It’s amazing what a little elbow grease can do. According to the seller of this 1983 Mercedes 240D here on eBay, it was formerly stored for close to two decades in a St. Louis garage without moving. Now, it’s a clean survivor with an unfortunate salvage title that likely occurred later in its life and may have been a very minor fender bender. It looks like a solid car, now residing in sunny Clearwater, Florida.
The engine bay shot is the photo that did it for me – that’s a powerplant you could eat off of. Regardless of the salvage certificate or its long-term slumber, this car has the bones of one that was loved, as it’s hard to fake interiors and engines that were formerly ignored or filthy. In the seller’s words, the “…suspension, brakes, tires, and fuel system are all in perfect shape.” These Mercedes diesels are tough to kill, but maintenance history would still be welcome information.
That interior and those carpets are stunning. Mercedes’ interiors of this era are hard-wearing, but this car’s insides are on another level. Though I dislike tinted windows, I’ll make an exception in this case since they’re likely keeping this MBTex interior in its preserved state. However, the seller does say it should be removed. Having done this on my 1987 535is, I will admit it’s a huge pain in the neck but the car does look 10x better.
Though some of you may be phased by the salvage title, I wouldn’t worry too much about it (unless you reside in one of those states where such things are hard to register legally). I’m sure this 240D just required some minor bodywork and paint to repair whatever insurance deemed a total loss. I don’t see too many W123s in this color, and the overall preserved condition combined with the seller’s honesty makes it an intriguing buy – but I would for sure exercise the option to submit a best offer before I’d pay the $7K asking price. What do you think this former garage find is worth?
Not a fan of tinted windows like this. I’d hate to be the cop that has to walk up to a car like this.
http://bringatrailer.com/listing/1983-mercedes-240d-2/
Not exactly apples to apples but $7K???
Good luck to everyone involved
No need to worry about having to walk up on an old Mercedes diesel–too slow to actually exceed the speed limit!
If it were all original ,no accidents,low miles, I’d say $7-$10k. But as-is, $3-5k tops.
7 thousand for a basic 240D with a salvage title? Do we really need an answer if this is a good deal or not…. Not.
This one is way cleaner than most of that come up for sale. The price is a couple grand high in my opinion but given the following that this model has I would not be surprised if somebody bites at that price. The salvage title hurts it in the eyes of some buyers. Personally I’m not thrown off by a salvage title usually but I’m not a buyer at $7k anyway. The colors are great on this car and I would love to have it as a driver but there are other w123 platform cars out there in great condition for less than half the ask. Am I missing the mileage on this? I can’t view the eBay listing for some reason so I’m not getting all the details but since it was put away for a couple decades I’m assuming that it may be lower mileage than most.
This is what I keep coming back to. I’ve looked at a lot of these over the years and that interior and engine bay is spectacular. Way better than most and unless we’re talking full interior replacement, I’m impressed by how preserved it is.
I am a 240D guy……..they are probably the best built and designed car of all time. The prices have appreciated dramatically the last years. It seems more people are discovering them all the time. There have been nice cars sell for over 15K and a few over 20 in the last year. It looks to me like this is a rental price for a nice car these days. Hertz used to track the most economical cars overall every year……these were either first or near the top every year.