Well, one year ago today we (me, my brother, and my parents) took a trip down to Marco Island, Florida to look at this 1985 Mercedes 300CD 2dr coupe I found in the AutoTrader website. When we arrived at the woman's house we saw this beautiful speciment of a W123C.

We got out of my dads 85 300D and went up to the woman's door to let her know we had arrived to view her car. We were very amazed at the condition of the car (it had been garaged kept all its life). The color was Pearl Black Metallic with Palomino MB-Tex interior. Although the car was garaged the hood, roof, and trunk areas on the car had some slight fading due to the Florida sun.

Me, my brother, and my parents took the car for a test drive and were appalled at how smooth it ran and how smooth the transmission shifted. Everything on the car worked flawlessly (including all four windows, the antannae, the cruise, and the sunroof, etc...).

After discussing it over with each other we decided to go ahead and snatch up the car before someone else took advantage of it.

We picked the car up with the odometer reading 093,033 miles and as I write this post the odometer reads 106,801 miles. A total of 13,768 miles in one year (I know this is nothing for some of you other people's driving "habits").

These miles were accumulated by making 5 trips to Albany, Georgia (where the family mechanic is located), one trip to Orlando, a 10 mile (each way) commute to school, and misc. driving around town for shopping and etc...

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REPAIRS AND GENERAL MAINTENANCE TOTAL COST

11/11/2002 @ 94,006 miles
1) Oil service
2) 1 Pre Filter
3) 1 Main Filter
4) 2 Wiper Blades
5) 1 Fog Light Bulb
Parts: $63.20
Labor: $70.00
Tax: $4.42
Total: $137.62

11/11/2002 @ 94,014 miles
1) Alignment
Total: $50.00

12/2002
1) Window Tint added
Total: $150.00

01/01/2002 @ 96,032 miles
1) Oil Service
Labor: $20.00
Parts: $25.00
Tax: $1.75
Total: $46.75

03/11/2003 @ 98,403 miles
1) Oil Service
Labor: $20.00
Parts: $25.00
Tax: $1.75
Total: $46.75

04/17/2003 @ 99,899 miles
1) Oil Service
2) 1 Pre Filter
3) 1 Belt Set
4) Antifreeze
Labor: $102.50
Parts: $75.00
Tax: $5.25
Total: $182.75

07/16/2003 @ 103,165 miles
1) (4) 195/70/14 Michelin X-One tires @ 102.88 each
2) (4) Valve Stems @ $2.00 each
3) High Speed Balance @ $53.00
4) Alignment @ $40.00
Parts: $512.52
Tax: $29.65
Total: $543.17

07/16/2003 @ 103,175 miles
1) Oil Service
2) 1 Window Weather Strip Seal ($384.00)
3) 2 Light Bulbs
4) 2 Rear Bumper Brackets
Labor: $157.50
Parts: $454.00
Tax: $28.98
Total: $640.48 (minus $50.00 for damaged window tint when replacing window seal)
New Total: $590.48

09/26/2003 @ 105,638 miles
1) Oil Service
2) 1 Set Fuel Return Line
3) 1 Valve Cover Gasket Seal
4) 1 Fuel Filter
5) 3 Air Filter Housing Buffers
6) 1 Valve Adjustment
Labor: $102.50
Parts: $71.60
Tax: $5.00
Total: $179.10

SUB TOTAL: $1,926.62

Unfortunately I don't have all the receipts for the diesel I've bought for the car to give an estimate on that but the repairs and general maintenance is good enough of a view of how this car has gotten me through this past year.

Hope everyone has enjoyed reading this post and I'll try to get some recent photos of my car up in the next day or two.