1982 Mercedes-Benz S-Class 300SD review from North America

I paid $300 (three hundred dollars!) for this car last month. The driver's side window did not roll all the way up, but it would go down. The passenger side window did not move at all. The radiator neck was broken (and poorly patched with some fiberglass tape and what appeared to be a hot glue gun repair). The A/C was converted over to the R134 in 1997, but the system does not operate at all now. The sun visor clips are both broken, and the vinyl that surrounds the front seat belt pillars has come un-glued. The wood trim throughout the car looks terrible. Leather still looks okay, and dang if the Becker Grand Prix radio don't play like brand new.

I had to replace the entire window assembly in the driver's door (junkyard parts), so I took the good window motor out of the driver's door and installed it into the passenger door, so now all four power windows work properly. The passenger door window motor had rusted itself solid. The driver's door motor was good, but the metal arm with the gear teeth on it was coming apart, and several of the teeth had already stripped off the gear (which is why the window would not go up all the way). Had to replace that before the rainy season started. I also replaced the radiator, and a couple other small things here and there, just to get it all looking as good as possible. I found an '84 300SD in a local junk yard, and the lot guy told me I could take whatever (and however much) I wanted for $100 bucks. So, $400 dollars into this, I got a very nice Merc to get me around sunny Florida. I am not looking forward to summer without A/C, but I didn't have it in my '77 Lincoln Mark V, and plus... now I have a power sunroof.