October 1, 2005

1987 300 TD: I Thought WE Had The Last Real Mercedes

hooptyrides_mercedes.jpg

Now I'm no workshop guy, but I surprised myself by burning an hour last night, totally transfixed by Hooptyrides, the weblog full of the insanely cool, warped, and fascinating projects of one Mister Jalopy of Southern California. [Yes, the same Mister Jalopy you read about in that issue of Garage Life, the Japanese magazine. Oh, he also writes for Make.]

Anyway, here's how he begins his description of one of his cars, a 1987 Mercedes-Benz 300TD

With absolute conviction, I can say, the 1987 Mercedes 300TD is one of the very best automobiles ever made. Though I don't have 7 friends, should I acquire a few more, I will be able to bring them with me in absolute comfort. It is a 6 cylinder turbo charged diesel and it was only available in 1987. The W124 body cars (the 80s E-classes) were the last true Mercedes that felt like they were machined from a single block of steel.
He goes on to describe it's speed, reliability, convenience (1987 was the only year they had a 6-cylinder diesel engine.) But this "last true Mercedes"/"single block of steel" thing tripped me up; that was exactly why we bought our 1985 Mercedes 300 turbodiesel after a months-long, nationwide search (I can vouch for Mr. J's rule of thumb on the cost of maintaining a vintage Mercedes. Search search search.) It was the last year before they replaced the venerable round-headlight, rounded-block W123 with the wedge-y, futuristic W124. I didn't know the company kept its soul for two more years, but we still like ours better.

And speaking of souls, I'm going to try out the new R-Class this afternoon. I'll keep you posted.

1987 Mercedes 300TD [hooptyrides]

1 Comment

Great choice. Used to have a 190E and clocked over 200.000 miles onto it. (100.000 of them by myself). Never had a problem and doors still closed with that vault-like sound when we dropped it off at a junk yard because my brother drove it into a pole. The engine would probably have done another 100.000 at least...

Planning to get a 300D station wagon soon...

Google DT


Contact DT

Daddy Types is published by Greg Allen with the help of readers like you.
Got tips, advice, questions, and suggestions? Send them to:
greg [at] daddytypes [dot] com

Join the [eventual] Daddy Types mailing list!


Archives

copyright

copyright 2024 daddy types, llc.
no unauthorized commercial reuse.
privacy and terms of use
published using movable type