My daughters '81 300D got the right rear door bent up pretty good on the high school parking lot. I will start repairing it this weekend.

I have learned that if you know how to remove a paritcular piece of MB trim, you can do it in two seconds and it will be intact and ready to put back in place. I have also learned that if you don't know how, you can easily destroy something.

The trim I need to know how to remove is the horizontal piece at the lower edge of the window on the rear door. Can anyone offer any suggestions?

Thanks for your help,

I subscribe to the "Bigger Hammer School of Auto Body Repair". When I took my door trim off I used a wood block, a hammer and a slot screwdriver. The screw driver should have masking tape down the shaft and over the head to prevent paint scratching. If I remember correctly, the chrome strip and the rubber skweegee strip that fits agianst the window are two separate parts. They will likely come off together because they are they are attached to the door skin by a single devilshily clever trim clip. If your skweegee blades are cracked and broken it may be worthwhile to get some used ones at the junker. If it is a "you pull" junker you can perfect your removal skills on their hulks.
To remove the chrome strip: place the edge of the wood block against the door skin and under the chrome strip. The angle should be about 45 degrees down. Gently hit the wood block with the hammer moving the block along the full length of the chrome strip. THe strip should begin to move up off the door skin. Keep working from side to side along the strip so the strip doesn't bend. If it doesn't want to move, you may have to locate the trim clips and do some prying to open the jaws of the clip. If your at the junker grab some extra clips because they tend to rust.
If you have to remove the molding along the bottom of the door for painting, this is held on by bow tie clips and other nasty things. On the inside of the door in the lower rear corner there is a small black plastic plug. Pop it off and inside you will find a small nut maybe 6mm. You have to remove this nut (you will likely need a deep socket) because it threads on to a bolt that runs from the molding through the door skin. Take the rear end of the molding off first. Pry the molding off the bow tie clips working to the front. The front clip is not a plastic clip but is a metal adjustment clip that slides forward through the doorskin. You will have to slide the molding rearward and outward to disengage this clip.

If you are going to remove the door molding which is part of the molding which runs the full length of the car, it is a straight pry off. This molding is secured by arrow head plastic clips which fit into red plastic hole fittings which go through the door skin. Some of the red fittings may come out when the arrowheads are removed. If not and you wish to paint that area you may get a tool to extract the red hole fittings. I used a crochet hook. The red fittings will pop back into the hole for reassembly. Good Luck.

Thanks very much for the rundown. I have removed the middle and lower trim, but the help with the one at the bottom of the window is just the help I need.

Have a great weekend,