Mercedes 300d Turbodiesel ***over $16K in records from past 7 years***

Up for sale is my 1984 300D turbodiesel. I have been the proud owner of this car since the early fall of 2009 when I purchased the car from Dr Mario Disavario in Annapolis MD. Mario is an MB diesel aficionado and has been working on and tweaking with these cars practically his whole life and had a side hobby of sourcing, repairing and selling high quality W123s. Mario sourced this car from the son of a wealthy older man in the Philadelphia mainline area who had passed away. The car had been well taken care of over the years and had phenomenal “bones” to it when I bought it, but it was in need of replacement of a number of standard wear and tear items to bring it fully up to par. I had a Pre Purchase inspection done by Silverstar Service Center (an independent MB shop in Annapolis MD specializing in older benzes) and spent about $2.5k right after purchasing to have a number of basic maintenance items refreshed to my standards as a baseline starting point. This car has effectively been a daily driver for me and I have extensive maintenance and service records under my 7 years of ownership as I have kept this car in top running condition so that it can meet my everyday transportation needs with reliability. I have full documentation to back up my spending of ~$16.5k over the past 7 years with a complete open checkbook policy to maintain this example to the highest standard, and often times replacing the “less sexy” stuff that simply needs to be done if you want your 30 yr old daily to drive as it was intended to drive when it left the show room. Representative repairs / maintenance include: water pump, 4 new shocks, 4 new springs (H&R lowering springs specifically made for a W123, these are not cut springs….these are only available from Germany – I have the invoice), control arms, ball joints, tie rods, steering shock, brand new full HVAC system (including remanufactured controller), oil pan gasket, vacuum pump seal, glow plugs, valve cover gasket, belts, differential pinion seal, virtually every fluid in the car at least once, among many, many other things (see pic of records)

I have used this car for my daily driving activities, and the car has been garage kept for a good portion of my ownership. Car has just over 142K on the clock and drives fantastic – smooth and linear acceleration; butter smooth transmission shifts; excellent ride quality and steering feedback (note the number of suspension wear components replaced during my ownership that others overlook until there is a problem).

Literally every “system” in the car works as it should including, the original becker radio and speakers, antenna, all electrical switches, vacuum locks, sunroof, HVAC system (fully redone), lights (front interior dome light bulb does need to be replaced). The dash is crack free other than one small ~1" crack at the speaker cover (i can send pic if interested, ebay limits me to 24 pics), front seats have been recovered in factory tex under my ownership (see more below), the floormats are relatively new, the original interior carpet is in good shape. On the exterior, the original single stage paint is still in very good condition but there are the to be expected number of stone chips of a well taken care of car with this age / mileage and there is subtle fading on the back driver side C pillar (see pic). With respect to cosmetic condition of the car, the pictures herein are very accurate and indicative of how the car “shows” from 5ft.

I am a private seller and genuine car enthusiast who wants to pass along this great car to another enthusiast for safe keeping and continued enjoyment vs. many W123 examples on the internet representing a flip of a deferred maintenance example that has just been very well detailed to be passed off in much better condition than the underpinnings would validate. So with that I also wanted to highlight the below disclosure items in the spirit of honest, open, and full disclosure to all potential buyers of what the car represents:

- Rear passenger side has 2 rust spots on the inside of the wheel well (see pics). Depending on your DIY skill set, Mercedessource has a very nice and easy to use rust repair patch kit that could do the trick, but I also have a well-regarded local body shop that I have discussed this issue with and would be happy to discuss the details of a full body shop repair with a potential buyer. I have chosen not to repair it yet as would prefer to leave decision of which path to go down (inexpensive repair kit vs. full on body shop repair) to the next owner

