Are you mad at the previous owner?

[JasonP]

Just a general question. I entered the W116 world just recently, after buying a 1979 300SD out of necessity (it was the best bang for my buck). Now that I am cleaning it, learning about it, and looking to restore it as much as possible within my means, I am growing emotionally attached to it. I am also beginning to see that the majority of the damage to the car (from water) is recent, like just in the past few years.

I find myself getting angry that the previous owner just literally let it sit and rot for years. A beautiful car! What a waste!

I wonder if anybody else has had these feelings.

[Squiggle Dog]

Haha! I've felt that way many times. The seller of my 1980 300SD was dishonest. He advertised the car as having great paint, a flawless body, great interior, working CD player, new brakes, new flex discs, new differential, new axle boots, tight steering with recent alignment, new tires, etc.

The paint was peeling off in sheets, the body had a few dents and was in a frontal collision, the interior was sunburned and cracked, had a blue rear seat from a W123, the CD player was broken, the speakers were ripped out of the car, the rotors were worn, the calipers were mismatched, the master cylinder wouldn't hold brake fluid, the flex discs were split, the differential appeared original, the axle boots were cracked, the steering was extremely sloppy, all tires were bald and mismatched with the worst corroded and peeling chromed bundts I have ever seen, the transmission kept getting stuck in low gear, and the windows and blower motor didn't work. There was also an aftermarket cone filter melted to the turbo. He sold the car to me with an empty fuel tank and it overheated because it was over a gallon low on coolant!

The seller even gave me attitude about negotiating the price and making sure I didn't skip out on him. I bought it because I had been searching for a Walnut Brown 300SD with a sunroof for months and this was the only one I found. I also just spent hours riding a train and then a bus to see the car, for the second time that month. I'm glad that I have the car, but I wish I didn't have to pay so much for it, and it burns me that the seller was so dishonest. He also strung me out for a few months on the title! I thought I was never going to get it.

[Squiggle Dog]

Also, I had a 1979 300SD parts car. The seller and I agreed on $300. The day before I was to pick it up he said I needed to make an effort to up my price. So, then we agreed on $500 and he said he would be there the next day at a certain time.

I rented a trailer and drove over two hours away only to find he wasn't there. He said he was visiting friends over an hour away and wanted to know if I could come another time. I said, "No, I am already here." The only people at his house were an elderly woman and a man with a broken leg. I wouldn't have been able to move the car and load it onto the trailer by myself. Fortunately, some young men came by to deliver firewood. I helped them unload their truck and paid them $20 to help me load the car because it was all I had.

Then I call the seller and he tells me to meet him at his friend's house to pay him and get the title. Whatever. He gave me bad directions and I wasn't able to find him, so I went straight home. The next day I drove out to see him and pay him. Then he says he doesn't have the title! When I got back home I found the title in the glove box. The car was worth the effort, though, since it had a strong engine for another project, front and rear heated orthopedic seats with rear headrests, not to mention a nearly perfect interior.

[JasonP]

Wow, Squiggle Dog, that's a laundry list of problems! Sorry about that.

I must say that the person I bought it from seemed like a very decent person, and he was honest with me about everything he mentioned. But he kinda forgot to mention that it leaks rainwater like a sieve. Since I am new at this, I didn't check to see if the floor mats were wet (which they were).

I just feel kinda sad that a beautiful piece of machinery is left to rot. I understand people have no moral obligations to inanimate objects, but still, it's like watching a Botticelli being left out in the yard.

Say, it must be pretty rainy where you live, Squiggle Dog, how does your car handle the rain?

---------------

response to your second post: Mine is very rusty, and has holes in the floorboards. The interior is partly shot because the carpet got moldy. The dash is cracked from the sun, and the ACC was pulled out and not fastened back in. The glovebox is missing.

Only one window functions perfectly, and the sunroof opens only half-way. Other than that, it runs great. I get the engine checked out next Friday for an oil change, and I just put on four new tires and replaced a tie rod and ball joint. It needs engine mounts as well.

[Squiggle Dog]

I also used to drive a 1979 300SD. It was listed for free on craigslist with a 1977 450SE Euro spec sedan. The seller said I could drive both cars home no problem. Just in case, I brought a tow dolly with me. The 450SE started and ran, but the 300SD had no battery, belts, exhaust, front wiring harness, fuses, bumper, headlights, grille, air cleaner, etc.

I loaded the 300SD onto the tow dolly and had my friend drive the 450SE. The 450SE ran out of gas on the way home, so we left it in a parking lot. The next day we put gas in it but could not get it to start, so we towed it home.

I waited for the titles to show up and finally called the seller. I asked him politely if he had turned in the paperwork for the cars so that I could license and drive them. He started screaming and cussing at me on the phone yelling, "Drive them! You still have my plates on them! You're going to get me in trouble!" I responded, "I have not been driving them around. I'm waiting on you." Then he said that he was waiting on me to give him my contact information and hung up. He called back and apologized. He said, "Oh, I guess I've had your contact information all along. You wrote it right here on the paperwork. Also, there is no title for the 450SE."

