1975 Mercedes-Benz 300-Class

1975 Mercedes-Benz 300D Sedan  Three-box design is a broad automotive styling term describing a coupé, sedan, notchback or hatchback where, when viewed in profile, principal volumes are articulated into three separate compartments or boxes: engine, passenger and cargo. Designed by Paul Bracq, a Frenchman and noted automotive designer, this classic design would be the standard at Mercedes-Benz for the 60's and 70's. For consignment, German clacker with 137,932 title verified actual miles and a known history for this very original car in 300D form right out of 1975.  Owned by the same family since 2021, this car is a runner and a gunner, although acceleration is not its strong suit, longevity is and diesel Mercedes owners can back up that statement.  Some wear, tear and rust on the exterior paint and the interior in saddle is in overall good condition.  An upgraded stereo unit has been installed, and a wonderful driver with lots of miles left in her. Exterior Bathed in a respray of Maple Yellow, we note a few runs in the paint along with surface rust, invasive rust, haphazardly done repairs in the lower sections of the body and some cracking of the finish.  Chrome trimmings are all good, as are the bumpers, front grille, window surrounds and side trimmings.  These models are beautiful in their designs with the vertical headlights and signals directly below surrounded in a chromed bezel, all within a thin side fender up front.  Fog lights are on atop the black rubber trimmed chrome front bumper as well.  The lines continue rearward with the 4 doors, all closing with the factory Mercedes-Benz thud, and moving rearward to the ribbed tail lights on matching thin design rear quarters.  Those ribs are there for a reason...they help keep the tail lights clean in dirty conditions.  Matching body color Maple Yellow wheel covers are all around on polished steel wheels and are wrapped by good rubber.  A nicely preserved presentation of high quality German engineering, but still in need of some TLC. Interior Shake hands with the original Saddle German MB-Tex and leather styled buckets are up front, and an original Saddle MB-Tex and leather bench is in the rear all in nice condition with only some light dirt and smudges.  The buckets sport a central armrest which louvers up and down for convenience and this repeats on the sprawling rear bench.  The simple but effective German design dash houses dual round gauges and a central round clock.  Just below, facing both the driver and passenger are highly lacquered German walnut inserts, adding an air of class to the very machine age dash.  Various pulls and knobs are below, and the original good condition steering wheel is fronting this dash.  Clean looped pile plush Saddle colored carpet floods the floors, and above is a nice perforated vinyl headliner in tan.  In the center within the low profile console is the gear shift for the 4-speed automatic transmission and rocker switches for the power windows.   Drivetrain A 3.0 liter OM617 inline 5 cylinder diesel shows itself within an unrestored engine bay.  Overall the engine shows patina on the metal surfaces but runs like a German intricate Cuckoo clock from the same Black Forest this car was made.  A Daimler Benz 4-speed automatic transmission is on back sending power to a 3.46 geared axle that can take you down the road efficiently and smoothly. Undercarriage Patinaed black surfaces, all put together like a Panzer tank for this underside  Not unlike the top...there is some wear and tear along with amateur repairs on the trunk drops and some seepage noted on the drivetrain.  We note independent coil spring suspension for both the front and rear and 4 wheel power disc brakes with all 4 dual piston calipers bringing this German skate to an efficient and effective stop.  Drive-Ability A turn of the key and a brief wait for the glow plugs to do their thing and the clacker came to life and I was o