1985 Mercedes 300TD. I fully intend for it to be my daily, which takes Hagerty or American Collector out of the picture since they won’t cover commuters. But on top of all that it’s imported with a German vin number. Which takes a handful of “regular” companies completely out of the picture. Anybody in a similar situation?
I’ve been looking at an ‘84 Mercedes OM617 Turbo Diesel wagon. It’s got 176k miles, 2 previous elderly owners, no blow by and the interior is mint except for a couple small cracks in the dash and some damage headliner by the door. It doesn’t have AC as the plastic duct is supposedly rotted out and it needs a conversion from R12. The lock on the driver side door is also broken. I had all these things in mind and the guy said his bottom dollar is $7k. I was hoping closer to $6k personally but he seems firm. I’m in no rush to buy it though. Sounds like there’s only one other serious buyer thats tried to lowball him.
Anyways he sent me pictures this morning and showed me this rusty panel. There was no mention of this before. He said it’s got bondo on it and was told it was a bump in a parking-lot. Now that I’ve seen this I’m almost tempted to walk away unless he’s willing to go lower. But I’m not an expert on damage or collision repair. It’s an almost 40 year old car so I expect there to be quirks here and there but this comes off as a big deal to me. I’m concerned about any rust that I can’t see
I haven’t seen the car in person yet as he’s a few hours away. I planned on doing my inspection when I was ready to buy it with cash in hand.
Basically it was about how I asked Facebook how much they think the hitch could pull and it was inconclusive so I came here. Anyways as I said before the bumper hitch says it’s rated to pull 12k pounds.
Now for some reason people assumed that meant I was gonna pull 12k pounds and they lost their minds and downvoted me. I’m pulling like 5k max… anyways. I decided i was going to get a real hitch receiver and mount it to the frame so I did. It was a Curt multi fit trailer hitch that cleared the rear bumper.
The thing is.. I have no idea how this is supposed to be any better. The steel on my bumper is thicker than the hitch receiver and they both have 2 mounting bolts. The only difference is the way the bolts are oriented.
How can this be any better than what I already have ?
I made a post a while ago before I bought this old truck here. People were telling me the paint looked ass and that it looked “rattle canned” - not saying you guys were wrong. I just wanted to show how well it came out with a little time and effort. I used a DA Orbital polisher and some chemical guys products to buff and polish it.
Before picture will be in the comments.
Products used:
AOBEN DA Orbital polisher from Amazon
Chemical Guys C4 & P4
Chemical Guys Hydro Blitz Ceramic Spray Wax
Yes I know some of you think chemical guys sucks. I really don’t care. It was on sale and this is a 32 year old truck covered in dents and scratches.
First picture is progress as of now. The rest of the “before” pictures.
This is my progress so far. This is my first time thus it’s not perfect. Up close there’s still some uneven and splotchy spots. I’ve only used Chemical Guys C4 so far. Once I do the whole truck I’m gonna polish it. What do we think? Should I try to touch up the uneven spots with the compound or will the polish do that?
Okay this is my 1994 F350, for context I originally just uploaded a picture of the bumper.. people told me to check for a label and all there was a super faded sticker that was unreadable. I had some people saying 2k, 5k, some people even claimed these bumpers were rated for 20k. Well I couldn’t find any markings but I uploaded some pictures of the way it’s mounted and most people then said no more than 5k.
As I was out measuring my frame to look for a new towing hitch I took another look for some kind of marking and at the sticker.. I shined a light on it and to my surprise I saw letters…
“Hercules … Tongue weight 1200lb Pull weight 12000lb V-5” it’s barely readable but it’s there.
I was shocked and honestly I have more questions that answers now because people put doubt into my head based on the way it’s mounted. Others assured I could just send it.
Hopefully you guys can help me come to a conclusion. I’m sure replacing the bolts is a good idea regardless.