You should be able to get a great 4 door W123 for about $3500 with no rust issues, working AC, good service records and that looks/runs good!..these cars are a dime a dozen among old Mercs.

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1983 300 Turbo-"Nora"
1983 240D Auto "Lucia"-slowest on earth-1st love
1985 300 Turbo-Blue Goose-slowly plucking parts

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...ly15/mbsig.jpg