I was driving on I-12 in Baton Rouge early Thursday 11-30-2017 in my 1977 300D. I had the cruise set at 60 mph (speed limit in this area is 60 mph). The road was virtually empty. I noticed a car approaching from the rear but paid it little attention as it was very far back. Well, it was apparently going pretty fast because just seconds later it appeared in my lane and was closing fast. As I watched in my rear view mirror he swerved to the right and I swerved to the left but wasn't fast enough to avoid contact. The offender's left side headlight area made contact with my passenger side tail light area. I was spun violently toward the center concrete barrier. I was able to barely regain control of the car in time to miss hitting the barrier. I then checked quickly to make sure the lanes were clear of traffic and I moved slowly to the right hand shoulder of the interstate. There was a loud scraping sound that I thought at the time was a rim make contact with the pavement. It turned to be some part of the car contacting the right side rear axle.

The car that hit me was on the right hand shoulder about a 10th of a mile ahead but was still rolling. I got to the shoulder and stopped just in time to see the car turn on their emergency flashers and then start slowly leaving the scene. He was leaking fluids and steam, but he was moving.

The cops got to me pretty quickly and one of the two car left attempting to find the other car. The full extent of my description of the car was that it was a white four door sedan of the jellybean shaped variety. Even though there was another exit just 3/4 mile ahead, the policeman was unable to find the car.







How fast do you think he was traveling at time of impact?

Also, don't know why my pictures are skewed. They do not appear like that on my computer??

Not sure what my plans are once things are settled with my insurance company, but I'm leaning towards finding a W123 Sedan body or a TD body into which I put my mechanicals and interior. I'm just too sick at heart right now to give it too much thought. I do know that I'm going to detail my car to show off it's near perfect interior and engine bay area. I'm hoping that will get a better settlement.

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Baton Rouge, LA
1977 300D Non-Turbo

I would say 20-30 mph faster. YIKES!

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CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

Too bad the leaking fluids trail was not strong enough or consistent enough for the police to follow it. Anyways you were lucky that the incident did not result in personal physical injury to yourself as well.

The detailing is a good ideal to at least attempt. Made whole again is technically an insurance companies responsibility. One that they ignore or try to all too often. A good example of one of these is both scarce and expensive today.

Hit and runs unfortunatly will probably always be with us. Some things indicate the other driver may have been intoxicated as well.

Glad you are ok.

Looks like the crumple zone worked. Buy the car back from your insurance company. Buy another 123 and use your parts to make 1 good car.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Yes, too bad they didn't find the culprit. That said, a video camera with DVR facing both rear and forward can help track down idiots who leave the scene. I bought two that I'm going to start with facing out the rear window then will purchase two for the front windshield.

They were probably high on drugs or booze. I experienced a similar incident like this on I35 north of Dallas. As soon as I saw the car gaining on me FAST, I put the accelerator to the floor. We barely missed colliding, he took the next exit and got lost.

unless you have a EURO... I'd look for a similar condition 82+...

not sure why you would want to deal with the evil servo, the lack of turbo... difficulty accelerating from 50... and a few other issues associated with the NA variants...

better fuel economy as well with the turbos... not a lot better, but better.

I have a 85 needing to be reassembled with very minor rear collision issues, you can have it if you like.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

OP, I would say your priorities are sorely in need of recalibration.

Forget the car, it can be replaced.

Be thankful you're OK.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

This is a warning to all of us to check our rear view mirrors for cars approaching from the rear at high speeds. These are people who are most likely flying on PCP or Crack. THEY ARE OUT THERE.

This is exactly my plan.

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Baton Rouge, LA
1977 300D Non-Turbo

Didn't mean to imply that my wife and I weren't totally grateful that I escaped with virtually no injuries. I think the fact that I was able to make a little bit of move to the left helped prevent a full on impact instead of offset impact that spun me around.

But all that said, it's move forward time now. At 71 I feel that I have very little time to waste. I'm either spending time with family and friends are making stuff work as it should (that's why I love these W123's). I love working on old cars and trucks. Working on a 1949 Ford and 1997 Dodge Ram 2500 w/Cummins Diesel (my grandson gave me this one!!).

Thanks to everyone for their concerns.

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Baton Rouge, LA
1977 300D Non-Turbo

Years ago I was travelling North in I-19 just North of the international border with Mexico. I was in a Jeep Cherokee, I looked in the mirror and saw a small car approaching very quickly, my guess was 90-100 MPH. At the last second he swerved to miss me and rolled into the median then back across the lanes and out into the desert. The car flew into the air, spinning rapidly, and nose diving into the ground. The doors flew open and two men and a baby were all ejected. A group of people stopped and it took us some time to locate them out in the desert, two dead and the baby, still in it's seat, injured but alive. The mother was still strapped into the front seat, injured but alive. It's a very scary thing seeing a car come up that fast, you don't really know what to do.

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Brian
87 300Dturbo 180K #14 head still running R-12 SOLD 12/2017
02 F350 Powerstroke 180K
05 Chevy Express 1 ton w/Royal Utility box 120K
08 Infiniti FX-35 40K
15 Golf Sportwagen TDI 35K
10 Sprinter 3500 chassis with a Class A Winnebago on it. 56K

Go see a Dr. first if any back/neck pain. Possible the H+R driver will be caught. Then drive a harder bargain if they had insurance.

Before the trail goes cold....

Drive the road again looking for leaks / tire dragging marks / car debris post impact. Take the first exit and look for a larger puddle where the car may have stopped to make a turn. If nothing is there, look at the next exit / any pull off / place where the other car could have turned around.

Talk to businesses / people near an exit as they may have seen something. A business or house may have a security camera.

The cops can't investigate every incident, you need to do this on your own. Leaving this go just emboldens hit and run drivers.

Sort of. The other car went over the bumper and hit it in a soft spot. What did help is the passenger compartment being pretty stiff.

I'm thinking more of a 15 MPH speed differential at time of impact.