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Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Today's car is one I see frequently, and I've spent months wrestling with an internal debate over its eligibility for this series; sure, it's a quarter-century old and a great-looking car, but probably 98% of the diesel W123s ever sold are still on the road today and it's a stretch to call this one a survivor . Eventually, the rarity of the early-80s coupes in North America sold me; back in the early 80s, what self-respecting wealthy car buyer craved the sportiness of a big Benz coupe, yet was willing to put up with the 120 horsepower of a rattly, smoky diesel? OK, the OM617 was actually quiet, didn't smoke, and was probably the most reliable automobile engine ever made, but Americans who look for stolid reliability tend to want four doors. I'm not sure this is actually an '82; it could be as recent as 1985. The feds didn't...
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We had a Favorite DOTS Mercedes-Benz poll a couple months back, and the '65 220SE won handily. Looking at the list, however, I realized that I'd overlooked the W115 cars, so it was time to go out and shoot one on the island. You Mercedes-Benz experts are going to have to help us figure out the exact year on this one; I'm pretty sure it's from the 1971-73 era, but that's about as close as I'm going to get. The 220D had the four-cylinder diesel, not the legendary Mercedes-Benz 5-cylinder , but these cars still racked up astronomical odometer readings. Unstoppable reliability is great, but the 220D's engine delivered a not-so-peppy 57 horses. For a car weighing 3,000 pounds, acceleration required a great deal of patience on the part of the driver. And at a list price of nearly $6,700- 200 bucks more than a new '73 Cadillac DeVille- you had to be thinking long-term reliability over short-term performance when you bought a 220D. Hey, how many of these cars still...
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87% of you said you wanted to see some Malaise Era Mercedes-Benzes in this series (the '72 280SEL we saw a couple weeks back is technically pre-Malaise), and now that time has come! Here's a car that laughs at mere 300,000-mile odometer readings: Get to 500,000 miles on the clock and then we'll talk , I imagine this car saying to today's Japanese claimants to the car-longevity throne. Now that's a freakin' hood ornament! This car listed at $26,265 when new, which is about $75,588 in 2007 bucks. 75 grand! The funny part is that the owner came out while I was photographing his car and offered to sell it to me for $600, which means its value has depreciated about 99.2% since new. Hmmm... knock off $100 and it's 24 Hours of LeMons ready! This car has the turbocharged version of the unkillable Mercedes 5-cylinder diesel engine... an engine that deserves mention as a Workhorse Engine of the Day, when we continue with that series. This example is on the rough side,...
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