Project Beer Budget Benz: Introduction to the W123 Mercedes

Likely you've seen a few W123 Mercedes in your life. They're the 76-85 E class chassis, with 280E, 240D, and 300D variants being common in the US. If you live in Los Angeles, you could possibly toss an object in a random direction on a street full of parked cars and hit one blindfolded. They've become this generation's VW Beetle, the little German car that seemed to deliver a lot for the asking price of a used example.

The old VW is officially a Classic Car now. And by 'Classic Car' I mean that they're not exactly being used as they once were as daily driven, everyday cars. Values have crept up, supplies of chassis going for cheap have gone down, though "they made millions". Magazines like VW Trends and Hot VWs wrote about the impending crunch 10 years ago, and nowadays the VW is no longer a common beater on LA's highways, though I see more and more restorations, light customs and cars that were babied and in either original build, or were a well cared for earlier restoration. I see a few really grossly rusted examples being beaten on. One reason is the 'eh' gas mileage compared to modern vehicles. Civics and the like 10 years ago, even the non-sporty variants, were still commanding fairly high prices, now the 'good ones' are cheaper than a comparable aircooled VW, are faster, handle better, are better made, and don't smell like oil and gasoline. Then you have the need of adjusting the valves every oil change, which sometimes is glossed over by owners who wonder why the car starts running crappy and 'needs a rebuild' a year after they bought it in such good condition.

I've owned 2 old VWs, a lowered, primer black 1972 Super Beetle with Autostick, and a 1966 Squareback that was...lowered, primer black, but this one packed a 1776, dual Dellortos and a proper four speed. Both were cool cars that tickled me with their seeming hybrid of really old car chassis with a motorcycle-ish motor. As a matter of fact, my first brush with these cars was not as a 'car' at all, but my Dad's old VW/Honda trike. I always loved the boxer four exhaust note, especially coming out of buggy-style zoom pipes!

However, my brush with the 66 Squareback was my last for a long time to come - they're simply not all that competitive with more modern cars as daily use vehicles any more, and custom ones are prone to getting stolen. The Squareback, I thought, could accomodate my needs - hard to stuff a half stack into a Beetle's trunk or back seat - but if you can't get it done with a Squareback, the air cooled cars simply won't work for you, and they don't for me. Not as my one-and-only car.

I know. I so wanted it to work, too. 

"The People's Benz"

The W123 Benzes are comparably modern, quite safe, and offer better power, higher efficiency, ridiculously better build quality, and frankly are a world apart in 'car-ness', yet still score high points on 'old-car-ness', and in many of the same uniquely German ways that the VWs do. 

They're real cars for people who have lives. They're hard to break into or steal, especially the trunk, which is 14 cubic feet - you have to drive a pretty big car to get a bigger trunk than that. Seats four people effortlessly. None of the parts are hard to get or particularly expensive, unlike most other Benzes  from other epochs. This chassis, and particularly the 240D, are Benz's best selling cars in the US - they're everywhere, and like the VWs they 'sold millions'. It was so popular that the W124 replacement had to sit across the showroom floor from the W123 for a few years, as people simply still wanted this car, even over the 'better' new one.

If you live in LA especially, Colorado, the Northeast, anywhere where there was a moneyed class to buy these cars - more expensive than a Corvette in it's day - then they're around to be had, and so are parts in yards. Places where the car was relatively rare isn't necessarily a deal breaker, but you will have a harder time simply going down to the Pick Your Part and grabbing what you need for almost nothing. In LA, there aren't a lot of cheaper cars to run in that regard. There's ALWAYS a few W123s in there, mostly diesels, pretty much never manual transmissions though. 

The 280E, packing the 'mean' M110 DOHC inline six, was the fast one. However, they drink like old V8 cars, are expensive to acquire and don't age as gracefully as the diesels. 

