Choosing my first benz (and car!)

[Holoublahee]

Wow! Pm'ed thank you so much.

I'm really glad I found this forum. The wealth of information and generosity is incredible. Anyone else interested in taking a look at a car for me?

There's one in Port Orford, Oregon (1975 mercedes 240d original owner)
One in Port Townsend , Washington (Mercedes 240D)
and one in San Francisco, California (76' Mercedes 240D)
All three look interesting/worth looking into!

Also anyone in the Cleveland or Cincinnati area that would be interested in taking a look at either the white or brown car with me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for all the input and help. I really didn't expect to get this great of a response right away.

[gmog220d]

Ha Ha! Happy to help out. But beware - you are possibly stepping into something you will end up loving or hating, a veritable Pandora's box of puzzles! :-)

Think long and hard about the time and resources needed, and if it's right for your situation. I've had good luck with W115s, but I've also had several other rigs to rely on for backup when needed, like those times I tackled some of the more complex projects. FWIW.

[Holoublahee]

I feel like I will most likely love it, but there's really only one way to find out.

Cars really just keep popping up. Here's one in the DC area! https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/cto/5567398387.html

The interior looks pretty torn up (held together with duct tape...), but I called the owner to get a little more info, but they didnt pick up--hopefully they call back.
As it turns out I will be heading back to DC for the weekend so it might be a good time to look at it. Also, I know of a good mechanic who knows these cars well and might be willing to come along.
I'll post once I have a bit more info on the car but I'd love to get your opinions on it.

[BWhitmore]

I am in Southern California and am OK to look at cars within a 50 mile radius of Los Angeles. Caution: driving an older classic car any distance more than 100 miles without thoroughly checking it out mechanically is not a good idea, therefore, you probably need to factor in transporter costs.

Unfortunately, I agree with others, a classic Mercedes is not a good car for a first time car owner with a limited budget. It is nice to have dreams, but a classic car takes time away from studies, family, friends, etc. plus the money aspect.

Keep your dream alive for the next few years until you are finished with school and have started your career. Unsolicited advice from an old man who has had the same dreams for years.

[Holoublahee]

Thanks BWhitmore! I'll keep an eye out for cars over there.

Honestly, I think getting this kind of car now may actually make some sense. I don't need it to everyday to get from A to B, it would be more of a weekend deal and not having it for a few months because its out of commission is no problem--if I absolutely need to go somewhere I can borrow a friend's car. Also, I have substantial chunks of the year when I have little to no responsibility--summer, winter, fall and spring breaks--that would allow me extended periods to work on and get into the nitty gritty with the car. After my time here, I will essentially only have weekends and whatever vacation time I am able to take, so I think developing a better knowledge of the car now while I still have this sort of free time would be very beneficial. Of course, my studies take priority but so far I have had more than enough time to do well in school, work 3 part time jobs and still enjoy myself (I am cutting down to two jobs next year because I really hate one of them).
Worst comes to worst, I would have to sell the car for a loss, but I think choosing a good car from the start I probably wouldn't lose more than $1-2,000 and I don't feel that that warrants avoiding a car that would bring me a lot of joy and knowledge while I have it.

With that said, I definitely will take time and costs into greater consideration. I will also take precautions such as AAA, finding the best car I can afford, and getting it checked by an experienced mechanic to try and avoid a bad experience as best I can.

I was informed today that the brown car was sold to one of the owner's family members over the weekend It was a little disappointing because I had just approached him about buying it. It seemed like a good move as it had a lot of the harder work done on it.

The search goes on! I'll keep looking for cars and posting ones that I think are interesting options. I am also opening the search up to W115 300Ds, unless there's some reason I should avoid them--I'll admit I haven't done nearly as much research on those as I have the 240Ds. Also, I am open to suggestions!

Thanks again to all of you for your input and help in this process.

[gmog220d]

Bummer. The brown '74 was my vote.

As for 300D W115s, they are great cars too, the only "downside" is that none of them came with manual transmissions (I like a stick shift, myself). A couple of my pals have W115 300Ds and love them. I've driven them and I got to say they have plenty power compared to the 240s I've driven. There's nothing more complex about them, really.

Keep up the hunt! I'll let you know what I find out about that one in ABQ.

[BWhitmore]

The car in Washington state looks like a nice car and is fairly low mileage.

[JeffreyNMemphis]

The first Mercedes Benz I ever rode in was my father's 240D. He was selling new pleasure boats in Long Island, New York and a customer traded in the Mercedes. My father was very proud of the car and kept it immaculate and well maintained. The car climbed from zero to thirty in 15 seconds. It was his daily driver for about fifteen years? He sold it with over 300,000 miles on it. The car might still be on the road somewhere...

