May have found my car

[Freight_Train]

well,I found a nice 85 300SD on Ebay.Body looks perfect in teh pictures other than some bubbling paint on the filler peice between the grill and bumper.Nice Light blue paint,front seats torn,dash looks great,engine little dirty but not nearly as bad as one would expect in a 20 YO car,has a dual tank Grease system on it(Heated? stainless tank in spare tire hole).Gonna call tomorrow and see how much they are asking off ebay(its a car lot) and if they might have one without a grease kit(I can live without one for now).Hope they only want 2500-3500 for it.My aunt said she will help me get it.Hope so cause we both wanna give this lil tempo I am driving now to my cousin(W 2 chitlins) so she has wheels when her hubby at at the plant.

 

[The Warden]

Is this the car you're talking about?

If so, the outside looks clean! I would try to find out if the driver's side airbag is original to the car...if it's not, it might be worth it to find out how well the installation was done and if it'll actually work the way it's supposed to (as opposed to either not working at all or going off when you least expect it). I say this because, while the airbag was an option on this car, it's EXTREMELY rare in a 300SD. For that matter, does the car have ABS? (again, not unheard of, but needle-in-a-haystack rare)

For whatever reason, blue dashboards tend to crack faster and more extensively than black dashboards. Some people have speculated that the blue dye makes the dash more brittle, but I don't think anyone knows for sure. The rest of the interior looks like it's seen better days...I'm going to guess that the seats are leather as opposed to MB-Tex, and that that's why they're in the shape they're in. If the seats are MB-Tex and are in that bad of a condition, I'd start wondering if other parts of the car have been neglected as well. MB-Tex and leather look identical from the outside, but if you take one of those tears and look at the back of the material, MB-Tex will look like plastic, whereas leather will look like cowhide.

Beyond that, the car could be a good deal, although I wouldn't go above $2K with the seats in the shape that they're in, particularly at that mileage (in fact, unless the car's pristine otherwise and every accessory works, $2K may be a bit too much...maybe more in the $1500 range?)

Let us know how it goes!

 

[Freight_Train]

Yep,thats it.He includes another set of leather seats out of a 500SEL he claims is in Like New shape.

 

[towcat]

tim-
the airbag feature is not as rare as you may think. I can show you two cars (300sd) with them over at the shop right now. the car look like it has ABS too. the only thing that I haven't seen too often is the blue the car wears. but back in the early to mid 80's there was many MBZ colors that didn't have a long run at all.

 

[Freight_Train]

The interior doesn't look too bad other than the seats which it is supplied with an extra set......But,It could just be my POS screen that shows the car as almost a navy Blue.Didn't know the true color till I fired up a buddies today and WOW,I like that color!Also,says it has all service records,Manuals and even the original Window sticker.Sounds like it was taken care of but that can also be wrong.I had a Yugo with all all the original manuals and window sticker but was totally thrashed.Plus,that grease kit in the trunk.How does that thing work?Just filter the WVO down to 5 microns and dump it in?Start on Dino or Bio,let engine warm then switch over to the other tank?

 

[The Warden]

the airbag feature is not as rare as you may think. I can show you two cars (300sd) with them over at the shop right now. the car look like it has ABS too. the only thing that I haven't seen too often is the blue the car wears. but back in the early to mid 80's there was many MBZ colors that didn't have a long run at all.

You're right; sorry...my mistake. I was thinking of the W123 when I said that. I just double-checked, and ABS actually was apparently not an option on the '85 300SD...it was standard equipment (as per this site, although some people argue that it was an option, so I can't say with any certainty). Air bags (on the driver's side) were apparently optional on '84 and '85 model year cars (and became standard in '86), and were expensive options so they weren't THAT common...but, as you pointed out, considerably more common that I had said in my original post.

The W123 was apparently available with ABS and a driver's air bag between 1981 and 1985 for the European market, but those options weren't available on the W123 in the U.S. market.

You learn something new every day, eh?

Freight, looking at the replacement seat covers before buying would be a good thing...the good news is, replacing the seat covers is a pretty straightforward task. I would have changed the front seat covers in my car, but I decided to just run the poor thing into the ground and use the $$ I would have spent on the seat covers to help save up for a replacement car...

