I am planning to take on my second diesel. My thoughts are to spend between 7500 and 10000 on a VERY good 123/124 (123 top would probably be about 5K). Does anyone know of reputable dealers MB or otherwise that might be wothwhile contacting to find the car I seek. I've done E-bay and Traderonline etc but really want to find a good car, no surprises and with maint records. My current 83 300D has lots of leaks but it started at 5 degrees (no block heater) and I drove it last night in a big snow storm without undo difficulty, it's a keeper. I plan to keep that as my main commuter ride with #2 as my Summer driver. There'll be a #3 too but that one may be an old Ponton Diesel.

Thanks for any info.

Cars in that shape are somewhat rare so you'll probably need to look at a wide variety of sources. I recently did a similar search for a high quality 124 sedan which is tough because they really only made the diesel in '87 (at least for California). I saw decent cars in Hemmings Motor News, L.A.Times and local ads. You might also let the local dealer know because they are normally afraid of old diesels but if they know you care might give you a call the next time they see one. I ended up buying mine on EBay that while not quite as good as I had hoped, had the combo of rustfree and low miles I wanted. I had it inspected before I bid. Spend some time looking and when you see the car you want go after it. In my mind I was willing to pay up a bit because I knew I'd keep it for 10+ years so paying an extra $500-$1,000 spread out over lots of years was worth it to me. Good luck and happy hunting.

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LRG
1987 300D Turbo 175K
2006 Toyota Prius, efficent but no soul
1985 300 TDT(130K miles of trouble free motoring)now sold

Hey, I'm in RI too! I just bought my first MB 84'300D, off Ebay from a dealer in NC. California car, absolutely rust free, 128K. I paid a bit more than I wanted to, $5700 but I got exactly what I wanted so I am quite okay with that. If you want I can give you the name of the dealer. He picks up really nice trade-ins from a dealer in the Raleigh-Durham area. The nice thing about this guy is, Ebay or not, if the car is not exactly as advertised he will refund all your money including the deposit. Let me know if you want the info. RT

There is an '87 diesel W124 listed in the Macon, Ga paper this week. Ad reads as follows:
1987 300D turbo, loaded, low miles, very clean was $8900, reduced $7500. Let me know if you want the phone # and I will email it. I may even try to look at it this weekend just to see how it looks. It is a private individual selling it.
I just called the guy - he got it from some of his wifes kin - seems they ran the engine without oil and he purchased an engine off of ebay and had one of the local independents put it in. Says the engine has around 80k miles on it and the odo is showing 120k. Fella says the car looks great. I think I will go take a look at it on Sunday.

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Jim

Jim, I've seen this car. It's at the Citgo off I 475 and Zebulon Rd toward Barrington. Cream with cream int. Lots of miles and while not ragged, it is aged. I wouldn't pay over $4500 for it if it was me. And even at that, it better run dang good.