"...Cars can be judged as mechanical works of art or regarded as rich men's playthings; nevertheless the best car in the world must be the one that is most reliable over an immense milage. An upper-crust car may be better for skilled maintenance, but it must continue to give excellent service when neglected or spared all but the most perfunctory attention. It must be able to stand being driven flat-out hour after hour for day after day and must never be sick or sorry. Such cars were the Silver Ghost and the Delauney-Belleville, but most emphatically the Phantoms and Hispano-Suizas of the 1930s were not of this caliber."

John Bolster "The Upper Crust: The Aristocrats of Automobiles" published in 1975.

Mr. Bolster was a British auto enthusiast of advanced age who had driven or owned many of the great pre-war cars when they were new or nearly so.

Few cars on the road today could meet this standard for durability and dependability. My two '80s diesels thunder on decade after decade withou undue complaint.

Mr. Bolster also notes that early chauffeurs did more than drive to earn their keep. He reveals that an early Silver Ghost Rolls-Royce required an hour of maintenance by a factory trained chauffeur after each day's use, and about five hours attention to grease fittings, wheels, and other parts once a week.

Agreed. But take into account things such as road conditions, the metalurgy of the day, lower quality of lubricants available then, ect. Actually the Silver Ghost was supposed to be a very dependable car for it's day from what I've read.
But then, he "was there".
I actually enjoy working on the 'ol Benz. I just marvel at how well these things are built. I've owned lots of cars in my life, from many makes and eras. But this SD is the most impressive thing I've owned, even with it's quirks.(example: the vacuum operated heat/AC vent thing)

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past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

.....better every year.

MB 123 and 126 chassis seem to take more maintenence than the average "modern" car. That said, they are DESIGNED to be maintained. Replacement parts are fairly cheap, most servicing is simple, etc. Todays vehicles are actually fairly well made and many will happily run 100K with nothing but oil changes. I see no reason why most won't go 200K without issue. The difference appears at this point. At 200K the "maintenence free" modern car is throughly worn out. Its assemblies are "non-serviceable" and prohibitively expensive to replace so you simply throw away the old car and get another. With the MB at 200K you replace the odd bit here and there and continue to drive it for another 200K. RT

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When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K