Thanks for all the responses so far. To provide feedback to what has been asked:

Im not outside right now, stuck inside at the good ol desk job, but from what I remember the oil peggs at 3 all the time, even when the engine is off. I will verify when I drive home today. So if its down before I drive home, than I am ok at having it at "3", and if its still at three before I start the engine, it must be a stuck or broken gauge right?

And yes, I did buy the car from an arizona owner (im here in az myself). He had 2 of them, one with broken odometer at 110,000, no paint job, but looked to be a good running car for 2500 dollars. I got mine for 3500 dollars but it had the nice paint job, and have about 4400 dollars of receipts of things that were done to the car (rebuild, brakes, clutch), and other. So I went with the 3500 dollar one - it shows 150,000 on working odometer and has 30,000 miles since rebuild. He still has the non new paint one if interested, let me know!

The car is manual, no rust - its a born and raised Arizona car - we are a rust free state! HAHA.

PJ67coll - How would I tell if my car has engine mount shock absorbers? And fyi, the 240D is a 1982 model, my old 300sd was a 1981.

This car totally lives up to my expectations. I have fun just driving around in it. Its not going to get you from point a to b quickly, but its fun getting there. Now I understand why someone way back in the day stated that it changed their lives, saying it allowed them to enjoy the scenery. One other thing im excited for - no more speeding tickets YAY!