The diesels are the real deal here - tractable if not powerful, reliable to a fault and very efficient, even by today's standards. Now we have something interesting - a solid, bank-vault style Mercedes sedan with room for four, generous front seats that could possibly accommodate NBA players with their leg and head room, well aging paint and interiors and while they have a host of problems like any old car, most are small and won't leave you stranded by the side of the road.

The Sedans might get the 'I don't want a four door!' ire up, but are cheap and easy to find, practical, have the most available, cheapest, and easy to find parts. Plus, admit it, that's a good looking four door.
And this is US spec, not with the Euro lights or bumpers.
Condition aside, this is waiting on Craigslist for you right now.

The 240D

The 240D is the mileage and longevity champ. Expect 20s in town, 30s on the highway, and the car to keep going and going. The 240D W123 was at one time the world record holder for verified mileage on a car - 2.4 million miles. As a taxi. In Budapest. The chassis, it would seem safe to say, is solid.  Buy a rust free example, keep it that way, and don't worry about the fact that the odometer broke at 230k.

The OM616 is known to last up to 1 million - that's a one with six zeroes following it - miles with regular maintenance. Change the oil and filters regularly and adjust the valves every 1-2 years. Might need to roll in a timing chain at the 500k mile mark. Likely need an injection pump rebuild and injectors at some point, too, but point being, the engines, if in good running order, tend to stay that way.

The 240D is the only W123 to arrive stateside in US trim with a manual transmission. It's a not-exactly-slick-shifting four speed, but while it has no overdrive, the mileage is still what it is and I've done 90 in them on the highway, so while it would be nice, it's not a deal breaker as a daily driver.

 As a matter of fact, the 240D MT is, well, not a rocket on the highway by any means, but is certainly a cruise missile capable of walking right past sleepy folk in cars packing several times the 67-72hp on offer. The power to weight ratio isn't the story here, it's the torque, and how the engine delivers it. If you get a chance to drive a 240D manual with a freshly rebuilt injector pump and injectors and properly  adjusted valves, the car is surprisingly peppy and can give the 300D Turbo (see below) a run for it's money with a good driver. And it's loads more fun.

I'll let someone sum up here, I can't remember the quote but it was a commonly repeated one amongst those who have experienced this car: "If you can find a decent condition 240D manual trans for a price you're willing to pay, buy it. You won't regret it."

The 240D 'autotragic' is one of the slowest cars ever made, and usually gets praise as a first car for the teenager, as there's little they can do to get in trouble with it aside from being a slowly moving chicane rolling down the road. Most people find it simply too slow, though they're easy to find for cheap because it's kind of the one no one wants. If you get a cheap manual trans car with a burnt motor or just crap body, you could swap the transmissions, shifters, and pedals over pretty easily to a nice condition 240D auto with a good motor that was cheap simply because almost no one wants them. Something to consider for the intrepid.

The Coupes are really great looking cars - and hardtops to boot! All US Coupes were 300CDs or 280CEs. 

The 300D

The 300D comes in two variants - slightly less slow than the 240D auto, aka the '300D Diesel', and the 'now we're getting somewhere' 300D Turbodiesel. If it doesn't say turbodiesel on the lid, and it's not mentioned in the ad that it's a turbo, move on. The 300D non-turbo is again easy to acquire because it's 'not one of the good ones' and actually you can easily bolt the turbo and manifolds, oil lines, etc right on  from a donor Turbo.

But why bother when you can almost always find a 300D Turbo for similar money? If you're going with an automatic transmission, and want your W123 to get up and go like a modern-ish car, the Turbo is the one.

The NA OM617 Five cylinder, 3.0 liters of it as the 300D indicates, back when that meant something, is about as reliable as it's smaller 616 cousin. The Turbo is 'only' going to be good for about 500-600k miles, but that's about 40-50 years of average American driving. The OM617a, the Turbo variant, is one of the great overbuilt engines of all time and is hardly anything to lose sleep over. The turbochargers themselves are common T3 and K26 turbos, easy and cheap to acquire used or to rebuild.

