My brotherfixed upa 1979 240d and gave itto my daughter for hersixteenth birthday.
He's a mechanic and restores old VW's and Mercedes as a hobby.
I was a little wary at first, as I had very little experience with diesels andNO knowledge of Mercedes.
My daughter and I went to pick it up on Thanksgiving.
After driving it home fromSouthern Utah to Western Washington, I whole heartedly agree.
What a beautiful work of machinery.
The only problem we had was when some *&^#$gas station attendantin Oregon, where you aren't allowed to fill your own tank, stretched the hose from a regularpump (I had parked in front of the diesel pump) and filled the beaut up with regular gas.
After a large amount of arguing, a pumped tank, a new fuel filter and $76 worth of diesel (free -minus time/worry/hassle), we were back on the road.
I'm SO glad I saw the *&%! hang up the wrong pump, or we would have been stranded on a very nasty mountain pass, and what a sad death it could have been for a beautiful car.
It really is the perfect car for any teenager:
[ul][*]It takes love and attention to perform. She's already learned a lot. It's COLD here and she has to tuck it in each night if she wants to drive it.[*]It takes aboutten minutes to reach 50mph. Any parent can appreciate that![*]The insurance on it is substantially less than it would be on a newer faster vehicle.[*]It's a solid tank. If it comes into contact with anything, she/it won't be the one getting hurt.[*]The gas mileage is awesome. It may take a bit to fill the (huge) tank, but it lasts forever.[/ul]
The car has 204K miles on it, and everything works. It starts on first crank and chugs like a charm. I just shook my head when I opened up the glove box and the 28 year old light came on.
I have two new cars sitting in my driveway that me and my husband drive. It seems like something is always breaking on them.
We've decided to sell my husbands commuter and get another 240d. And we have my brothers hand written owners manual to help us out.