I have been off MB forum for a while tending to my other diesel projects but am now looking at a possible purchase and want to get some feedback before I talk to the PO.
As yet I have neither spoken to him or seen the car all so I got the following info from a friend who knows the PO but only saw the car on the PO's iphone with descriptions by the same who is not car savvy at all!

1983 MB 300TD
190k miles
New battery
New injectors
Newish tires
"Recently updated rear suspension" no specifics what this means
Window and lock work.
Cream colored exterior? Paint very good
No interior color given.
May have some rust but nothing noticeable or structural
PO said it smokes white/black when running which explains the new injectors but to no avail

No price was mentioned.
I know it is hard to make a true worth of a car "over the phone" what would you all feel is a reasonable price to offer with this info?

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1981 240D 143k 4 spd manual -SOLD

2004 VW Jetta TDI 5 speed 300k -still driven daily

Not many people in the competition for these.... being on this forum makes one think otherwise..
I say offer him $400 and see what happens...
you may be the only one bidding....
there is a lot that could be hidden in what his description was...

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1980 240d ,

chain elongation, cam marks reference:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/10414-help-i-need-check-stretch.html

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/305365-9-degrees-chain-stretch.html

evap fin cleaning:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/156207-photo-step-step-post-showing-w123-evaporator-removal-1983-240d-1982-300td.html?highlight=evaporator

A/C thread

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/297462-c-recommendations-mb-vehicles.html

The problem with wagon and coupe models of the w123, in particular, is that sometimes people see an eBay result where a really nice Southern Cali one-owner car sells for $18 or $22k, then they think to themselves "Well MY car would only need $Xk to get it near that, so my car must be worth $18-X = ?.

No.

A wagon in really nice shape with minimal or no rust, reasonable number of owners and paper records can fetch good money, even silly money.

However, those account for about 1/50 cars that float around the marketplace. Most of the rest are somewhere "between one foot in the grave" and "need $1500 spent yesterday" condition-wise. These are not diamonds in the rough, they are well-used old cars and will take an immense amount of effort to make into anything else.

Don't even get me started on how many have had WVO run through them by dimwits who don't know how to do it properly....

The car has issues the current owner hasn't addressed. In that state it's a lowball proposition.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Without any additional information, the car might be scrap, so an offer of scrap value would not be unreasonable. However, it would make a great deal more sense to go take a look at the thing or at least get some more information before making an offer.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.