At $7,995, Does This 1986 Mercedes 300 SDL Go The Distance?

The SDL in the name of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Mercedes indicates class, engine type, and extended wheelbase. That’s a lot to glean from just three simple letters. Let’s see if the price tag is just as informative.

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Like the Queen of Hearts in Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland, the mantra of Beverly Hills-based American Custom Coachworks in the early 1980s was “off with their heads.” The 1983 Datsun 200SX we looked at yesterday was just one of the cars the coachbuilder converted into drop-top form. That made it unique, but, according to your comments, not all that desirable. At least not at the $9,995 price the seller was asking. The result? An 81 percent No Dice loss.

Have you ever been involved in a rivalry? It could be good-natured, such as rooting for your favored sports team over a cross-town rival, or vindictive and dangerous, like the feuding families in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliette.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz have maintained a long-held rivalry over which company can build the best and most technologically advanced car for its time. Both companies have flagships—the 7 Series in BMW’s case and the S-Class for Mercedes—each used as a showcase for their car-building prowess.

In the 1980s, this ‘Battle of the Brands’ was getting underway in earnest, and the 1986 Mercedes-Benz 300 SDL we have before us represents the best that Stuttgart could muster for that era. It was pretty damn good, too—so good that this car still looks to be a competitive daily driver today, almost four decades later.

As we noted at the outset, the SDL in the car’s name represents the model: S for Sonderklasse or Special Class, D for Diesel, and L for Long, meaning it has an extended wheelbase over the non-L versions. The 300 indicates the engine displacement—sort of. It’s not really 300 of anything but a 3.0-liter inline six that, with its turbocharged induction, makes 143 horsepower and 201 lb-ft of torque. The standard Daimler-designed four-speed 4G-Tronic automatic transmission backs that up.

These cars were generally built like proverbial tanks, and this one doesn’t seem to have ever been egregiously mistreated, showing only a couple of dings in the bodywork for its years of service. Thankfully, it’s free of those awful chrome wheel arch covers that plague so many of these ’80s cars. The phone dial-style wheels are a bit of an unexpected choice for the car, but at least they’re keeping it in the family. And, of course, it has the wonderfully eclectic fluted tail lamp lenses wrapping the rear corners.

Things look even better in the cabin. This car appears to have MB-Tex upholstery, which seems to live up to its indestructible reputation. Carpets, wood, and the dash cap also seem to have survived the years admirably, and the center console even still has its original factory Becker stereo. The space inside the standard S Class is ample, and in these long wheelbase editions, it’s simply epic.

According to the ad, the car registers 184,000 miles on its odometer and has enjoyed $5,000 in maintenance work within just the last two months. That included the replacement of the Bosch fuel injection pump on the OM 603 six, which is made evident by how shiny and new it looks in the under-hood shots. All the fluids were changed at the same time, as were the glow plugs and all four tires. The car is touted as being “accident-free,” and it comes with a clean title. The asking price is $7,995.

What’s your take on this classic Benz and that $7,995 asking? Does that feel like a deal for a tank of a car that probably will go for decades without much fuss? Or does this car stand in the shadow of all the more modern and capable cars that could also be had for such an amount?

You decide!

Portland, Oregon, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Don R. for the hookup!

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