Welcome to vintage car ownership. First rule is never trust the seller.

I bought my 300SD over a year ago. The original asking price was $1200. I knew that I was not going to be looking at a peach. I caught about half of the things that need to be replaced. The rest I found out about later. I used what I found to get the car for $850 cash. I would have walked away if the engine did not start like it did. The battery had two feet in the grave and was sinking quickly. When the seller tried to start the car, I thought "no way this POS is going to start with a battery that dead." She popped off alright! I swear I could have cranked the engine faster with a ratchet wrench. I realized the engine had some pretty good compression to start at that slow of a crank speed.

Thousands of dollars later and over a year's worth of weekends, the car is getting to be pretty respectable. It needs paint but I have done tons of work to it from fixing oil leaks to rebuilding the injectors and getting the window slides replaced. The whole time, it has been my daily driver and never left me stranded. My plan is to restore and upgrade the car to the point where it is in show-room condition. ...or close to it...

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1991 F250 super-cab 7.3 IDI. (rebuilt by me) Banks Sidewinder turbo, hydroboost brakes, new IP and injectors.
2003 S430 - 107K
1983 300SD - Tanoshii - mostly restored ~400K+.
1983 300SD - Good interior. Engine finally tamed ~250K.
Monark Nozzle Install Video - http://tinyurl.com/ptd2tge