"witchdoctor11" (witchdoctor11)
08/20/2015 at 12:40 • Filed to: None
1
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"witchdoctor11" (witchdoctor11)
08/20/2015 at 12:40 • Filed to: None | 1
| 15 |
Greetings all,
My wife and I have wanted a cool old mercedes to drive around town for a while now and may have found a fantastic example for the right price. Does anyone have experience, good or bad, with these vehicles? Anything that I should look for?
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
bob and john
> witchdoctor11
08/20/2015 at 12:43 |
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BUY IT> BUT IY NAO
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witchdoctor11
> bob and john
08/20/2015 at 12:44 |
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Seriously trying
FromCanadaWithLove
> witchdoctor11
08/20/2015 at 12:44 |
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I don’t know much about these cars, but at a glance that looks like a great buy.
ceanderson920
> witchdoctor11
08/20/2015 at 12:47 |
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I think it is cool! I don’t really know anything about them but for the price and the mileage I think it would probably be ok.
Dunnik
> witchdoctor11
08/20/2015 at 12:49 |
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This vehicle has the best hubcaps in the history of hubcaps.
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> witchdoctor11
08/20/2015 at 12:49 |
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My dad had a 240D, ‘74. It was a solid and reliable family car for many years, but eventually succumbed to rust and (if I’m not mistaken) a block freeze. That rust bubble will need addressing to keep the rust at bay, but there’s a Danish company (Klokkerholm) that makes good repro steel if anything serious is needed. It appears to have A/C with the old classic York compressor - which if everything is working properly could (at least on R12) freeze one’s balls off. Not joking - capable of pulling nearly a 50F difference with the air outside.
TractorPillow
> witchdoctor11
08/20/2015 at 12:50 |
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Go for it! Whats the worst that could happen?
I owned an 86 sec and loved it. Next buy is gonna be an older MB again cause I miss the old one.
Steve in Manhattan
> witchdoctor11
08/20/2015 at 12:53 |
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No. I had a ‘69 250 a long time ago. The W123 is a vast improvment over this body style and much more reliable. Find a used 300D.
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RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> Steve in Manhattan
08/20/2015 at 12:57 |
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Careful. If he goes with your advice he could end up with a climate control 300D with bad controls - and rather than having simple balls-freezy A/C he’d have the never-works electronics and vacuum nightmare. On your other point (reliability) we never had any real issues with our W114/W115. Was the engine in yours no good? I mean, we did ball joints and things like that, but nothing crazy.
sebdel
> witchdoctor11
08/20/2015 at 13:05 |
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I know nothing about them but I see a lot of them on the street, so I guess they’re at least reliable.
Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast.
> witchdoctor11
08/20/2015 at 13:13 |
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Do it. That is a real find right there. If I had the money in the bank right now I would steal it out from underneath you.
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Steve in Manhattan
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
08/20/2015 at 13:44 |
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Did ball joints, and I remember a lot of carb adjustments. A/C never held a charge despite replacing nearly every component. And the driving experience was meh. If I was shopping in this era, I’d want the 280E - fuel injection. Drove one of those a looong time ago - better experience.
Jonathan Harper
> witchdoctor11
08/20/2015 at 13:49 |
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I know a guy who owned one of these. Beautiful cars but he couldn’t get more than 6 mpg with it so he had to sell.
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Steve in Manhattan
> witchdoctor11
08/20/2015 at 14:33 |
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On the other hand the mileage is low. If you can wrench it yourself, you might have something. And you know me - so risk averse.
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TheJMan92
> witchdoctor11
08/22/2015 at 11:36 |
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Buy it. That price is incredible for the condition of the car. I have a 70 250, same car. The only issues I’ve had to deal with are the very touchy Zenith 35/40 carbs and rust. Mine is a Wisconsin car, originally bought in Oshkosh and been in Wisconsin all it’s life, so rust is a big issue. The previous owners also drove it during the winter, because these cars are largely unappreciated in my experience.
I got mine cheap because it was unappreciated and in rough mechanical shape. It’s definitely not a cheap car to own *if* you need to take it to Mercedes for service. Otherwise, these are easy to work on and mine has been reliable in the face of abuse, but parts can be wonky. For instance, finding the hydraulic brake lines in stock is hit or miss and they seem expensive to me, the water pump has two different configurations and the shorter pumps these have aren’t produced anymore (that I could find) so they can be a bit hard to find .
Honestly, the carbs are the biggest issue as they are notoriously hard to tune and finicky. Parts can be expensive but not nearly as bad as most people assume they are. The engine is wonderful and you can’t help but smile when you drive one of these around. With it’s service history, I’d buy it if I had the money. Vigorous thumbs up from this 250 owner!