The 300D is also available in a wagon called the 300TD, and is noted for it's coolness, higher price to buy, many parts exclusive to the wagon, including the engine, and the dreaded repair costs of the SLS rear leveling system. Not for the faint of heart, and I heartily suggest owning a sedan before you get into the more troublesome wagon. They're great when they're in working order, though, and if you put the money into any W123 restoring it and expect a return, it had better be a Coupe or Wagon. Sedans are simply too dime a dozen. However, as folks looking for a screamin' deal, that's great for our purposes.

A typical, US spec, Craigslist condition wagon. Not the cheapest route, but cool, useful, and
most likely to bring a return on any restoration work done.

Turbo Possibilities

The OM617a, the Turbo motor, can be turned into quite a beast - for the price. The Finnish company Myna will take your pump and make it capable of delivering enough fuel for 450hp or so, for about 2500 bucks. Add a big honkin' snail to that, and, well, I don't know, because few folks on this side of the pond have seen these engines in three dimensional form, and while I'd like to believe the Benz powertrain capable of handling 700lb-ft, how long they hold together at such outputs is a big question mark, as most of the Finns who have these cars race them and don't share a lot of specifics, though they' really nice in the forums to talk to. I'm sure a 250hp engine with much more torque would be relatively easy to build, streetable and reliable with the Myna upgrade, but I'm simply not able to spend the dough and find out.

The stock pump is good for about 145hp, ~200lb ft. Add a Variable Vane Turbo (VVT or VGT) from a late model diesel, follow Forced Induction's vacuum control setup for the vane control, and you - apparently, I haven't driven one - get the same or better mileage, more torque earlier, and the impression of driving a big six or a small V8. Not bad for a car that'll top 20mpg city, though the highway figure is usually roughly comparable to a Chevy B-Body or non-CVPI Crown Victoria.

Yes, that's a supercharger AND a turbo. Supposedly this is a pic of the original 617a in the
world's fastest W123 diesel. Later the OM606 went in with twin turbos. Crazy Finns!

The Suspension

The W123 has an excellent stock suspension that was well adapted to rally use, and uses the classic European formula of A-Arms up front, IRS in back (in this case semi trailing arms), long travel, soft springs and hard dampers. The original equipment shocks are Bilsteins, though good luck finding a good working set under your Craigslist find. Most have Monroe or NAPA cheapo shocks.

There are non-vented discs at all four corners with fixed single piston calipers. It was a long time before most cars would see brakes like this. S class rotors and calipers can be swapped in easily for even greater abuse potential, and due to Mercedes' almost 'Chevy like' parts interchangeability, you can swap later, bigger brakes in too, though they require larger wheels.

The car has lots of ground clearance in a stock configuration, handles ok but 'safely', kind of like a Volvo does - nothing scary, nothing all that entertaining though. Tis no BMW, but to be fair the BMW owners often wish for the reliability of the Three Pointed Star.

The car's shining moment came during the 1977 London to Sydney Rally, then the longest auto race in the world and quite the story. The Mercedes 280E not only finished the rally, but finished first and second, and 4 of the top 10 finishers were driving Mercedes 280Es. While they were rally prepped with lights, heavy duty bumpers, a skid plate, and other safety equipment, the cars weren't far from European spec 280E five speeds. I was told a story about how the other drivers were fuming at the ease with which the Mercedes drivers dominated - they were often seen driving one handed, sipping coffee, and looking utterly relaxed by drivers white knuckling it in what one would consider a traditional rally mode.

If the car didn't scream 'excitement' before, I'll bet it does now!

To demonstrate, here's a video of I believe the user 'Kamel' from www.superturbodiesel.com, jumping his 78 300D in the desert. The car is cool for an auto non turbo 'beater' with some 'eh' mods at the time the video was shot.

I've even taken my personal 240D out on terrain like that lowered, which we'll get to next. Suffice to say, the cars have a lot of potential for everything from a 'Baja' style build, to Rally, to Rat Rod, to Canyon Carver, to [blank], yet still can be useful as a 'real car'. Not bad.