As to the WVO, it depends on how the system was set up, but most likely yes...make sure you don't have any water in the drum (or whatever you use to collect the WVO; I wouldn't recommend pumping the WVO straight from the vat into the car's tank), filter the WVO nice and good, and pour in. I don't know how exactly this system is set up (each install is somewhat unique, but generally easy to figure out). Generally, you want to start on "normal" diesel (either Bio-D or dino-D) and wait until the cooling system's up to operating temperature before switching, then switch back to the "start-up" fuel shortly before shutting the engine down in order to purge the WVO out of the fuel system. This assumes that the tank and/or fuel lines are heated by coolant...

 

[Freight_Train]

actually,I think he is including 2 entire seats not just the covers.But If I do get this thing,I'll just put the seats away in my building(Insulated,drywalled,dryish work prefab work shop) and run the torn ones with a set of cheap seat covers since I will using this car to drive to and from work.Don't want to ruin the good ones.Also,the setup that is in the car is a Greasecar setup.Heated tank,heated lines,Heated filter(coil around it I think).Fire up on the stock tank and the coolant heats the WVO.Flip to WVO and run.Flip back over to diesel for shut down and the WVO has a reverse flush setup where the diesel and WVO has separate pump lines and return lines and diesel reverse flushes the WVO back into the WVO tank.I just hope it has a setup where it only does it for a set time.I have a place I can get 10 gallons of WVO a week wash water free.Only water would be from the fries.Also,grease free since they dump the grill goo into a bag and dump it in the dumpster.I hunt with the managers husband and she will make sure I get good stuff.

 

[Freight_Train]

well,I called and talked to them.It comes with 2 Like New extra leather seats(full setup).He said they were real leather(out of a 500SEL) but didn't know about the Torn ones in the 85(Asked MB-Tex or Leather).Also,it comes with a stack of reciepts for repairs,oil changes,parts,etc along with the original 1985 manuals and window sticker.Also,I asked how much to buy it off the lot and about fell outta my chair.Over $5000(pretty close to 6K I remember but can't remember exactly how much).So,I went ahead and bid on it and so far still have the high bid(which it can still go quite a bit higher and I will still have the bid).I figured what the heck,If someone was picky enough to keep all the recipts,manuals,and even the window sticker(hmmmm,can you say 1 owner?!?!) then there is a very good chance they took good care of the car even if the seats are torn(heck,20 years old,anything that get rubbed nearly constantly will wear out!).Hope I can get it.That grease kit will be nice when I start making Biodiesel.I can just tap a little off my filtered stock and run the Benz.

 

[towcat]

you might want to surf Criagslist in the SFbay area. If that car is going for that much $$$$, it might be worth you making a trip out here and driving one home. People around here have issues swallowing a $4k price the similiar diesels. $2-3k is pretty regular.
here's a screamer of a deal... $1800obo..... http://www.craigslist.org/sfc/car/114293110.html
and a pic

 

[The Warden]

:drool: I wonder what the chances of him still having that car in January are? $$'s lacking at the moment, but I think I could pull it off after the first of the year...and that car looks niiiice!!

 

[Freight_Train]

you might want to surf Criagslist in the SFbay area. If that car is going for that much $$$$, it might be worth you making a trip out here and driving one home. People around here have issues swallowing a $4k price the similiar diesels. $2-3k is pretty regular.
here's a screamer of a deal... $1800obo..... http://www.craigslist.org/sfc/car/114293110.html
and a pic

There is no way I could do that drive.Do you have any idea how long it would take to drive from the gaybay to the Georgia line?Youch!My butt couldn't stand that kinda trip.oh well,if I can't get this greaser there are other cars around.Really would like a wagon but I want to put a sub in the back and with all that glass,it is just a billboards saying rob me especially in my Ghetto neighborhood.

 

[Freight_Train]

well,autolite.Looks like someone wanted that thing more than me.Sold for $3650.heck,I thought my bid of $3500 was high enough but guess not.Looks like the hunt continues again for a 300SD.Anyone got any leads within a sane driving distance of Central alabama?250 miles was about my limit.