Just returned from a pilgrimage to the promised land. Spent 5 hrs with full tool kit wandering through acres of fallen MBs. I paid my pennance buy crawling through mud, mosquitos, chiggers and mouse turds My devotion was rewarded and I returned home with several holy relics:

blower motor
right hand mirror
left hand mirror
rear view
glove box door
fog light lenses
a pile of chrome
a pile of switches
clips ,connectors and do dads
dome lights from a 123, they fit mine
front body cowling
P RNDSL

Total cost $50

Steve:

I love self-service junk yards! Can't tell you how much stuff I've gotten.

Don't have an MB yard here, alas, as I need all sorts of stuff for the two 115s my brother and I have!

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

I'm another one who sees the treasure in junk yards instead of junk.

For a couple of years, the Fort Worth MBCA chapter had a salvage yard scramble at a LARGE foreign car salvage yard. They took a number of MB's and BMW's(their club came in at the same time). These cars had no engines or transmissions and were put in a roped off area. You could take anything you could haul out before noon. It was a great time.

I got lots of small parts like glow plug relays, aux water pumps, instrument clusters, a few radiators, aux fans, trim pieces, I even got a good windshield.

It was not only fruitful, but it was really fun meeting and helping other "junk yard dogs".

They did it for several years then stopped it when some independent shops sent an army in there to get everything they could so they could resell it. That killed it for us hobbyists that were just having fun getting a few parts we needed and some we thought we might need. I didn't blame the proprietary for stopping this event once these shops started doing this.

That's the way it always is, one or two people kill something good for everyone else.

I still love digging in the salvage yard. TCCBass, a poster here who is from my local area emailed me this week telling me about some good cars in the UPullit junk yards and invited me to go with him one Saturday morning. I hope I can arrange it.

Have a great day,

I went to Oklahoma foriegn in Moore, OK on I-35. My girlfriend had never been to a junkyard. She turned out to be a pretty good wench, I mean wrench. We got really filthy, washed up at a gas station, had a late luch and some beers, stopped at the OKC Memorial, did a quick tour of the capitol building and drove bach to Tulsa. I am sitting here this morning with all my goodies spread out on the table like I just got back from Trick or Treating .

Sounds like trick or TREATING to me!

Have a great day,

great thread! unfortunately for us living in Kalifornia, environmental "issues" are making the junkyards an endangered species. just a few left at this point...

I went to a "salvege" yeard near here and out of hundreds of cars there were only two MB's and everything had pretty much been gotten out of them. If anyone knows of a salvage yard in the Macon area with alot of MB's I would like to know about it.

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Jim

Jim,

You need a Saturday in Dallas, TCCBass has the 123 cars in the UPullit wrecking yards all scoped out and could probably take you to the exact car with the exact part you need.

He invited me to spend a Saturday with him salvaging some goodies. You need to join us.

That'll be a long day's drive!

Have a great day,

Potomac Auto in Maryland (As I can remember) had this event once a year where it was all you can carry out for $100! Yes, the site of a man with a w126 hood belted to his back with all this stuff on it is embeded in my mind. All you can drag out for $100 bucks, not bad!

If anyone knows of a MB morgue in Detroit or Chicago area, sound off!

Detroit has lots of relatives in it; Chicago would require a "romantic getaway" with the wife, whom I could pawn off on Michigan Avenue whilst I trolled for parts.

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83 SD 143 K miles
93 Grand Caravan 130K miles
92 Buick Regal (winter car)

Up in Massachusetts, we have a lot of junkyards, some "u-pull-it", and I do like poking around...lots of fun. Unfortuneately, in this region, the days of getting a used part for a few bucks are gone!!!! $50 for a blower motor, $125 for a push button climate control unit (can you believe it!), $30 for an interior rear door panel....

One of my favorite yards had about a hundred 123 diesels...they just reduced the number to about 25, and instituted a policy of a minimum purchase of $50...so if you just wanted to get a couple of trim clips or a hood stop, they wouldn't allow it!!! Its a real drag, the good ole days are gone around here.

A few years ago, my wife and I and our kids went to Phoenix to visit relatives....my wife just about had a bird when I went out by myself one day and spent half a day at a mercedes junkyard...on our vacation!!!! So i told her that its my vacation too....she may want to curl up with a book, I like to pick over junk cars...what the hell?!?!? Now there are some amazing junk yards there....on one stretch of road, there must have been a total of 20 or so salvage yards, each with at least a couple hundred acres of land.......rust free cars for as far as the eye can see!!!!!!

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1984 300TD Wagon, 407,800 mi (current daily driver)
1985 300DT Sedan, 330,000 mi (gone to that great autobahn in the sky)

One thing I noticed was that some parts from different models were the same. I found an early 123 with the same bumpers as my 115, same for interior door handles, dome lights, shifter boot. tunnel cover etc..