zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Buying
/
Is $3,500 for this 1980 Mercedes Benz 300TD Anything To Celebrate?
Is $3,500 for this 1980 Mercedes Benz 300TD Anything To Celebrate?-October 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:10:04

The ad for today's candidate claims the car was once owned by the actor, Dustin Hoffman. You might expect it then to be a Duetto, but instead it's a diesel, and a wagon at that. Will its price still make this older Benz a seductress?

How much would it cost to fly to Bavaria? Well, if you happen to be in Wisconsin the tab would be $1,500 because that's just how much yesterday's cost. It might not be a round-trip ticket though, as that Bimmer doesn't presently run, but I imagine Wisconsin is pretty nice this time of year.

Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe BMW is claimed to have been found… you guessed it, in a barn.…

Two days, two Spätburgunder-colored Germans in a row, what is this world coming to? There's a big difference between Bimmer and Benz however as unlike yesterday's BMW, today's is a runner, a diesel, and a three-row wagon. Ooh, I can feel the collective piss shiver of excitement that just went through you all.

Not only is this W123 a longroof, but it's also claimed to have once been owned by none other than Dustin Hoffman, star of stage, screen, and, apparently, this Mercedes. That means that you'd probably need to slide the driver's seat back a bit because Hoffman is not only a hugely talented actor, he is also, how wall I put this, altitudinally efficient.

It seems that every time we mention a car with a former celebrity owner everybody has to whip out their John Voit pencils and rub the toothmarks. In this case there is not even that tenuous evidence as the seller here is passing along as lore the unsubstantiated claim from a previous owner. If Hoffman owning this well-worn Benz were an urban crime, it wouldn't even register a kitten fart on Spiderman's Spidey senses.

The car itself might get your senses going however. It has 214,000 miles on the clock and as you probably know, that's just getting warmed up. These cars are legendary for having been wildly over-engineered and built like tanks, and the 2,998-cc OM617 diesel is considered to be one of the world's most durable and reliable mills.

Strangely, this car is on its second 5-pot but the ad does note that this one holds true to its reputation and runs well. Also, while the ad says this is a turbo diesel, I don't think that looks like the blown motor in the pics. Whatever it is, it's backed up by the Benz auto box as is the case with most of these cars here in the U.S.. The ad says that the air suspension has been replaced with steel from a W116, for what that is worth. Hell, I didn't even know they had bags to begin with.

The body is said to have minimal rust, jut showing a little around the bottom edges of the doors, but to be otherwise pretty solid. The paint is faded like Jennifer Lawrence's hopes of forever keeping her boobs off the Web, and the interior shows expected signs of age and use.

In fact, the interior trim on the rear doors looks wrinklier than a scrunched up Shar Pei. On the plus side it does have the rear-facing third row of seats for your friends with less than 20/20 hindsight.

It all kind of makes you wonder why Dustin Hoffman would have wanted to get rid of this car in the first place. After all it's bound to be more reliable than an Alfa Romeo Duetto, and with the efficiency of the diesel it's less likely to run out of gas at inopportune moments. Regardless, it now could be yours, for $3,500.

What do you think about that price for a 300TD in such condition, does that seem like a deal? Or is that a price that's nothing to celebrate?

You decide!

(somewhere in the U.S.) or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to The_Phalanx for the hookup!

Help me out with NPOCP. Click to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your Kinja handle.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Buying
I Need A Big American Family Car! What Should I Buy?
I Need A Big American Family Car! What Should I Buy?
Darrell is relocating from Australia to Portland, Oregon. He wants a big, comfortable, and most importantly American family car. This is his opportunity to buy a vehicle that was not available in the Land Down Under. What car should he buy? (Welcome back to ? Where we give real...
Oct 24, 2026
Toyota Wants You To Believe The 2022 Corolla Cross Is Not A Crossover
Toyota Wants You To Believe The 2022 Corolla Cross Is Not A Crossover
Slowly but surely, the will in the U.S. Forgive the trite turn of phrase. It’s just that in the case of this new , there isn’t a better way to get the point across. The emphasis here is on “slowly,” because the is almost unbearably slow. Despite its lack...
Oct 24, 2026
Thirteen Epic Cars From Mad Max: Fury Road Are For Sale
Thirteen Epic Cars From Mad Max: Fury Road Are For Sale
is a gearhead’s dream. The film dives right into action, filling your eyeballs and ears with more high-octane post-apocalyptic vehicular excitement than you can process at once. Its incredible custom cars are just as important as its cast, and now fans have a chance to own 13 epic vehicles...
Oct 24, 2026
The 2022 Polestar 2: First Drive Of The Second Polestar
The 2022 Polestar 2: First Drive Of The Second Polestar
You can’t say that Polestar, the premium electric car brand Chinese parent company Geely spun off from Volvo — very much the to Volvo’s — doesn’t have a way with names. First came the hybrid-electric , and now there’s the battery-electric five-door sedan, the Polestar 2. The name 2...
Oct 24, 2026
At $10,000, Would You Do A Lap Of Luxury In This 1995 Rolls-Royce Flying Spur?
At $10,000, Would You Do A Lap Of Luxury In This 1995 Rolls-Royce Flying Spur?
Rolls Royce used to promote by saying that, in motion, the only thing you could hear was the clock ticking. Today’s Flying Spur is a prime opportunity to test that claim. That is if nobody howls over the price. In selling cars, as in life, presentation is everything. In...
Oct 24, 2026
The Volvo Amazon Is That Good
The Volvo Amazon Is That Good
I saw him first as a pair of legs, dangling out from behind a white hood. He was me, or at least I dreamt I might become him: a grad student half-submerged in the engine bay of a Volvo Amazon. ( Volvo recently invited my coworker Erik Shilling to New...
Oct 24, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved