1983 Mercedes Benz 300TD-T Turbo Diesel Wagon

Description

These are somewhat rare machines in the United States, as they were in competition at the time with the launch of the minivan and, unfortunately, lost that battle. Mercedes decided to remove them from the U.S. market due to slow sales, but continued to build and ship them throughout the rest of the world. Now, in retrospect, we realize the loss of picking the minivan over this.

They were only brought into the U.S. from 1978 to 1985, and only the last four years included the highly sought after 5-cylinder, 3.0 Liter, OM617 turbo engine, which this car has. These engines and transmissions are known for making 1 Million Miles with no overhauls and have had great success with being converted for waste vegetable oil and homemade biodiesel. Only 28,000 turbo diesel wagon’s ever entered the U.S. market, and fewer than 200,000 were ever produced worldwide.

This is not a pristine car, but it is in great condition for its age and attracts lots of attention wherever it goes. It has the factory manual sunroof, but does not have the rear-facing third-row seat option.

Since I have owned it, I have corrected a few of the issues it had when I purchased it, including:

·new battery

·both fuel filters replaced

·Ignition switch replaced

· Injection pump purged

·transmission serviced with a new filter and fresh fluid

·rear differential service with fresh fluid

·air cleaner bracket replaced

·both 3/2 vacuum shift levers have been replaced

·throttle pivot bushing replaced

·Injection Pump Rack Damper Replaced

·rear sway bar links replaced

·basic oil change and grease service

·Recent tires (Less than 5,000 miles on them)

It still has a few creaks and rattles going over bumps, but rides and drives well. This car has a LOT of life still left in it, and it still gets fuel mileage in the mid-20’s. The factory air conditioning is not working. The previous owner had the compressor removed for some reason. It was in Seattle, and they never used the A/C. The rest of the components are in place still, so the compressor could be replaced and the system recharged.

The exterior is in good condition aside from a couple of small places of early rust developing, which are shown in the photos. It has the very rare factory roof rack cross bars on it. It’s had new head light bezels and turn signals installed. Grill is in fantastic condition. Wheels are getting cleaner with every wash, but the previous owner was a bit neglectful about keeping the brake dust cleaned off them so it has been a bit of a chore to get them back to spotless. We’re still not there yet. I considered having them powder-coated, but held off for now to see how clean I could get them again.

The interior is where this car struggles a bit. The last 32 years have been a little difficult on it, as were the previous owner’s kids. The dash is cracked, some of the wood grain on the dash is flaking, the front seats have some tears, the covering is coming off the door pillars, and the headliner has a couple of tears as well. All power windows work great, but the vacuum operated central locking system has some issues. This is a very common issue with the older Mercedes diesels.

The self-leveling suspensions system has been removed in favor of traditional coil springs, so this one will no longer be plagued with the leaking system issue. These cars had an automatic level control hydraulic system in the rear that in later years often became a problem child, so conversion kits were made to just go to a traditional coil spring, which this car has. Often owners would come out to find their car sitting on the rear bumper one morning and it wouldn’t go back up. The conversion springs ride very well.

These cars are climbing quickly in value every day. With recent articles from Bloomberg citing them as one of the best investments to be made now before the market goes REALLY high, interest has certainly boomed in the last two years.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-12/the-vintage-mercedes-station-wagon-is-the-car-that-will-never-die

Hagarty Valuation is also showing a steady increase in value at almost $10,000 average with no signs of stopping anytime soon, as does NADA who is showing average retail now as $8,550. Based on NADA’s evaluation and Haggerty’s detailed description, I would easily classify this car as good to average.

We have a second Mercedes 300D sedan that we are restoring from the ground up that has sentimental value to us. I purchased this car because I have always wanted a wagon, and I had to have this car shipped to Oklahoma from Seattle, WA because they are that difficult to find in good condition.

I would love to hang onto it and ride out the increase in value, but the finances are needed on the restoration project and it’s time to let it go to a new home to enjoy it. She does still need a bit of work to make her perfect, but none of it highly difficult and its perfectly drivable now as it is. It has been my fair weather daily driver all summer this year, and I will miss it.

On Nov-19-17 at 09:05:05 PST, seller added the following information:

Since I have had a question about it, just to clarify, the first rust photo is the bottom right corner of the driver's side rear door and the second rust photo is the lower left corner of the rear window.