I bought this gem to work on a few years back after it had been sitting a while. It was to be my first car. I did do some work on it, but my family moved to Australia 5 years ago, and I'm back in the USA for college. I kept the car in my grandpa's garage while I was gone, and since I've been back, my project car has become my daily driver.
Low retail price (for a car that could use some TLC) according to NADA is $5850 - average retail is $8650. You will not be disappointed in this car. I've found that it gets great mileage, drives great, and is very very solid.
I have here a 1983 Mercedes Benz 300SD. It is the top of the line executive vehicles in the Mercedes line back in the 80's. It is the W126 bodystyle, non-extended (it's already a very big car). I did an amateur restoration on it as mentioned above. The car has just under 320,000 miles on it, although anybody who knows these machines know that the diesel will easily turn a million. The motor is in great working order; it got me from Harlingen, Texas to Springfied - a 16-18 hour drive, half of it through snow and ice. The car never gave me cause for concern, and its surefootedness even without traction control or anti lock brakes pleasantly surprised me.
It has a new set of tires on it. 90%+ tread life remaining. It has a fresh paint job - original factory color (gold), with the body panels changed from the ugly matte grey to a mahogany brown. All the paint is better than original Chromabase paint. I have spare paint that will go with the car in case you ever get yourself in a fender bender. But please try not to do that to this beauty if you do buy the car. It's got a perfectly straight body and has had for its lifetime as far as I am aware.
The car has an aftermarket stereo in it, which once again, if you know these cars, you'll know this is a huge upgrade from the factory radio.
The turbo-diesel has far more get-up-and-go than the non-turbo editions, but it's certainly not a race car.
Best of all: NO RUST!
A few features:
Power sunroof
Power locks
Power windows
Power front seats
AM/FM Radio / CD Player / Aux hookup
Air conditioning.
Fog lights
Leather seats w/spring suspension
Automatic transmission
3.0L 5 cyl turbo diesel RWD
Gold/brown exterior
Tan interior
The bad stuff:
Large rip in the rear leather seat. The front two are more recently re-upholstered, but couldn't get the rear done due to running out of funds. The rear seats are actually pretty easy to remove, and will not cost you too much in this economy to have re-done like new.
The electricals are still in need of some work. For example is an inoperative power antenna.
Power locks not hooked up yet (these cars used hydraulic locks and I unhooked the motor during restoration - never hooked back up).
Fuel gauge doesn't work (the worst part about the car in my opinion). I'm not sure if something has just been knocked loose back there or a new instrument cluster is required, but either way is not a major catastrophe as even the new instrument cluster can be replaced cheaply and easily.
Drivers' side lock does not work. Something jammed up in there recently and I have had trouble finding a locksmith in my area who will even let me bring it in. I am still working on fixing this but the car is sold as is, so make an offer assuming it's not done yet and we can go from there.
I will be posting pictures up soon when I get back to the garage. Please don't hesitate to give me a call if you're interested in making a reasonable offer. This car is a beautiful car, ready to offer a new owner another 20 years of reliable service, or even serve as a great car to put some more time into. And if you just love these classic Mercs, you'll fall in love with this one.
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