I have a few different cars so it depends on what I'm driving. When I'm in the '96 people probably think I'm a rich guy, even though I bought it used for less than a new Civic. When I'm in the 240D I have the impression some people think it's a slow, old POS even though it looks pristine because a lot of times I get passed very aggressively while accelerating from a stop, usually by SUV drivers who are flooring their gas pedals and probably getting 2 mpg at that moment.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

I can more easily respect someone that has a well maintained older car than some yuppie that has to buy a new one when the oil gets dirty. I don't care what they think. Out of 8 cars, I'm only paying on one.

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79 MB 280 SEL Euro 133k
77 MB 450SL 154k
05 Mustang GT Vert (3) 104k
12 TSX Wagon Tech (66k) (192k)
06 Subaru Outback base (135k) 164k
16 Acura MDX (109k) 111k
18 Silverado 2500 LTZ Midnight (212) 56k
97 Ford Ranger 163k
11 RAV4 154k
01 Escape 173k
04 Honda Pilot 292k
1967 Mustang (Resto Project)
1968 Mustang (Parts Bin)
00 Ford Ranger 124k

After having my Volkswagen Jetta rear ended at 65 miles an hour and having the car crushed to the back seat I am feeling so secure in my clunker..Is it my imagination that everyone out there driving is nuts?

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83 300CDTurbo 307,000
2005 Honda Element 266,000
56 Nash Ambassador Country Club Special 34,000(under restoration presently)

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=125099

No, they're all nuts, or at least it's safer to assume they are.

Mine doesn't go clunkety clunk......it goes pawkety, pawkety, pawkety, pawkety.......

Regards

Max

When I was a kid I used to laugh at all the folks around my burb in Los Angeles that drove old MB cars. My aunt was and still is one of them. I used to thing, dang, those people actually think they have some class driving that old clunker even though it was not a late model. Some even put updated rims and air dams on the cars (remember the 80s?) and spray painted them monochrome. I used to think AWWW MAN, will somebody tell this guy we can still tell he shined up a decade old car?

Then I got a Rabbit diesel that was so worn out at 100k miles that I went out and got a durable 240D. I was converted and now love these cars. I know there are some kids out there saying, AWWWW MAN, tell that old fool that they don't have any class driving that thing. But I now realize it isn't really about class. They are great cars. And my 240D (veggie conversion) saves me about $1500 in fuel each year.

I drove a 1982 300d it was just a car to get from point A to point B on my sons 19th birthday I gave it to him as a gift mostly because I did not think he was safe in the old Honda he bought with his part time job income. 2 months later in noon traffic a stolen Honda going in excess of 100 MPH hit the back of that 300D my son walked away the other driver did not 4 cars were fatally wounded one was driven after some minor body cutting to have its engine pulled and transplanted into another old Mercedes that lives on today. That’s enough for me I drive W123 and W116 and if you rode with me in the mountains you would prefer to be in a tank. It is real simple weight wins in a wreck if you think air bags and crumple zones do lets play head on at 70MPH choose your Honda I will take a W116 you will lose. I enjoy the looks from the over there head in debt neighbors with there 2 year old cars glaring because I am changing my oil or engine in my driveway. I will out live them and have more wealth to hand down to my grandkids than they ever will.
DHS

I have gotten plenty of compliments on my MB. That said I don't give a rats a$$ what anybody else thinks about my choice of automobile. If they like it-great, if they don't notice it-great, if they don't like it and keep it to themselves-great. Life is good. RT

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When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

I'm a "I really don't care what they think" person. I snicker to myself at a stop light at times though when the people in the car next to me are talking about my car. I can read their lips when they say, "It's a Mercedes."

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1983 300-D turbo
1985 300-D turbo
1959 Harley Panhead chopper
1929 Ford coupe restored
I hang out with Boneheaddoctor at Schuman Automotive OBK#5
All liberals are mattoids but not all mattoids are liberal.

Lots of people walk up to me at gas stations wanting to know if my '79 240D is for sale. Some tell me where there are others, old MB diesels, that can be found.

This is in semi-rural Kentucky on Dixie Hwy about 60 miles South of Louisville where 'new car status' means nothing..... in fact newer cars like SUV's are kind of an embarassment to their owners.

It's at the gas pumps where you see who's happy or not with what they're driving.

I'll be cruising Woodward on Saturday if that tells you anything.



For those of you who don't know about the Woodward Dream Cruise

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Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

Wow, it's already that time of year. I'm thinking of taking mine up to the Frankenmuth classic car show this year, well it probably won't be in the show but in the motel parking lot right next to it. I see an old tan 300D heading up Orion Rd everyday, while I think the US lights look like I as it goes by.

Anyway, what do I think people think about my car? I don't care. To me it is a statement of quality rather than the disposable cars of today. I get the occasional "you drive a Mercedes?!?" comments but I don't think much of it, I try to explain how great of a car it is and whatever they think they do.

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Jeff M.
Mercedes W123 DIY pages are now located here.
1983 / 1984 300D Sold
2000 CLK430 Cabriolet ~58k Sold
2005 Avalanche 4x4 ~66k

I think I'd trust a surgeon who drove a well-maintained 300SD, definitely. As for how it pertains to who you are, I dunno. I do think that a 126 SD is an absolutely fitting car for my profession, a German car mechanic (mainly VW/Audi)... you wouldn't want your mechanic to be driving an '05 CLS500, would you? How much are you paying that guy? but a gleaming silver M-B which is older than you are, and doesn't show a bit of its 232,000 miles...

that's what *I'd* like to see the guy who's fixing my 5 yr old Jetta drive up in... in fact I get a lot of "how many MPG? how much did it cost? how hard are parts to find?" type questions when I give Passat owners a ride home when they drop off their 2001 models for another o2/coolant temp/MAF sensor...

I either get attention due to my biodiesel sticker in the back window or the smoke lifting from my back end....the two ends of the spectrum.

Either or, I leave them in the dust and drive on my merry way...tailgaters beware..I am driving an oil burner

The 300SD gets no props from most everyone...the 240D does sometimes but I don't drive it often (not registered/insured).

When cars get old, the thing that makes them look the worst, beyond faded paint and even a little rust is Sagging Springs. Ever see an old car, heavily worn, where the rear springs ride low and the front leans to the driver side? Thats my biggest priority, to get the springs fixed this fall.