1980 Mercedes Benz 300SD Fantastic Original Condition

1980 Mercedes-Benz 300-Series SD Description

Gorgeous 1980 Mercedes-Benz 300SD

I purchased the “blue-beauty”, as my family has grown to call it, a little over a month ago. It was in such fantastic original condition I just couldn’t pass it up, but now I’m looking to get an off-road rig, so one toy has to go! As you will find below, this car has just had a fair amount of work done to it. It is all sorted and ready to go! I wouldn’t hesitate to drive it for hours on the highway.

Appearance

My Mercedes 300SD has the coveted navy exterior and camel interior— which is a perfect combo. It was garage kept throughout its life, so the paint is in very good shape for the age, and the interior has no rips or tears. As you can see in the photos, the paint looks great and just has a few imperfections, including some light cracking on the hood (this is a common issue with a deteriorated hood pad that allows too much heat to crack the paint). On a side note, the hood pad has since been replaced and is in great shape. Overall, the paint is extremely good for 37 years old. The interior is what sold me on this car. Compared to most of the 1980’s vintage Mercedes, this one has just a couple light cracks along seams in the dash. They are barely visible, and I don’t think they even showed up on the camera. Other than that, the seats and original floor mats look great. The leather headliner is a touch unseen on cars today and is not showing any wear at all. One key sign of wear on the interior of an old Mercedes is if the grain on the shifter handle is worn smooth— not at all the case here. The steering wheel and shifter don’t show nearly any wear.

Misc Features & Things to Know

The windows all roll up and down as expected. The automatic climate control system works for DEF and heat. Blows hot just as expected. The A/C just needs a new clutch to work. The radio was replaced with a new one and speakers were installed in the rear. It is classy and not a “ghetto-rigged” job. Only the driver’s lock works from the key (vacuum issue?). All the lights, turn signals, etc work great. The car is a safe and functional cruiser.

I have plenty of the service records, some are old and others new. I am the third owner of this vehicle. Many of them are from early in the car’s life. However, I have a few recent ones documenting the work I outlined below.

Mechanical:

The engine runs great without any knocks or ticks, and the transmission shifts smooth. It starts right up and has been a dependable weekend-driver. There are no current issues I have planned to fix— everything, quite surprisingly for an old car, is working to my satisfaction.

The Mercedes has only roughly 175,000 miles. At the end of this summer, the odometer started to work more slowly and started counting fewer miles than I feel accurate. If I wind up keeping this vehicle, I have plans to fix this issue sooner rather than later as to not destroy the authenticity of the miles. I think this issue coincides with the fact my tachometer started failing intermittently.

What’s Been Done Recently

-Oil just changed with synthetic Shell Rotella 15W-40

-Brake fluid changed

-New Duralast ProPower Ultra battery installed

-New A/C compressor installed (clutch faulty and needs to be replaced and belt put back on for A/C to work)

-Tires were replaced recently