Yesterday I was talking to the fedx driver about his van he was driving, come to find out it has a mercedes CDI engine and what I understand the whole undercarriage was built by mercedes, the outside of it was built buy freightliner. He let me look at the engine it had a garett turbo on it , this van had 185,000 miles on it and it purred like a kitten.

He is right. If you take the time to look at the MB website in German, which you do not have to read German to navigate, you will see the van.

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1982 300SD Light Blue
2002 Honda Accord SE
1974 Toro Wheel Horse Tractor
2000 Toyota Tundra Pickup

Both the Frightliner and Dodge Sprinter have the Mercedes Engine.

Some Frightliner trucks uses Mercedes Engine too!

Those engines on those vans sound so cool when they drive by and are accelerating We want to get one eventually....

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Oh right! let's start thinking about those conversion projects. It will be tough though.

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87 300d Turbo 241K with original #14 head (blue)
87 300d Turbo 198K will run great again someday (silver)
84 300sd sold ( buyer drove it to Paraguay )

I wonder how difficult it really would be to put in one of those 2.7 liter I5 engines/trannys, or the new V6 cdi and tranny into a 300sd If I had the money and needed to replace the engine I would consider it.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

I used to deal with a truck parts guy who told me Frightliner is Mercedes, they were bought out a few years ago.

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87 300d Turbo 241K with original #14 head (blue)
87 300d Turbo 198K will run great again someday (silver)
84 300sd sold ( buyer drove it to Paraguay )

A guy I know is the manager at one of Los Angeles Freigtliner's "Bus Works" division. He has a Sprinter (his son is disabled). These are in very high demand right now and they can't keep them in stock. He gets 23 mpg running that van around the hills in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. He's pretty happy with it.

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84 300DT Puke Yellow. Totalled after 438,000
84 300DT Orient Red. 169,000 (actual mileage may vary)
2002 Explorer EB (wife's)

"In 1981, Daimler-Benz purchased Freightliner from Consolidated Freightways. Daimler provided Freightliner the engineering resources it needed to grow and Freightliner provided Daimler the reputation in the market it needed to grow in the U.S."

from

http://www.freightliner.com/inside/history.asp

Dave

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1970 220D, owned 1980-1990
1980 240D, owned 1990-1992
1982 300TD, owned 1992-1993
1986 300SDL, owned 1993-2004
1999 E300, owned 1999-2003
1982 300TD, 213,880mi, owned since Nov 18, 1991- Aug 4, 2010 SOLD
1988 560SL, 100,000mi, owned since 1995
1965 Mustang Fastback Mileage Unknown(My sons)
1983 240D, 176,000mi (My daughers) owned since 2004
2007 Honda Accord EX-L I4 auto, the new daily driver
1985 300D 264,000mi Son's new daily driver.(sold)
2008 Hyundai Tiberon. Daughters new car

I would like to get my hands on one and convert it into a motor home.

my parents have a Winnebage View RV with the 2.7 cdi engine. It's nice, fully loaded with water, gas, some waste, etc I was able to cruise up twisties from boulder to estes park at the speed limit. It was pushing it sometimes, but I've taken busses up there and this was better than a bus. They get 17mpg with it, but apparently the sprinter vans with the better aerodynamics get better milage. It's a nice engine.
-Nate

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'82 240D, 4-speed, 617 turbo engine

I guess that would explain why some Freightliner big-rig tractors have W124 or M-class corner lights on them. Whenever I see one of those newer Frieghtliner/MB vans here in town, they always have the Frieghtliner emblem on the grille. But the other day, I saw one with the MB emblem on the grille. So, it was a full MB, trademark and all, but strangely enough, I heard if you tried to take it to your MB dealer for service, they'd direct you somewhere else.
-Joe

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

I passed a big Freightliner rig the other day with the words "Powered by Mercedes-Benz" down the side. Brought a tear to my eye.....

I thought about that as well. Sounds like a cool project car. Anybody know if the engine will fit and will it work with the stock axel? Sounds like you could really build a cool car, just make sure the car is classic for smog issues. Perhaps a new thread is in order. - Viva Cuba Libre

Here in michigan we have no smog checks whatsoever.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)