[Holoublahee]

I have been looking pretty hard the last two days.
Here's the updated shortlist. The ones with *s are ones I am particularly interested in:

*Port Townsend , Washington* (Mercedes 240D)
Albuquerque, New Mexico (https://albuquerque.craigslist.org/cto/5500077736.html)
*San Francisco, California* (76' Mercedes 240D)
*La Mesa, California (1976 Mercedes Benz 300D CLASSIC!!!) This car looks great, but I would really need them to come down a bit on the asking price.
P̶h̶o̶e̶n̶i̶x̶,̶ ̶A̶r̶i̶z̶o̶n̶a̶ ̶(̶http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/cto/5565889040.html)̶ ̶H̶o̶w̶ ̶b̶a̶d̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶"̶b̶a̶d̶s̶"̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶o̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶s̶?̶
Hartford, Connecticut (1975 Mercedes 240D Diesel)
Washington DC area (https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/cto/5567398387.html)
Dayton, Ohio 300D (76 Mercedes 300D)
*Cleveland area* (https://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/5554072588.html)

Some of these look significantly better than others and some are much closer. As far as automatic vs manual goes, I can drive either and dont have a strong preference either way. The extra bit of power in a 300D might actually be nice and if they aren't more difficult, I'll definitely open the search up.

I have contacted both the Washington DC and Dayton sellers because they are relatively close. Neither car seem excellent, but getting some experience looking at the cars would be good. Neither has maintenance records, the Dayton car was purchased at auction to resell--the seller got it repainted, the radio and a window don't work, and they said the brakes were a little loose to start but get better as the car gets going. Also claimed there's no rust, and that seems true from the pictures.
The DC car hasn't had much work done on it and the back of the interior is being held on by duct tape. The owner didn't know much about the work that had been done on the car. He said it used to be a show car, but had no work on the engine done, mostly original parts. I'm not sure how I feel about that especially with them asking 5K.

I'm still interested in the white car I posted originally and will likely check it out late next week. I will post pictures etc.

The car in WA also looks pretty solid and the ad seems honest. The car seems to be in good shape except for one little ding on the front right side. I called the owner today but they did not pick up. My only real concern is getting someone to look at it. Would I really would hate to go out there and end up buying a lemon that I can't even get back to Ohio with. Also how significant is getting a new speedometer cable?

A slightly more general question, how much would fixing up the interior cost ball park? If I find a car in good condition mechanically, is it worth buying if I have to get the interior redone? Also, I have no experience getting cars shipped, any idea how much that might run me? Seems like it could be preferable to driving cross country.

[Shortsguy1]

Don't waste your time on the one in Phoenix. The price and the condition are miles apart. There was no turbo in 1975, so the owner has no idea what he/she is talking about.

[Holoublahee]

Thanks for looking out Thats good to know. Glad I can start narrowing the list down a bit. Its off the list.

Any thoughts on this car or the people selling it? they have loads of info on it. Not sure about their asking price:
http://www.motoexotica.com/inventory/listing/1975-mercedes-benz-300d-4dr/

[gmog220d]

That 300D looks decent. Nice that it has RH and LH side view mirrors. Logs up until 2002 are cool.

I notice a few things:

- The front bumper is sitting high and is angled up.
- Some rust bubbles in the quarters behind the rear tires, more pronounced on the RH side. The underneath shots looks good, though. It would be nice to see the front and rear ends of the rockers, and under all the mats in the pass. compartment and trunk.
- Some jury riggin' going on there with the transmission kick down cable.
- Seat padding looks like it's on the way out.
- You can see that the vinyl covering over the kick panels, under the dash and in front of the doors, where the square speakers are mounted, is coming off. That indicates leaky windshield seal.

But not a bad looking rig, overall. Don't know anything about the sellers. Would be nice if there was a price in there.

[joshhol]

I love my 300D and would not hesitate to drive it anywhere. In fact, I drove it from San Fran to Boston 3 years ago, but I know its condition really well. To redo my interior about 7-8 years ago with vinyl and new seat pads ran me about $3500 with install. Really good quality vinyl from Gahh. I probably need to do the headliner soon.

Power wise, I haven't driven a 240D so I can't say but I consider what the 300 has is barely adequate for today's traffic flow. I wouldn't want anything less. However, a 240 engine with low miles might pull just as fast as my 617 with 340,000 on the clock.

The brown was my vote but you should def look at 300's too.

[gmog220d]

That's about what I was thinking in terms of refurbing an interior - between 3 and 4 thousand. You might save a few bucks buying the pads and covers and doing the work yourself, but it's still gonna cost some. I'd put front and rear glass seals higher up on the priority list, though.

A pal of mine in Arkansas has a '76 300D that's solid but kind of ratty. It drives great! He's below 1000 feet elevation, which I'm sure has something to do with it, and the car has a "lot" of power compared to the 240s I've driven. This is one reason I prefer stick shift - you can take better advantage of the engine's power output.

A big factor on power/speed is the tuning of the engine. Proper cam and injection timing are important, as are good injectors.

My first exposure to W115s was in 1990 or so, when I lived in Austin, TX. I drove a '81 BMW 320i, and a lady I worked with was married to a guy who had a shop that specialized in German repair. On days I left the car with him she would give me a ride to and from work in her Orange 240D stick shift. I'll never forget how her car sounded and smelled - loved it.

[Shortsguy1]

My 220D interior was destroyed by years of CA sun. To keep costs down, I actually bought a parts car with nice seats and headliner for $800. Moving seats over was easy and really improved the appearance of my car with very little effort. The vinyl no longer exactly matches the pattern of the original and the seats are slightly more modern than what a 1968 came with (less chrome), but it was a very inexpensive way to improve the interior of a w115.