you are patient and willing to look around and maybe drive some distance to inspect the prospects. With these cars you get a lot of iron and steel for your money too!

While I'm not advocating EBay as a way to buy (especially without using CarFax and traveling to inspect first) you could browse and search through cars there to get an idea of what's available, what shape its in, and how much the market is paying.

I always search "passenger cars" using "300D", "240D" and "diesel" to get to see cars of interest to me.

That said, I should advise that I have a lot of experience searching Mercedes diesel prospects out on EBay, but only one instance of actually buying.

And I emphasize CARFAX to check title and vehicle history.

Ken
'82 300D