So, the 450SE got parted out and scrapped. It was a shame since it had perfect leather orthopedic heated seats, an expensive new paint job, SLS, etc. But, at the time I didn't know those parts were worth anything. The 300SD was fixed up into a daily driver that I used for two years.

[Squiggle Dog]

I also bought a 1968 200D. The seller said it was just detailed with 3 coats of polish, was garaged its whole life, had 2,000 miles on a freshly rebuilt engine, new brakes, new tires, light rocker panel rust, perfect interior, working A/C, was a daily driver, etc.

When I saw the car there were kids jumping on the seats, the engine was covered in oil, the hood looked like it hadn't been opened in decades, the brakes failed, the tires were over 20 years old, the whole lower half of the car was rusted out, the A/C didn't work, and the car was last registered about 20 years ago and was still in the original owner's name with the original license plates.

I bought it anyway because I needed cheap transportation and it was my daily driver for a year and one summer I put over 2,000 miles in a single trip. Sadly, the body rusted away and I am parting it out.

[Big_Richard]

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[JasonP]

Do you think it is possible I can stop the rust? Everyone seems to think it is a goner. I don't think so. It's just the floorboards, and a few spots here and there.

[Squiggle Dog]

This isn't Mercedes-related, but I once purchased a 1965 International Travelall. The body was beat and rusted and the seller wouldn't take less than $3,200 for it. But, it was the exact type of vehicle I was looking for, so I drove to California to buy it.

The seller installed a new headlight dimmer switch and as I was doing 70 MPH on a pitch-black night in the Nevada desert, I hit the high-beams and the seller's poor crimping job made the wires come off and I lost both headlights right before a turn in the road, which caused me to fly off of the road and bounce all over until the vehicle came to a stop. My foot went through the floorboard as I was being bounced around, and when I stepped out I fell into a ditch.

Also, I had to borrow to get the $3,200, which ballooned into $12,000. I'm still paying it back after 5 years at $200 a month and have nothing to show for it since I sold the Travelall for $1,200.

Also, before this I had a valuable Schwinn bicycle (appraised at $3,500) that I traded to someone for a 1977 AMC Hornet station wagon because I needed a vehicle so I wouldn't have to bike 10 miles to work each way in the rain and ice. The owner of the AMC said that it had 7,000 original miles and was driven by an old lady who got in a fender-bender and then stopped driving.

When we did the trade I noticed that the car had been T-boned and both side doors were caved into the passenger seat. One rear axle shaft was also broken from the side of the car collapsing. The tires were threadbare, too. I ordered and installed a new axle shaft and rear brakes. Sadly, the right side of the car was so crushed that the doors wouldn't operate and water would pour into the car and fog it up. The previous owner also wouldn't cooperate with me to get the title, so I had to "make up" some documents to get it registered.

So yeah, I'm kind of upset at previous owners. I know that waiting for better vehicles would have saved me the trouble, but I was always working with a limited time frame and funds.

[Squiggle Dog]

Say, it must be pretty rainy where you live, Squiggle Dog, how does your car handle the rain?

It fills up with water and fogs up. The fog never seems to go away and it is very irritating. I can't even keep the floor mats in the car and have the drain plugs pulled. The thing with old Mercedes is that unless you spend $1,500 in weatherstripping these cars are going to be like driving a sinking ship.

[Squiggle Dog]

What a crap system you have over there.

Yes, indeed. That reminds me; I have a 1966 200 that I am trying to sell. I bought it from an ad in craigslist because I wanted to save it from being scrapped. The seller said he had a clean title in his name. When I got there, he wasn't around so I had to do business with his father. It turned out the title was lost. The seller had told me that the vehicle would be fine to drive the 100 miles back home, but it hadn't been driven regularly in over a decade.

I did end up getting it home after making several creative repairs. Now I'm figuring out how to get rid of it. I'm trying to get a title in my name so I can sell it, but I have to get it inspected by the State Patrol, only it's blocked into the backyard. Even then it might take three years before the title shows up.

[Squiggle Dog]

Do you think it is possible I can stop the rust? Everyone seems to think it is a goner. I don't think so. It's just the floorboards, and a few spots here and there.

I've got a rust spot in the right rear wheelwell that I can almost put my fist into (this is from water leaking past the rear window seal and filling up the area under the rear seat). I plan on wirebrushing then sanding it, followed by a coating of Rust Doctor, which converts the rust into black magnetite "primer". I supposed POR-15 or similar would work.

[JasonP]

I have not driven my car in a humid rainy day yet, just a cold winter morning with frost. Since the defrost wires in the rear window are corroded, I just have to scrape it off. With no right-hand side mirror, merging into the right lane is a nightmare - I cannot see behind me.

[Squiggle Dog]

Yeah, having a car that leaks is a real pain, especially where I live in Tacoma, which is probably the rainiest part of Washington State. The good news is that in 6 months I might be moving to Phoenix, Arizona where it's warm, dry, and hardly ever rains. It would be just like living in Saudi Arabia again!

[JasonP]

Well, you'll probably snag the best W116 in the state then! Everybody says get a desert car - no rust.