- The Driver Door is not the original one for the car, in a rush to leave my house once, I forgot that this car was temporarily parked across the street and I backed my wife’s ML out of the driveway and into the driver side door. I have a pic of the damage for anyone interested. It took me over a year, but I was able to successfully source a high quality door from another W123 in California and had everything professionally done the “right way” and cleanly blended the paint with the original by a high end restoration shop here in Charlotte called Automotive International (http://automotive-international.com/ - check out their site, they often do multi-$100K restoration projects on things like gullwings, Ferraris, Bentleys, Rolls, etc.). I have the receipt for the work done

- The alloy wheels were repainted (but not refinished) when I first purchased it and the paint is wearing off on one of the wheels and oxidation is visible (see pic). While other 3 wheels are still fine, If I were owning the car long term I would have all 4 sandblasted and professionally refinished (have a quote locally for ~$100 per wheel - if buyer wanted wheels refinished, I would be happy to have this done and buyer can pay the shop directly)

- The tires did pass recent inspection so I have put off replacing them knowing that I was going to sell the car as wanted to let the next owner choose their preference in tires, but two tires have some uneven wear (i have pics for those interested), if I were continuing to own it I would just replace all 4 now given 14-inch non-performance tires are pretty cheap

- I was in a 3mph fender bender in the car in 2011, from a stop after taking my foot off the brake I slowly rolled into an an x5 at ~3mph. It did literally nothing to the x5, but his trailer hitch and ball went through my grill and I had to replace entire grill assembly, AC condenser, and had to straighten the radiator support bracket. Given low speed, all damage was luckily isolated to those 3 items all work professionally done by a shop named bodyworksplus in CLT NC – google them and see their nearly all 5 star reviews. I have receipts from the work done for this as well

- Misc interior nits on the car…. Nets on the back of both front seats were torn so I removed them (see pic)…..Ignition cylinder appears to have been replaced at some point in the past and the vinyl trim around it is slightly “disheveled"…..Front seats have been recovered with new genuine mercedes covers that still look brand new. Reason for the recover was that, I had the car detailed while living in a different part of the country and when vaccuming, they accidently tore one of the seat covers so they had both of them recovered for me. I’m probably just picky, but im not overly thrilled with the install their subcontractor did, but I was moving across the country a week and a half after it was done so I wasn’t able to have them re-do it and have lived with it for 5 years so I guess install was good enough as I haven’t had them reinstalled yet (I believe the existing covers can be used just need to remove seats from the car and fit the cover on more cleanly)

So why am I selling? I am a true enthusiast and tend to change up what I am driving, having owned this car for 7 years it is the longest one I have ever owned in my life (Recently have had an e30 M3, Porsche 997s, R107 Mercedes SL, Audi S4, and Mercedes 500e none of which I kept as long as this diesel). I am switching to a modern wagon for my daily duties to replace the diesel as I have 2 small children and need more utility and modern convenience than the W123 can offer. I feel that I have been completely transparent, very accurate, thorough and honest in my description of this car including its flaws and bottom line is that, this is a very nice, well cared for example that has had well more money spent on often overlooked elements to make it mechanically sound than virtually anything you will find at this price point, and the largely cosmetic issues that are present are known, easily repairable quantities vs. the vast majority of W123s out there for sale (no matter how well detailed) will need $7-10k+ in deferred maintenance spend to get the car as it should be (if you don’t have documented proof it was already done, you have to assume it wasnt - trust me its just a fact of life - while these are phenomenally durable cars the reality is things break down over 30+ years and need replacement to be ready for the next 30 and given the price point of these cars, it is very rare to find the type of enthusiast owner who will spend 2x+ a car’s value in maintenance over 7 years).

I have the title in hand, and would encourage any serious bidders to send me a message on EBAY or call / text my cell at 757 286 8615 to further discuss and learn more about the details of this car, i am willing to discuss reserve with serious buyers (note it is set below the Ebay BIN prices of other W123s currently on the site that in my opinion are not as thoroughly cared for and as much of a "known" quantity as this car). Please note that I reserve the right to end the auction early as I am selling the car locally as well.

Thanks for looking