Hot Rodding The W123

The W123 era Mercedes has a lot going for it. Most people never see one 'done up' and thus think it's got no potential as a hotted-up ride, that it's going to be boring and a 'grandpa car'. (I think we've heard this line of thought before!) Not to mention, if you never thought you could afford a Mercedes - or really like one - this car gives you an opportunity to own something that's been good enough for some of the richest, pickiest people the world over.

The build quality is great, the old-car details are all there, and the fit and quality is far beyond the typical old American car, and while old Japanese cars tend to have been well built they're also exceedingly cheap in feel. There's no 'crashing metal' sounds upon closing the door, nor a hollow 'tin can' sound, just a vault door closing.

You couldn't ask for better chrome or polished stainless. The engine is awash in cast aluminum parts waiting to be polished, looks like an old motor, and while the side-shift tranny was kind of a relic even in the 70's, it's also a rarely tasted flavor unless you have friends that let you drive their valuable restored old cars, which I'm kind of short on. There's just a lot of really cool 'old car vibe' here, and honestly it reminds of an American style car from an alternate universe.

The paint, whether Spies and Hecker or some other German formulation, is much higher quality than most cars from the era, and in the American Southwest can easily be found in a condition of oxidation that will lower the price and vanish in an afternoon with the buffing wheel. Even my maroon example, shown below, which was left in a field for years and was so oxidized (with fade through and surface rust on the hood and fenders) that I thought it was a Brown car for the first few weeks, polished out. It was a 700 dollar purchase, and I didn't really have to put more than oil, filters, a pair of axles and fuel in it to drive it - hard - for two years, only to more than double my initial investment upon selling it.

Practically Free Lowering

The excellent suspension travel and spring design - only one end of the springs are pigtailed - allow for fairly pain-free lowering.

You MUST use a quality, disc style spring compressor to remove Mercedes springs. Few cars have springs this large and to compress 14 coils to the point of coil bind with cheapo 'hook' style compressors commonly found at the local parts store borders on suicidal.

This is one of the few cars I've ever seen that can legitimately get away with cutting coils (from the non-pigtailed end only) to lower the car.

This is not a theory - I've owned three W123 Mercedes examples lowered using this method, and one was routinely run up Bouquet Canyon, so they weren't just boulevard cruisers, though the 300D was great at that. I didn't do anything but ask some questions at forums online and follow what probably thousands of folks have done to these cars over the years. The drop and lower profile tires simply make the car.

Crappy cell phone pic of the 300D. "Hot Wheels" chrome 15s and a -2 front, -2 rear drop. I personally think the rear
should have only been dropped -1.5, but the results speak for themselves.
Very pleasant, easy to drive, and looks great. 

Speaking of which, if you're not doing this to a 240D/MT, or plan on swapping that car's stick into a 300D Turbo, I'd advise against going 'gonzo' on the suspension. The rear suspension cannot be adjusted to relieve camber gain, so you will eat rear tires faster, and with a 300D turbo in stock ish condition or any other auto car for that matter, you'll likely not be able to take advantage of going nuts with the car. You can easily make the car look great without having to turn it into a pain in the ass 'low rider' that you'll not want to drive daily anymore. And believe me, these cars with low profile tires on stock wheels and a mild drop will get you plenty of compliments, even in a town overflowing with AMGs like LA.

If you take a coil off the front to begin with, and leave the rear alone, you'll likely get rid of the 'motorboat/2WD Offroader' stance, will hardly notice any change in alignment, and can still run stock sized tires. If you can borrow the spring compressor, already own a 4" grinder and the tools needed for the job, you can get a better stance on these cars for around 4 bucks and afternoon's work.

I would suggest for mild drops, 3/4 of a coil is best to start with at the rear. 1 coil isn't bad but is getting more radical, and 1.5 is absolutely as far as I'd go, and only if you're going full monty on the front springs.

