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”Those old Mercedes diesels will run forever!” That’s what I constantly hear when someone who is a ”car person” sees or hears I drive an old Mercedes diesel. Usually I just smile and nod in agreement because they don’t want to hear about valve adjustments, multiple filter changes, purges, diesel fuel additives and everything else that goes into keeping an old Mercedes diesel running forever. ”Nope, you’re right, just pour whatever liquid you want into the tank, it’ll run. Sure.” That brings me to today’s car. An OM617 diesel that is half way to running forever with only a tick over 585,000 miles. Now since you’ve heard about these cars that are capable of doing a crazy amount of miles, let’s take a look at this 1980 300D in Scottsdale, Arizona.
When I saw this 5000, it looked familiar to me even though we rarely cover C2s. But when I read the ad, I was sure I’d seen it before. While we try to produce fresh material with every post, once in a while a truly special or unique alumnus of our pages resurfaces. In this case, it’s a quite rare Type 43 Audi 5000 Diesel. Originally, this car was written up at the end of 2013; now, nearly 3 years later, it’s back from a seller in Tennessee, have traveled only apparently 200 more miles and with a $1,000 price drop to $8,995. What’s perhaps even more spectacular is that they stole my words for the advertisement copy, only replacing “New England” as seen below with “Tennessee”. While it was good for a laugh and I’ll choose to chalk the plagiarism up to a backhanded compliment, this remains a very impressive and rarely seen specimen:
The below post originally appeared on our site December 14, 2013:
Period modifications can be pretty hit or miss, and when you’re talking 1980s cars, it seems most weren’t on target. Sure, the AMG widebody and Ruf cars are spectacular, but many more suffered the ignominious fate of having tacky tacked-on plastic bits, wild and poor paint jobs, and “performance enhancements” that more often than not led to a protracted period of non-running conditions. But once in a while a period piece pops up that looks special, and this 1980 Scirocco spotted by our reader Wojciech is just that:
The enthusiast website Petrolicious posed the question if the venerable Mercedes-Benz W123 would be the last “normal” car you would ever need. I think the word normal sums up this car quite perfectly. But in a good way. That’s in contrast to a car like the Toyota Camry, which is a good example of “normal” in a bad way. The Camry is the perfect car for the non-car enthusiast. It doesn’t do anything exceptionally well, but it will be, for the most part, reliable. Many have asked for my opinion on this Toyota over the years and I always say the same thing: over 400,000 people a year can be wrong.
If it’s reliability we’re talking about, that long-standing trait of the Camry pales in comparison to what the W123 Mercedes-Benz is capable of. This 1981 280E we see here for sale near Düsseldorf, Germany will indeed last you a lifetime with proper care. Witness the number of examples that are still pressed into service on a daily basis. However, in our quest to find the best and lowest mileage examples of your favorite classics on the market, have a look at this W123 that has just over 14,000 miles on the odometer from new.
Ah, here we are back with a long time favorite. This Oak Green Metallic over Tan 1980 Porsche 911SC Coupe, located in New Hampshire, sits with 141,338 miles on it and looks in nice driver condition. While there are certainly examples of the 911SC that attract collector interest, generally speaking these are the models to seek out when your desire is for a good driver that you can get into for reasonable cost and spend plenty of time enjoying. Its successor, the 3.2 Carrera, tends to attract higher values – not unexpectedly – but the similarities between the two models are such that anyone looking for the classic 911 experience can be just as well served with the earlier SC.
