ok, so a stay in a motel just bumped the drive price up a notch.

Most recent reply from the owner:

I like to see things before I buy them, just me. Some people are the complete opposite. Either way is fine with me as I have sent enough pictures I am sure you feel comfortable enough with the condition. The main reason I bought this particular car was because it does not have rust, most of these cars are full of rust, behind the rear wheels, under the rear glass, battery tray etc. This car does not have rust, I have pulled the carpet up and inspected all the floor pans, also pulled the liners out of the trunk and inspected. I replaced the battery tray several months back and painted under the tray with a product called POR 15 which is an industrial rust preventative paint. The paint under the battery tray is light gray and this is why, as you are right this is a very common area for rust to develop. None of the doors have any rust on them.

Expect for the lower drivers door all paint is original. The car has never let me down or left me stranded. The only issue I have with the car is starting it in the cold, if the temp drops below freezing it really needs to be plugged in allowing the block heater to work. The car does have new glow plugs and a glow plug relay so I hope it will help, temperature has not been cold enough yet in SC to know for sure. I have another friend with this same car and his alternator went out on a road trip and the car was still able to run with no alternator. The car is old and it will have things that need to be fixed from time to time, I try to fix things before they break and keep up with it so I don’t end of with a huge bill all at one time. If you are relatively handy the car is fairly simple to work on.

Over a 3K period I usually top off with about 1/4 qt if making a long trip. It is normal for a diesel to burn a slight amount of oil. I have a VW TDI with 25K on it and the car burns about a quart every 5K miles.
Let me know how you want to proceed.

The guy sounds like a righteous one with knowledge. Pretty rare, in my experience.

what part of SC is it? PM me if it's near me, I could go look the car over for you.

You do not buy a car without seeing it yourself or having someone with knowledge look at it on your behalf. I assumed the car was local to you and that is worth something that I priced in.

I also thought it was religious oil changes every three K claimed. Now it is top it up with a quarter of a quart at three K? Who adds a quarter of a quart? would he not have changed the oil anyways at that point. For starters dipstick reading are not that accurate and vary by orientation of the ground in the horizontal plane.

Not trying to throw a damper on this just do not totally throw caution to the winds. It may still be a very good car.

The buyer agreed to a good price. I am still unsure if I should buy the car. After travel, food and diesel. The total price will be $3,000.00. Still wondering if I need this car and how much I will need to put into it.

My Honda is great daily, but it's just missing that certain something....

See, now if you invited me, I could write the road trip journal.

Do you want to ride with me? You are more than welcome!

Do not disount that it may still be a very good deal and everything he says it is. Just be cautious. We sometimes procastinate and later regret it as well.

A lot of decisions in life are also based on tangiable things like money availability at the time etc. If it looks good and works well when you get there you can always sell it at a later date and recoup your money. Not buying it an equal or better opportunity may not present itself again. This does happen I can assure you and you can live to regret it. This is not in the serious area of deciding if you should spring 500 k for a certain house for example.

It works both ways. Some things I regret not purchasing when they were available. Some I wish I had not aquired. Fifty years from now it will not really matter much what the majority of site posters did. In my case the sands of time are running out much faster. If the guy is pretty honest I still see this as good.

If it is something you think you want hop a bus, plane, or train just get there and look at it if you like it buy it and drive it home. If it is 7 hours drive that is only 400 to 500 miles. I personally drove from San Jose CA to Seattle WA with a car I knew nothing about other than it drove fine and started with 0 issues until I got home then I had to adjust the valves because it would not start. But 500 hundred miles is NOTHING.

How did the car turn out for you?

I'll be flying into Charlotte tomorrow evening and driving the car home. I hope it all works out :).

Thanks to everyone for your comments. I will update the thread along the way. I am hoping for an easy drive home.

I look forward to meeting up with you.
be sure and PM or email me your fight info!

The car worked out fine, drove it for 2 years and sold it to someone that really really wanted it, it was a 1984 300CD and I really wanted a Sedan. So I next bought the 1984 300SD in my sig, I've had that for 4 years now and on a Frybrid kit.:eek: Have fun and a safe journey. I forgot to mention when I bought the 1st MB in San Jose I went straight to Jiffy Lube and had the oil and filter changed as there were no records.

Had a really bad day today, got news I would be getting laid off in 2 weeks...sucks...so that puts a hold on the car. I will not be purchasing it. If anyone is in Jacksonville, FL and would like to use my one way ticket to Charlotte tomorrow you can have it......

I will be posting a for sale ad for the car if anyone is interested. The seller is very nice guy. I wanted to purchase the car it's just poor timing for me...sad.

The seller is firm at $3,000.00 and with the service history and condition I feel it is worth it.

vstech: Sorry I will not be meeting you! Thank you for offering to meet me and inspect the vehicle, how generous of you.

Thank you again to all.....it's just not my time to own a w123...