There is this auto repair place nearby, always busy. Has a yard with
some junkers, and more better cars parked in back. I see some fairly
nice looking older Benzes there, have been there for awhile. I stopped
to talk to the owner, ask if they are parts cars, customer cars, cars
for sale, or what. He says sorta some of all the above. So I go
looking around, there is a very nice 350SD (not SDL) there parked in
back. Then a 300D with so-so dk blue paint and a very nice dk blue
interior, looked pretty good. Then out in the boneyard is a 115 300D,
paint faded badly but body/chrome in very good condition, all the bits
there (incl some extra lights in front -- fogs?) interior ratty. And an
SEL. So I go in to ask about these cars.
350SD has a blown head gasket, AC needs a bit of freon once a year,
customer did not want to pay to have it fixed so there it sits. Ask him
how much he would take for it (it is a VERY nice looking car). He says
a $1000 would be a fair price. I ask him about the rodbender engine, he
claims not to know about that, but this one starts and runs well other
than the cooling system gets pressurized. Hmmmmm. I have never seen
just the SD, it is just like the one I just bought, but much much
nicer. Hmmmm.
He says the guy who has the 300D wants $1500 for it, which seemed fairly
reasonable, and there was another Benz there, a 126? SEL I think that
sorta ran but was in half decent shape, said he would sell both as a
pkg, not that I want them but the SEL could be a good parts car I guess.
He says the 115 was running fine but the blower resistor overheated and
caught fire, burned under the dash or something, guy didn't want to fool
with it, so it got parked in the boneyard but has not been stripped or
anything. He was gonna find out what the owner might take for it, if
anyone is interested in that car it looked pretty solid but nasty paint
and interior but mostly very nice chrome and other bits. I figure it
for crusher cost+a bit maybe.
So, anyway, if anyone has any interest...
I am thinking about this 350SD. It was very clean, silver with the
light gray interior, looked well-taken care of (there are some people
around here with lots of Benzes and money, some very nice cars). Didn't
check the miles. Assuming it is just the head gasket and not a cracked
head (is that a problem on these cars? could it be the head not the
gasket?), that wouldn't be much problem to fix, right? And if it is
running half well, drive it till the rodbender starts to act up, or even
do a pre-emptive rod job now? I vaguely recall some discussion of that
procedure -- how hard would that be? I am thinking that for $800 (if I
beat on the guy a bit) or $1000 and some parts and a bit of time, a very
nice car could be running.
What say y'all?
--R
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