[V8] Touring car musings.

[cobram at juno.com]

The rose colored glasses of time?
I was buying 300D's, 240D's et. al. for export by the (half) dozen in the
late 80's early 90's, and even 20 years ago the examples to be found here
in the rust belt were rot buckets.  They rust, they rust big time, they
rust everywhere and anywhere.  Early 70's were rust buckets, late 70's
were rust buckets, early 80's were rust buckets, mid 80's were rust
buckets.  Thanks to a friend with a Mercyless Benz shop, I bought mostly
one owner cars owned by people who maintained them better than factory
recommendations.  The owners all loved the cars, they all hated to part
with them, they all parted with them for very cheap to nothing...because
they were rust buckets.  Non-turbos are underpowered, smoky, noisy and
the second reason we still can't convince people diesel is an option. 
Countries I shipped them to would completely disassemble the cars (I mean
completely) and rebuilt them from top to bottom.  I followed the work on
many of them, and can even remember how strange some of the rust was.  
The 123's?  They're sneaky and tend to rot from the inside out, under the
cowl, between fender panels etc.  I've seen 123's that looked pristine,
beautiful, but try and lift it by the jack point....and the distinct
sound of crunching corn flakes.

I'll do anything mechanical, but I hate body work, chasing rust is even
lower on my list of things I enjoy than dental work is.  If it wasn't for
that, I never would have looked twice or put up with the kind of
mechanical "peculiarities" that all the type 44's are known for.

I still have an '87 300TDT I drive regularly, it was supposed to go
abroad but the buyer never came up with all the cash.  Figured it was
better to keep it limber.  After driving this one, which has the 6
cylinder turbo, I can't see an MB diesel head ever going back to the 5 or
4 bangers.  Will be selling it soon, I have a small pile of notes left on
her over the years asking for dibs on it when I decide to sell.  There's
a cult out there for these cars,  having been baptized and ex
communicated, I'm sure I"ll wane nostalgic for it a few years after it's
gone.

BCNU,
http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/
I enjoy escargot, but I prefer fast food.
 
"Tony and Lillie" <tonyandlillie1 at earthlink.net> writes:

> The only significant thing that appears to go wrong with the w123's 
> is the 
> compressor. Built by GM of course, and thirty plus years old to 
> boot. Do 
> that, the R/D, and expansion valve, and you are good to go. BTW, 
> when I was 
> younger I always dreamed of a souped up 300SD (turbo five cyl) 
> engine 
> stuffed in an older body style (mid 60's) 190 or 220.