Yahoo Autos 1982 Mercedes-Benz 240 D Sedan Is Down on the Alameda Street
In recent months, the Down on the Street series has taken us to far-flung places such as New Orleans, Louisiana and Bridel, Luxembourg. DOTS began as a way of documenting the interesting street-parked machinery of Alameda, California (where I came of driving age), and that's where today's car was spotted.
It's an extremely well-traveled W123 diesel (sorry, I couldn't make out the odometer reading through the glass, but I'm betting on at least 300,000 miles), and it began its journey with 67 clattery, naturally aspirated horses and a somewhat-less-miserable 97 lb-ft. It's still getting the job done at age 42!
No smog checks needed for old diesel horses like this one in California!
It was parked on a busy street, but it already has enough dents that a few new ones won't show.
The Mercedes-Benz W123 proto-E-Class was sold new in the United States from the 1976 through 1985 model years.
These cars were available with turbocharged five-cylinder diesels and big gasoline-burning straight-sixes, but this one has the four-cylinder oil-burner and its double-digit-horsepower.
You better watch out. You better not cry.
There is weekly street-sweeping with harsh fines for scofflaws here on the island, so we can assume that the flat left front tire was aired up soon after this photo was taken.
