1983 Mercedes 240D

1983 Mercedes-Benz 200-Series 240D Description

Since this car came from Germany its VIN is actually WDB12312310391531
I bought this car from a German Air Force officer a few years ago for my daughter to drive to high school. It's great for driving around town! I believe he was the second owner and brought it over from Germany. It is a European model which has a few differences from the American 240D, most notably the headlights. American models have round headlights. He also replaced the original metric instrument cluster with the American version and provided documentation that miles in the new odometer were set to the equivalent KMs in the old odometer. So, as you can see, this Mercedes diesel has low original miles and lots of life left! He also added a really nice sound system, who knows why, but it sounds great! I just replaced the deck with a newer Alpine. More about that below. He also had it painted from it's original pale yellow to gold.
The GOOD:

• Low miles on a solid Mercedes Diesel
• Completely rebuilt front and rear suspension
• New hydraulic clutch master and slave cylinders
• Pretty new tires
• Very little rust
• Awesome stereo, USB available for iPod, bluetooth and voice command.
• Drives very nicely
• Air conditioning, though it needs to be recharged once a year, and frankly even in it's prime was pretty weak in these 240d's
• The rear defroster actually works!

The NOT so GOOD:

• The interior is pretty beat. It's functional but worn
• Glove box latch just decided to act up
• Passenger side window regulators have been replaced, but the crank posts are American so the cranks don't stay on. Need to get the right size clips for that I think
• The instrument panel lights are controlled by the odometer reset button. The gadget is worn and will only let the instruments light up in one special position.
• The turn signal sockets were replaced or something in the past, but the wiring is flaky. So every now and then it has to be fiddled with to get to work again. Typically right before the safety inspection.
• As stated above, the AC is weak but does work when charged up.
• If you run the fan on full for too long it will blow a fuse.