I was driving through a rougher part of town today and spied a 1983 300SD sitting in a side yard with grass growing up around it. When I went by I noticed that it had body colored wheels of the five spoke variety. 16"
Ronals to be exact. I went back to the house later in the day after work and inquired about buying the car. The people in the house didn't know who owned the car and it was, in fact, on a vacant lot. I took a few pictures with my phone.
Now the people that I talked to didn't know who the owner was, as I said, so I went home and checked the tax maps for the city.
I found the address where the tax bill is being sent which matched a piece of mail that I saw on the front seat of the car. I couldn't see the name through the window on the envelope of the mail but did see the address. I cross referenced the address on the mail with the address that the tax bill was being sent and came up with the same name.
I took my beater truck into the owner's neighborhood and actually did find the owner, nice enough guy, and talked with him about the car.
He said he parked the car about three months ago because it was losing power when accelerating. He stated the car would idle and start fine but wouldn't pull a hill, and would gain speed slowly on flat ground. No power. No overheating. 240K on odo.
He thinks it's a head gasket or very low compression. Sounds like a fuel delivery problem to me.
Anyway, anyway. He told me he would take 700.00 for the car. Not my favorite style Mercedes but my brother-in-law has one so he could use the parts. Heck, I could use the tranny or engine parts.
Now I'm thinking if the Ronals are the correct offset for a 123 chassis this might be something I will follow up on. They are rough but nothing a bit of work won't fix.
So you've read this far, what do you think?
The big question that I really would like answered is are 123 and 126 16" Ronal wheels the same? KBA407094 is printed on the face of the wheels. Is the offset printed on the inside of the wheel? I guess I could go over and test fit a wheel onto the 300D but if your going to lowball you best not show too much interest.
Comments are welcome.
Thanks for reading,
Jay