1980 Mercedes 300SD Great Looking Car! Pristine Leather Interior

Gorgeous 1980 Mercedes-Benz 300SD

I purchased the “blue-beauty,” as my family has grown to call it, and I have just loved the feeling of a vintage S-Class. It was in such fantastic original condition I couldn’t pass it up, but now I’m looking to get an off-road rig, so one toy has to go! As you will find below, this car has just had a fair amount of work done to it.

One of the stories I love to share to show this car was loved is the first owner's name was Fred Bailey, and I have a receipt for his personalized license plate back in the '80s "Bailey Benz".

Appearance

My Mercedes 300SD has the coveted navy exterior and camel interior— which is a perfect combo. It was garage kept throughout its life, so the paint is in very good shape for the age, and the interior has no rips or tears. There are no holes or cracks in the leather seats.

As you can see in the photos, the paint looks great and just has a few imperfections, including some light cracking on the hood (this is a common issue with a deteriorated hood pad that allows too much heat to crack the paint). On a side note, the hood pad has since been replaced and is in great shape.

Overall, the paint is extremely good for 37 years old-- much better than any other one I looked at!

Many of the 1980's vintage Mercedes have gaping cracks in the dash-- not mine. This one has just a couple (2 or 3) hairline cracks along seams in the dash. They are barely visible, and I don’t think they even showed up on the camera.

Other than that, the seats and original floor mats look great. The leather headliner is a touch unseen on cars today and is not showing any wear at all. One key sign of wear on the interior of an old Mercedes is if the grain on the shifter handle is worn smooth— not at all the case here. The steering wheel and shifter don’t show nearly any wear.

Many of the w116 chassis Mercedes cars have become complete rust buckets. However, this car is incredibly clean underneath and on the body.

Misc Features & Things to Know

The windows all roll up and down as expected. The automatic climate control system works for defrost and heat. Blows hot just as expected. The A/C just needs a new clutch to work. The compressor was replaced, so that is all good to go, but it has a faulty clutch. Many of the other climate control parts have been replaced, I planned to do the clutch if I kept it until summer time-- who know's maybe I will :)

The radio was replaced with a new one and speakers were installed in the rear. It is classy and not a “ghetto-rigged” job. The speakers and radio are high quality and fit right in with the car. Having a new stereo without the pains of the stock system has been very nice! Something I definitely want on my Mercedes 380SL.

Only the driver’s lock works from the key (vacuum issue?). All the lights, turn signals, etc work great. The car is a functional and pretty driver. The cruise control doesn't work, but that is a relatively common issue and could be fixed.

I have plenty of the service records, some are old and others new. I am the third owner of this vehicle. Many of them are from early in the car’s life. However, I have a few recent ones documenting the work I outlined below.

Mechanical:

The engine runs great without any knocks or ticks. It starts up and has been a dependable weekend-driver. I have been driving this car around town and on short highway runs (couple hours or less) without any issues. I would recommend the next buyer have the suspension looked at and refreshed in order to make this car a serious driver. In particular, shocks and new rubber bushings in the rear end would greatly improve the ride quality. The rubber bushings in the rear end wearing over the years are extremely common, and will likely be maintenance required on any Mercedes of this vintage. With a little suspension work, this car would be all set.

The Mercedes has only roughly 175,000 miles. At the end of this summer, the odometer started to work more slowly and started counting fewer miles than I feel accurate. If I wind up keeping this vehicle, I have plans to fix this issue sooner rather than later as to not destroy the authenticity of the miles. I think this issue coincides with the fact my tachometer started failing intermittently.

What’s Been Done Recently

-Oil just changed with synthetic Shell Rotella 15W-40

-Brake fluid changed

-New Duralast ProPower Ultra battery installed

-New A/C compressor installed (clutch faulty and needs to be replaced and belt put back on for A/C to work)

-Tires were replaced recently