I recently came into possession of a 1978 300CD (~135,000mi) myself.

Not to scare you off, but these are the quirks and problems I'm tackling:

•Leaky window seals, which, thanks to t walgamuth's tips on this forum, I have pretty much fixed. (Found a small amount of water--maybe half a shot-glass' worth in one of my empty rear speaker wells after last night's hard rain. That, despite a bead of silicone between the rear window seal and glass and the seal and body. Water is still getting between the glass and the seal and finding its way inside at the bottom corners. Any thoughts anyone?)

•Replacing my cracked and crumbling outer side window seals. A note on the coupe: the rear side window seals are expensive and hard to find. I've seen seals for the doors go anywhere from $17 to $50 for the pair. I've only been able to get prices from a couple of suppliers for the rear side seals: $120 ea.

•While I'm still on rubber... I'd like to replace as much of the rubber around the doors as I can, but again, coupe-specific seals appear to be elusive.

•Bypassing the dreaded Automatic Climate Control servo with a manual valve

•A vacuum glitch in my passenger door lock. I can't lock it from the inside. BUT I discovered that if I lock the car using the key on the driver side door, I can walk around to the passenger door, open it and press the lock lever down. Then, all is secure and well.

•Replacing a cracked exhaust manifold

•An electrical gremlin involving the headlights, instrument lights and seat belt buzzer. Seat belt buzzer reminds to buckle up every 15-20 minutes. (She's a very protective car.) At night, this often coincides with the car's lights getting brighter then slightly dimmer. From my research on the forum so far, I suspect it might be a voltage regulator on the blink.

•The cable for my cruise control appears to be missing the grommet-thingy that secures it to the throttle linkage—I'm not sure if the CC actually works or not.

•Cleaning and lubing the sunroof rails with the RIGHT stuff (the grease from MB) rather than the can of silicone spray the PO so graciously gave me just for that purpose.

I've also got some small cosmetic items I plan to take care of as well: getting fresh-air intake grilles to replace my broken ones and tracking down a replacement fog lamp housing.

Since my interior was pretty much shot (no carpet, the ubiquitous cracked dash and neglected leather seats) I'm planning on doing a makeover on the inside soon. (I am assuming that the carpet was torn out as a result of the leaking front and rear window seals and the clogged engine compartment drains. I had to shop-vac my floorboards after the rain we got from hurricane E(something) last month.

Despite that laundry list, mechanically, I haven't been happier with a car. Engine runs strong and smooth now that the valves have been adjusted and most fluids and all filters replaced. The stuff I'm dealing with now just seems to come with the territory of owning a car that's pushing 30, that's all.

I'm also enamoured of the coupe's lines as compared to those of the four-doors.

I don't think she's particularly slow. But then, I live in the least populated county in West Virginia (i.e., little traffic and few passing zones on our winding roads), and I had been using a Toyota T100 as my daily driver.

Let us know what the verdict is on the one you're checking out!

d.t.