Well if you remove that plastic crap it will look like any other SL.

The problem with a diesel drop top, and I suspect why they are never made by the OE's, is that you have to smell it. Everytime you sit at a stop light you will be in a freaken cloud of diesel smoke.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Well, true. But if you use biodiesel, your exhaust smells like waffles cooking!

sweet conversion, minus the bs.

It would still be pretty embarrassing to drive a hack job like that, the SL guys would probably have you lynched.

You know, I would have thought that myself, but at the local Mercedes Benz Get together in Prescott last summer there was a diesel engine conversion into a nice bodied 380SL that showed up with the ragtop on it. He got a lot of attention and it was good. Now there was no wing in the rear, but it did have a scoop on the front for the custom turbo intake and the rurbo whine got everyone's attention and we all wanted to drive it.

The owner said it was incredibly good on fuel and that alone made it fun to drive since he could get all the way to Phoenix and back on much less than one tank of fuel!

I have already made up my mind that if I can find a good 380, 450 or 560SL with a blown or tired motor I will be willing to make the conversion myself!

Resale is not important since I would be willing to keep it! Diesel exhaust isn't unbearable when you run B99. Both my 240D and my 300D as well as my Dodge Ram smell like bread baking when the engine is running and I'm told this by strangers that I meet a lot of times. I once had a car with three women in it at home depot tell me they thought there was a bakery close by!

See, now smelling the diesel would be a plus for a true dieselhead!

Ahhhhhh, I love the smell of diesel in the morning!

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Amen to that and good point!

I put my windows up at stop lights so I don't have to smell it. I like it, but not that much.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I do when it's frying oil from my local bakery and it smells like doughnuts!

That would be even worse, because I would want to go eat a doughnut, and get fat.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

That's appeared here before, the hood scoop was necessary to clear the valve cover.

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"spreading a trail of obnoxious where ever we go"
1981 300sd w/ 341,500 miles

http://www.wecrash.com/pics/ddda_banner.gif

I guess my biggest problem with this is the price!

As someone looking for a 380SL - and who already owns a 300SD, the idea of having a 617 rather than the 3.8 gasoline V8 is actually a plus in some ways, but the conversion would have to be gold plated at anything over 5 or 6K. The only possible buyer for this car is another diesel nutcase so the market to resell it is very very limited.

The price is just a bad joke, particularly as the ad hints that the conversion is not complete.

It's also a bad financial decision for the seller, as you said this car is worth $5-6K at the most (not to me), but a good SL would actually be worth $10-15K, so where do you think the sell should have put his time and effort? He could had found a correct engine (and saved all the "conversion " work) and done some cosmetic work to make a decent driver.

Yes, this vehicle is way overpriced even if the conversion was gold plated! Your just not going to get the interest in the 380SL with a diesel engine in it for $13,000!