My new 220D!!!!!
 

just picked this sweet one up in redding, ca. drove the 1100 miles home to western, co sans problemmes, and even ventured across nevada on the 50...rumored to be the lonliest highway in the US. 91k miles, no rust, good chrome, working a/c, and 32 MPG going 65 for 3 days.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j5...IMG_4381-1.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j5...h_IMG_4380.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j5...h_IMG_4370.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j5...h_IMG_4381.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j5...h_IMG_4394.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j5...h_IMG_4379.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j5...h_IMG_4369.jpg

she needs glowplugs, new carpets, some headliner repair, and some other cosmetics. stay tuned!

Well done Pitansk. If you don't mind my asking. How much did you pay for it?

- Peter.

very nice

After confirming there is NO RUST!!!!! i snagged her for $1900. Seeing how she is just as fast and more solid feeling than my beloved 190, I think I got a good deal. Any thoughts??

I like it.. the W115 or Stroke 8 has grown on me.. I still love my Wedge though

Only 91K miles? WOW!

Those old Mercedes exude such integity and simplicity with their classic ans stately Mercedes look. It's the same body style as the famous 4.6 million km Greek '76 W115 taxi....
http://www.mbusa.com/heritage/history/news/taxi.do

It was a wise buy, and the license plates are a Northern California valley 1972 issue, original to the car, so the car was sold originally in Sacramento, Redding or Red Bluff or one of the few MB dealers around there and lived its whole life there so it should be a rust free car. Im sure it was a wonderful trip home. the pictures look wonderful, congrats.

Cool looking car! Don't these have the column mounted shifters?
BTW, isn't 65 mph their top speed?:D

91K miles and $1900 ?!

Excellent buy, wow

Beautiful car. Great find!

Scott

Nothin' like road trippin' in a classic car

Awesome looking car! Those pictures look like my neck of the woods. What lake is that on the pictures? BTW, these cars have 5-digit odometers. I assume you have some maintenance records to verify the mileage because the odometer could have rolled over already.

That is a really nice looking car. Makes me want to restore the old 1968 220D some day. Enjoy the Gorilla knob and the inside idle adjuster. And you will never have to worry about any leaks from crappy rubber type injector return lines! :D

I like it. Also, it takes a brave man to hop in an unknown car of that age and drive 100 miles, much less 1100!

very cool car... don't see many of those around any more

Cheers everyone
 

thanks for the nice comments. it really was a great drive home, lots of weird weather, almost no traffic, and killer scenery.

i have a couple of repair receipts in the glove box...the most recent from 1993 for tires (that i promptly replaced in Susanville) at 81k miles. same tires for 14 years so i trust the 91k miles. the seats are in A+ condition as are the pedal rubbers. so, definitely no comprehensive maintenance history, but still enough to validate the 5 digit odo.

Jim B. how did you verify the plates? it was cool to hear that because the guy who sold it to me mentioned that the car had been in redding its whole life. he bought it from one of his pals' father's widow (sounded pretty vague to me but whatever).

anyway, i have ordered some parts from ************** which will arrive on tues. but i'm going to spend a good amount of today with the polish, wax, and other detail products to get her shined up.

cheers!

So what does this engine use to return excess fuel from the injectors back to the tank?

metal lines I believe.

I've visited the forums at least 3 times today JUST to look at this car again. Post some shined-up pics!
What are the color codes on it?

"So what does this engine use to return excess fuel from the injectors back to the tank?"

Yes those engines used a metal line that runs from one injector to the next, where a sort of banjo fitting encircles each injector. Very neat and clean and never needs to be replaced. In fact when the job came up on the 123, I wondered why I had never been faced with this task before. Since it had been a number of years since the 220D had been driven, I had to lift the hood to remind myself. Sadly just another cost saving move that was not an improvement!!

There is a short rubber line that connects all of the special work to the line going back to the tank, but this is just regular fuel line.

Thats a nice dirt road. I bet the car took it wonderfully. I love those old 114's but they might be too slow for me. I especially love the pre-73's with the small bumpers and better tail lights. Enjoy it.

What a nice diesel you have there! I just love the look of the dash on those cars. The column shifter is a nice bullet point also.
Do these cars have AC? If so, is your's working?
Will enjoy the shined up photos. The first ones don't look bad at all....

**went back and re-read.:o "working AC". Nice! What a deal you got.

I didn't know the cost-saving measures started so early. Still the W123 fuel system isn't anywhere near as bad as the one in the OM606 engine when it comes to the sheer amount of plastic and rubber. Of course the OM606 fuel system does more, like preheat the fuel, but it's built incredibly cheap.

metal return lines?
 

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j5...k/IMG_4411.jpg

these look like the normal braided return lines. perhaps the metal ones failed at some point? if the metal ones are so much better, what reason would a mechanic/shop have to put the braided ones on instead?

you might also notice the idle adjust mechanism is missing and the cable detached. i've PM'd some folks in search of this part...anyone else have one?

it's raining buckets in new castle today, else i would have posted some shots of the car after polishing the paint and waxing with zymol. the paint looks even better.

I have a buddy in Atlanta that bought a 1975 300D new. He still has it and it is still being driven daily. I think he said he had to put a valve job into it a 250K. Last time I talked to him it had 400K.

Hmm, so where are those metal return lines?? I've never seen anything like that. Does anyone have a picture? Personally I don't even know how metal return lines could work, since the injectors are screwed in and the return nipples end up in arbitrary positions, necessitating the use of an adjustable liquid transfer medium such as a rubber hose.:P

The OM61x engines never had metal return lines. I believe the older W120/W121 Pontoon's and W110 Fintails with the 1.8L ,1.9L and 2.0L OM636 and OM621 were the last to use metal return lines.

Here is a marine OM636.
http://www.west-4x4.demon.co.uk/om636/ellipse2.JPG

Ahh! Now that's what I call Intelligent Design.:D

I have a question, could I transfer the front sheetmetal off a car of that era an would it bolt up to my 83 300td? I need a new cowl, right fender, and hood and I like the earlier styling better.

Nope, you need to get it from a W123.