If you lower the back, 2 coils are the max for cars you still want to drive as though they're an everyday car, and will require 60 series tires (XXX/60/14s) or they will rub, and by rub might bend your fender lips outward and crack the paint. I'd suggest rolling the lips anyway for anyone considering lowering these cars. 'Rolling' can actually fairly easily be accomplished by a medium sized rubber mallet, just make passes down the arch and bend the metal a bit at a time instead of doing it all the way 3 inches at a time.

My personal 240D, "Donkey" the Mule, in almost as completed form. Killer stance, easy to drive on real roads, and
a real kick on a mountain road. I'd regret selling this car if not for the Roadmaster which came afterward. 

For going for the gusto, the solution is thus: before you turn a wrench, go buy some 195-60-14s for the stock wheels (205-60-14s are also available but uncommon), and then remove 3 coils in front and 1-1.5 in the back. Align the car, though with a good alignment to begin with it'll still track fine and won't have a ton of excess camber. Now go drive the thing like you mean it.

Seriously, the 240D/MT with the above mods is a four-door Miata - slow, but if you pick your line and drive the car like it's supposed to be driven, you get smiles for hours. I've gotten sideways in a 240D setup only halfway like this, -3 front, -1 back, 60 series on front and stocks in back. That was my first setup and I still kinda wish I'd kept that car.

If you have to buy the Baum compressor new (~200 bucks), the grinder, the ball joint splitter, the rubber mallet, you still won't approach the cost of aftermarket springs available for this chassis, and you'll still need the above tools minus the grinder. It's practically free, works wonders on the looks, feel, and performance of the car, and it's also our latest project writeup: Project Beer Budget Benz. I'll show you a few variations on the theme - I've owned two 240D/MTs and one 300D Turbo - and introduce you to the coolest overlooked old car you never considered for a project.

This is the latest 'build', a truly Rat Rod style project that rehabbed a poor 240D/MT that
suffered at the hands of some wannabe lowrider builders.
Car had tons of vibe and cost almost nothing. -3 front, -1.5 rear

Beer Budget BMW Beating Benz

I see a lot of people talking about eco-rodding, and the Hot Rod/Car Craft crowd is always talking about driving your old cars everyday. I've even seen some rat rods running Cummins, Isuzu, and GM diesel engines, and they're really cool. Here, we get to do it all at once, and we get to do it without owning a shop to work out of or having to be some wannabe version of Chip Foose. All of the mods I'm showing you can be done in a driveway, even on an LA street, and I know, because that's where I did it.

Most people who think 'German performance sedan' immediately think BMW, and I'm frankly tired of hearing about the Bavarians. They're great cars but they've become boring and I'm tired of everyone thinking that 'only a Beemer will do'. These cars lowered, with the manual, are neither 'the same' as a BMW nor 'nowhere near'. Simply a different flavor.

I'll show you how you can own your first Benz, maybe your first Diesel, build a cool, attention getting (or not, they make great sleepers too), truly economical daily driver that:

- drives and brakes like a modern car
- gets better mileage than some modern cars to this day, and
- still have the joy and vibe of an old car.

One, I might add, that's a pleasure to work on, and designed to be easily maintained by a non-technician.

In 2012, for the folks who like the panache of old cars, like driving like a madman on occasion, like reliability and MPGs, and want to build a car - maybe for the first time - but think they can't afford to, or that it'll be impractical to get a car they'd both like to drive and be seen in, there's nothing like it, and it's one of the best buys going in the current market. If my poor broke ass can have 3, someone who has a better budget to work with can certainly pull it off. And my investment in these cars beyond a bit of suspension work was practically nil, so if you really have some money for a project car, imagine what you can do.

Oh, and I didn't even mention the W123's possibilities for the truly speed addicted as a V8 swap candidate.

Ok, so the 'boring rod' didn't get your attention. Do I have it now? Thought so.

See you soon.

- CID Vicious