Purchased late February 2008
1983 300D Turbo
Orient Red
Tan interior (MB-tex?)
320k miles
Her story: We had our first son last fall and after 5 months of depending on my wife’s car for daycare between the two of us, we decided to add another car to the mix. I have my own car, a restored ’77 FJ40 Landcruiser with a tank of an inline 6 engine. I found the reliability of the 30yr+ auto much better than her younger GM car. The problem with the FJ, it maybe an overbuilt Jeep for all intents and purposes but the rear jumpseats are not very convincing for latching in a baby seat.
So with a limited budget in mind I asked the wife what kind of old car she would like to have, the idea was to attract something that may eventually appreciate in value such as the FJ40. She said she always like the early 80’s MB diesels and I was off on my search. After lurking many forums for published advice and pitfalls I began the test drives. What we finally agreed on surprised both of us. How so, well we decided on a car that was only $1,500 vs. one that was almost completely replaced with new parts for $5,300 after a collision with a deer. The math was the easy part for a few reasons. Our new son basically paid for the car with the tax benefit a child brings (‘bout time he start pulling his weight after 5 months, no slackers allowed in this household) and in part he was the motivation for another daily driver. Math cont’d; a car with a rebuilt title has little loan interest in the eyes of my bank, so an emergency scramble for cash using the equity in the car was not an easy option. We run a tight budget since we are both trying to get an advance degree in graduate school (I know the old faded diesel ads to the stereotype of a grad student, just imagine the beard and elbow protectors on a corduroy jacket. Which incidentally I have also). We set the criteria for a purchase as something that we would not be to pissed about if it blew up tomorrow, alas the economically priced 300D won out. In our calculations we hope to get at least 150 days use (roughly 5 months) out of the car. So with a new set of tires we started using the car immediately as our main daily driver.
Where did we get the car, a local mechanic. How? After looking for a reputable local indy mechanic, one spoken fairly highly by some forum members, I called him for an inspection quote in case I found a car I wanted to buy. While I was one the phone I just put it out there I was looking for a MB 300D 1977-1985. The lady from their office referred me to the mechanic with one for sale in town and I jumped in the FJ and headed over after a short conversation with the mechanic (I lost my muffler on the way, was that a sign?). At first sight (and I will post pictures to give a reference later) she looked a bit rough. Faded trunk, and top of the car with a cracked front windshield due to a large rock impact. It was cold as hell that day so it was perfect for a test drive. I put my hand on the hood to make sure the car was nice and cold, it was. Turned to the key to glow and a few seconds later cranked the engine. It sounded smooth and it had decent pickup, more so than the rebuilt MB I had test driven the week before. It was smooth as glass driving (at least up to 40mph), again different from the salvage. This made an immediate impression on me that the un-deer blemished car was actually a better ride in comparison, I shouldn’t be suprised. The hard part now was convincing the wife, she is pretty smart and loaded with bullet proof logic, so I had a challenge ahead. Talked to the mechanic to get the story on the car and it went as such:
The PO brought the car in for new cooling hoses, engine mounts, brake lines, and repair to the vac system for the engine shut-off. The engine had been replaced with a lower mileage donor of the same make some time ago but no specifics were passed along. Long story long, the PO was PO’d (pissed off) when he got the bill for the repairs (I did not list all of them) for $1,500. He said screw this you can keep the car, I am not paying you! So the PO, is pissed, the mechanic is pissed because he is out parts and labor.
Given the risk of it being a total junker, I talked the mechanic into letting me have the car to test drive for the weekend, actually kept it Monday as well due to the DMV being closed for Prez day.
After the long weekend performance, the wife agreed the car was solid compared to the rebuilt we tested earlier.
Here is what I have learned about the car from the test drive weekend and since purchasing:
The doors, trunk, and gas vacuum lock system works. The power sunroof works. The heat works, yet the center vents do not. We had a warm day, close to 68 and the car was hot from sitting in the sun. From the short run in not so challenging weather the AC worked, yet I am not placing too much stock in this test. The power windows in the front work and the rear works only if you use the door switches. The top of the car and trunk paint is faded and I may do a polish, glaze, and wax in the spring. The interior has a rip in the driver seat where ones left elbow would hit and a smaller tear near where the left butt cheek would rest. No cracks in the dash (really surprised with the faded paint) but the wood panel in the center console has lifted and cracked. The cluster works with the exception of the engine temp, a high priority fix (the mechanic has a 300D eruo manual of the same color that I can pull any part I want for free before he sends it off to the junk yard, a great bonus after the purchase). An aftermarket pioneer radio was correctly installed with a trunk cd changer. It was a quality job because even the front to rear fader switch on the console still works. Since my kid is riding in the car I did not hesitate to put new tires on, no sense in having a tank if it’s on bad rubber. The mechanic said he did not have a service record but after checking the glove box, it had the original owners manuals and service stamps in the maintenance log along with brake/ rotor replacements. It’s not complete but it gives the names of the dealer and possible indy’s to contact for filling in the gaps. It even has the original blue and red hang tags with instructions on using the cruise control and window wiper function. The first aid kit is missing but all the trunk tools for changing the spare are accounted for.
Mechanics: I have been trying to flesh out a vibration above 50mph, still there when shifted to neutral and as mentioned already, new tires. I will have to mine the forum after a visual inspection under the car. It has a hard down shift from second to first, otherwise a smooth up shift and down shift.
At first I was just going to drive the car into the ground whether it be two weeks or 6 months. But the more I dig into the car the more I see the car as a candidate for a restore like the FJ, especially since I have free access to a donor car for parts. First and foremost is safety, drive- train, and last cosmetics with the exception of preventing any aggressive deterioration such as rust.
Do I think I got a good deal, well only time will be the judge. I accept the my cars fate as being biased for the worse based on the forum adage: nothing is more expensive than a cheap benz.
Thanks for letting me share her story and I forward to adding details that I think may contribute to the forum.
Shawn