I was curious what mine might be worth on today's market IF I were looking to sell it and, WHEW, was I surprised to see how many HAVE NOT sold on eBay because they didn't bring the reserve prices!

I searched for "1985 Diesel" and clicked on "completed listings". Any thoughts, comments?

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Dale

eBay is great for selling to uninformed buyers but horrible for informed buyers looking for a good car.

eBay's prices on these cars are VERY inflated and shouldn't be used as a standard for pricing. No sane person would ever pay in person what some of those people pay over the internet!

Understand.

However, I BOUGHT mine off ebay in Aug '06 and had a stellar experience with my seller and was, and still am, very happy with the car. Did I pay too much? I don't think I did.

I have made 3 car deals (buyer) on ebay and each one went very well. Now, can one get burned? YOU BET! But in order NOT to not get burned, IMHO, one MUST look for cars with MANY DETAILED HIGH RES PICS and a statement like "...give me a call and I'll try to answer..." and a phone #.

That is my MO when looking to buy off the internet (ebay) and it seems to work so far.

As far as your comment that the prices are inflated on ebay, I just see it as a business deal, every seller wants as much as they can get and every buyer wants to pay as little as they can, that's the free enterprise capitalist way of the market.

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Dale

Yes, but the few willing to pay stupidly high prices (like the $28,000 one sold for recently) can ruin it for everyone else that know these cars just aren't collectible/rare enough for those prices yet. Its mainly the WVO/SVO fad driving it up.

They are great cars, but they aren't like original HEMI's where even a rusted frame is worth insane money.

Its a buyers market now and for the foreseeable future.

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Cheers,
Robert

Isn't what something is "worth" subjective? For example, I personally wouldn't pay "insane" money for a rusted frame HEMI or a typical ebay listed W123. I have my own limits as to how much I am willing to pay and stop there. If there's another buyer willing to pay "stupidly" high(er) money for these cars, well so be it.

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Dale

As someone looking to buy a w123, I have seen this reflected in prices here in the Pacific Northwest. The SVO/WVO craze has hit here hard, because of how environmentally conscious people are here (read: they're freakin hippies).

That said, the main reason I'm looking for diesels is to jump on the homebrew biodiesel bandwagon myself...

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-1991 Ford Ranger: multicolored and the clutch is gonna die.
-WTB w123
-Aspiring Biodiesel homebrewer

Then you didn't.

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My Primary Driver - '85 300CD - 4-speed conversion, 2.47 rear, lowered, euro headlights, rebuilding (not restoring so much)

Wife's - '08 Saab Sportcombi Aero

Riding a '03 Yamaha Warrior

There are plenty of deals around here if you keep your eye out. I've bought two in the last few months for under $500 each. They are good runners in good shape too. You just have to look out for not running cars with simple fixes.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Couldn't have said it better!

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Dale

The guy I got my car from paid 6500 on ebay, it had 98k in it and was from Florida. 500 to have it shipped up, then ball joints, tie rods, shocks, steering box, front, brakes, clutch master, starter, alternator, battery..... he drove it 10k and then sold it to me for 4300. I know it was high, but it had all the nice parts replaced that I was going to do so not to bad. But a good example for what these things can get on Ebay.

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1998 Mercedes E300TD

1983 Mercedes 240D Turbo, 131bar injectors, Cosworth intercooler and 63' Ford Falcon radiator, Ardic Parking heater, Headlight wipers, Best 38.6mpg.

1973 Saab 96 Rally Car, 1.8l V4 with all the race bits

It is a buyer's market right now for mid-lower range W123 diesels. Incredible deals out there, I'd be hoarding if I had the garage space and money.

The upper range has gone down a bit, but the pristine models all head to the west coast for veggie conversions, for top dollar. I saw lots of spectacular wagons and coupes out in LA with the Lovecraft sticker on the back window. Well, if you can afford a 10K 300TD, you can afford a new engine and injection pump, right?

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