I love to see older, semi-special cars that have been kept up and remain in daily use. This morning on the way to work outside DC a lady in her thirties passed me in a nicely kept W123 300, in one of those brownish '80s shades, and with the added nice, modest touch of wheel covers vs the usual alloys. The car wasn't shiny, but it wasn't dirty or dinged-up either. Obviously the second or third car of a "professional" family who still practice the bluestocking economy of buying the best and making it last. In the "old money" shabby-genteel neighborhood of Baltimore where I grew up, you could still find '30s and '40s Buicks and Packards in regular use up until the '60s. A neighborhood garage just last summer yielded a 12 cylinder '34 Packard Victoria, bought for transportation for $60 just before WWII, and laid up in 1959.

IMHO, the W123 diesels are the last "permanent" cars we'll ever see...overengineered, overbuilt, still good looking, and durable as cathedrals. With all the faux glamor of today's expensive cars, it was wonderful to see a vehicle that bespeaks modesty, refinement, conservative quality, and taste.

Jim B+,

I agree wholeheartedly.

I recently took a job requiring a 65 mile commute each way (after 5 months of unemployment).

Priority one was to get a W123 to make that commute enjoyable, since I have relly come to appreciate the 300D we got for our son as his first car.

I found a 300D Turbodiesel 2 weeks ago, gold with beige interior, 234K miles but well cared for, no rust, original paint.

Bottom line-- 25 mpg @ 70, solid as a rock, seats hit my back perfectly (broke in bike wreck 20 yrs ago), 1600.00 per year projected fuel savings over the truck I used to drive.

I look forward to the drive every day, in a car that is paid for, and still on the road after its lesser peers of that vintage have gone to the scrapyard.


Nate Stanley

I feel the love! I have had my 82 300D for six months now and it brings me a lot of joy. Being of sound mechanical mind, I am able to keep an inventory of upcoming repairs so that nothing ever catches me off guard. I am fortunate that I live in southern Cal. because the body and frame on my car are rust free. I just love it when people ask me, "isn't that car expensive to maintain?" I bought my car for $2400. Any new Toyota with insurance is about $250 to $400 per month not to mention the down payment plus, my car needs nothing, looks beautiful(pics on the way), and runs perfect. I do mostly city driving so I average around 20mpg, so even if it died tomorrow, I still break even! I would guess that if I never opened the hood again, I would still get a couple of years trouble free since I don't consume one drop of oil, but since I love my car and over-maintain it...the sky's the limit!

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1982 300D Turbo "Helga"
380,000 miles

I got my first MBZ...an 85 300D W123...in 1998. After all this time, lots of work on the car, and nothing but dependable service, I still enjoy putting diesel fuel in at the pump, and i still really enjoy every ride.

I'm getting ready for some major repairs:

Monday will bring into the shop for adjustment to an alignment done last september...wore the outer edge off of left front tire...brand new set of Arctic Alpins!!!

following week will be in body shop to fix collision damage...I got hit when parked all day in a parking lot...the person left name and number and their insurance paid...I will have them fix a couple other rust spots while there

following week I'm planning on taking some time off from work (extra vaca. days) to do major work. Will replace head (leaky head gasket or crack in head), belts, oil cooler lines, all new coolant hoses, oil filter housing gasket. I still need to get prechamber puller and new lugs & nuts for manifold, and I will be ready.

I also have a complete set of new MBZ fuel lines and brake lines which I will try to do if I have time...otherwise I'll do sometime this summer.

Amazingly, even though the engine runs a little hot (95-100C) and I verified leaky head (oil in coolant, carbon monoxide in coolant reservoir), the car still runs pretty well....A couple of weeks ago I drove from Boston to NYC, over to Newark, then to Philly then back to Boston...about 700 miles...I was a little nervous with the head problem, but I wanted to get the couple hundred dollars in mileage reimbursement (business trip) to put toward repairs, so I took a chance...the car never missed a beat!!!

Great car, cant wait till all this work is done!!

Mark M

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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)

Mark,
good to see a W123 owner in Boston!

This 300CD is my very first and actuall MY OWN car!
I love it! I don't really enjoy driving in the city (Boston), but a nice Sunday Drive or something like that is amazingly enjoyable!
I still get compliments from people every now and then, I never got anything like that when I drove a 2002 Ford Taurus that was still gleaming!

They'd never believe how much these old diesels cost either. Most people of my age don't like it when they see it in pictures. However once they rode in it, their opinion just changed.

I'm so familiar with the OM617 sound that I catch the sound every now and then.. and when I turn around to look, it'd be either a 240/300D or 300SD. There used to be an Anthracite Grey 300D that is really nice in school. I think it's a prof's car or something. I used to see it really often, but now I only see it once in a blue moon.

Us up north in NE should have like an informal MB gathering or something... (it can't be hard.. i see tons of MB's here...)

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2008 BMW 335i Coupe

I know the feeling. Just got back today from a 4 day backpacking trip. Got back to my car in the middle of nowhere. Nearest house or payphone was at least 20 miles from where I left the car. I know I don't have to worry about it starting, fires right up. On the way home down 75 the car was running so well I turned off the music just to listen to the engine purr