The other day I spotted a W123 diesel for sale in the parking lot of the NEX at North Island. Of course I had to check it out. It turned out to be a blue '82 300D with tan interior, 193,000 miles, and four dry rotted Michelins. The paint and interior were both good but not spectacular. All the trim pieces appeared to be present and in good condition. The car was in serious need of a wash. Here's the kicker-the sign said $8100

I'm thinking the car would be worth about three grand if everything works, mechanically perfect except for the tires, etc. What say you.

Sorry no pics, I haven't stepped into the 21st century and picked up a camera phone yet.

BTW, I saw a very similar '84 only with 250,000 miles and blue interior for sale asking $1800 not far away.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

I've got one that'll beat your story.

1984 300SD, about 119k miles, brown exterior, palamino leather interior. The exterior had some spots from sun damage, the interior looked nice but the front seat springs were sagged out. It needed a new vacuum pump so it has to be shut off manually and the brakes require a lot of force to stop. The seller wanted $12k, and that's after coming down because of the vacuum pump failure.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

Right around the corner from me is a blue W123 1985 wagon, 128k on it....looks awesome...even has mint roof rack bars and a third seat, minor rust spots in a couple places, all rubber perfect, a few dents, interior mint....they want $9800. Its been for sale for over 4.5 months. They're crazy. Unknown on the mechanicals....but it appears to have been garaged/taken good care of for most of its life.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

It depends on your perspective. I wouldn't sell mine for less than 8k as it would cost a lot more to replace with anything as dependable and enjoyable.

But then, mine is not for sale.

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Charles
1983 300D, bought new, 215k+ miles, donated to Purple Hearts veterans charity but I have parts for sale: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=296386

Maybe they thought people in the Navy would pay extra for a blue car????

Seems to me like this syndrome has existed with some Mercedes owners for many years. It's brand Mystique, I think. They assume that because it's a Mercedes-Benz, it must be worth a fortune. Over 15 years of selling real estate I learned that many people tend to think their home is worth more than others that are similar. They can list lots of reasons they've justified in their minds, too. I think it's the same way with cars too. In order to make themselves feel better, they tell themselves - "My car is better than that one, because...".

Sometimes it's because the owner is trying to recoup costs from recent repairs. Usually, unsuccessfully.

When I'm ready to sell, I like to price my cars for quick, easy, sales. Usually the first or second person to come look and drive, buys it. But I've learned my lessons the hard way.

Because I'm a cheapskate who liked to live above my means, I usually tried to sell my cars by myself. I felt I needed every dollar I could get out of them, so I rarely traded them in. (I've grown up a little now, I live within my means. Still cheap though.)

When I sold my 1975 280, I got a lot of rolled eyes looks from people who thought I had the syndrome. This was in the old days, dealing with newspaper ads. Lots of no-shows too. People seemed to not be able to fathom that a car with 90k miles could be worth $10k (This was in 1984.) IIRC I started out asking $11k, then lowered it to $10,500. (I paid $13,900 when it had 17k miles.) The first serious buyer, who was only the 2nd person to drive the car, came back in a few hours with his wife and paid me with 99 $100 bills. The car litterally only had 2 flaws. Some foggy anodized trim and it needed a new carburetor. The car also came with every receipt since day one, the original window sticker, and such. IIRC, it seems like I got close to double it's Blue-Book value.

Under-pricing a nice car in the days of pictureless newspaper ads could make it difficult to sell a car too. I sold an '84 Audi I absolutely loathed by the time I sold it. I just wanted to get rid of it, so I priced it at $2300 just 1 year after I'd paid $5,900 for it. Nobody would come look. After many weeks of trying, nobody had driven out to see it. (I lived way out in the boonies east of Seattle.) My ad said: "Mint condition, looks like a brand new car." (among other things) As I told my sad tale to a BMW salesman he told me I needed to raise my price to $5k or so. I thought he might be nuts, so I still didn't believe him, but I did put a new add in the paper asking $4,200 for it.To my great surprise, I got 10 times the # of phone calls, and the first person to come look at it and drive it, bought it.

It seems people don't want to believe you when you're selling a car for 1/2 what it's worth, or twice what it's worth. So they don't bother to come look.

The ability to include pictures has changed things a lot, though. It's made selling nice examples a lot easier.

Except for people who really have the syndrome.

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1979 240D, 4spd manual, Power Sunroof, manual windows, 147k miles, Pastel gray/Black MB Tex.
1991 300D 2.5 - Smokes like it's on Crack!

i see it all the time. some seem to think that because its a mercedes its worth so much more. theres a guy on craigslist that has a 300d for sale. not in the greatest shape. asking 12000

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Plenty of used cars have only two flaws. They need a new powertrain and a new body.

Maybe he was targeting sailors returning from liberty. Very smart seller!!!

Yeah I hate to sell my cars because of its so hard to price them so I just "keep em" garaged and rotate every so often. They are all older cars but the all run and are dependable most of the time.

Heck this way "I" benefit from any maintenance I do and the way I Baby most of them.

Well atleast I think I Baby them.

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1982 300SD

Maybe these guys are trying to get there money back out of the car from the veggie car craze period a couple years ago? Or still thinking they can profit from that era?

About 2-3 years ago, the w123's were going for way more money than they were worth. Maybe the guy bought the car and changed his mind about the conversion and trying to recoop his money?

I dont know, just a theory, but I have seen people do this on other websites...

The most delusional sellers seem to cluster in the sale ads of The Star, MBCA's magazine.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

I think most of the delusional sellers don't buy their MB's for the same reasons most of us do. Most of us enjoy driving and working on our cars and know that we will never recover anywhere near the money we have invested, and we are OK with that.
Those that think they are "investing" in their cars and are expecting to see a return when they sell are just setting themselves up for disappointment. It's hard to explain to them that when you buy a $500 car and put $2000 into it, you don't have a $2500 car, you simply have a $500 car that has consumed $2000 more than you paid for it-- it's still a $500 car.
Others may simply be victims of poor judgement and/or unscrupulous ebay sellers and are stuck with a car they grossly overpaid for and are desperately just trying to break even.

Ahhhh, drunken sailor syndrome. You might be on to something.

What I meant, is that if it weren't for those 2 flaws it was indistinguishable from new. Most cars that need new engines and bodies don't have any parts that still look new.

I'd like to add that I agree with Tyler 100%, that the most delusional sellers of MB cars are in the Star. MBCA Members in general seem to have an over-inflated view of themselves and their cars.

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1979 240D, 4spd manual, Power Sunroof, manual windows, 147k miles, Pastel gray/Black MB Tex.
1991 300D 2.5 - Smokes like it's on Crack!

Idiot delusional sellers hit all cars , I had a VW shop in the Glory Days and the roached out '57 Oval Window junkers that came in ready to give me a ' GREAT DEAL ! ' ~ were also $600.00 klunkers but they'd insist....

Morons ~ there must be a school for them somewheres .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

We bought Bert and Elvira new, so no reason to sell them. Besides that, I paid $36,633 for Elvira 25 years ago and I want to get my money's worth out of her.
On the other hand, I've gotten my $$ worth from Sarah Jane since I paid $7,400 for her new 35 years ago.

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Houston, Texas
1984 300CD 235K miles, Elvira, one owner
1987 300TD 180K miles
1974 TR6 78K miles Sarah Jane, one owner
OBK #27

They exist in the VW world too. Look at some of these prices. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/cat.php?id=55

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1979 240D, 4spd manual, Power Sunroof, manual windows, 147k miles, Pastel gray/Black MB Tex.
1991 300D 2.5 - Smokes like it's on Crack!