Mercedes-Benz S123 300TD | Beating A Dead Horse? 

Its not worthwhile to fix, reorganise your cars and money and buy a fine example and keep it properly😂

It's just time, money, metal, gas and welding wire. No problem! 😄

Hmm, I would strip it for its salvageable components and sell them and then dispose of everything else. There is too much structural rust to take the risk!

I admire your skill and enthusiasm for saving this car - but honestly I think this is too far gone given the 'botches' that have been done by previous owners. Sad though it is, I'd get your money back by parting it out.

The front areas you exposed by taking the wings off look really bad with limited reference points left. I would start here because if it’s too far gone, you’ll find out quickly. Don’t be tempted to waste time and energy doing the easier bits first! Yes I am very dull and very sensible. You’ll need to be super committed to see this one through and I’m just not sure if it’s your kind of project. But if you go for it, we’d all love to see it

Dude! Think how many slightly rusty cars you could save by not wasting time with this one. 😮

When you have finally replaced every rotten panel, you will have replaced all of them. It will just be a new body welded together from various spare parts using the old body as scaffolding. As much as I love and adore W123s, this is not worth it. It's too far gone. You know that rust is like an iceberg, for every bit of rust you can see, there's ten more you can't. This car needs to go to Old Merc Heaven.

Salvage the good parts and scrap it, save your time and energy for a better example.

Brave, very brave! This one is pretty far gone, and in the Flintstone category but nothing money, time, blood, sweat & tears can't fix!

Just my thoughts, I don't think this one is worth touching. You'll sink lots of time over many years hopping on and off this job, and it still won't be done. Better to sell the nice parts like the rear bench and engine, and look for another to scratch your S123 itch. It's painful to scrap a car I know, but you can only work on and drive so many cars in your lifetime, and by getting rid of this one you may open up time and money to experience several other cars.

Sad to say that it is just too far gone. It’s tough but I would break it and sell the good parts.

Don't give up on it. Just do what you said you were going to do (do it bit, get bored and come back and do a bit more and so on) and put out a monthly video on this car. Before long you will have a solid car. Spreading the cost of the panels will soften the financial blow.

At 14 min. the vehicle makes me think about a Fred flintstone vehicle. Joyful to watch though. In Morocco they're dying for these cars. 😎

I'm usually all for fun jobs, but this seems too far gone to make any sense unfortunately. Would keep you from showing a lot of interesting and fun progress on your channel I'm afraid. :/

I’m afraid that’s too far gone, plough your skills into saving another 4 cars in the time it takes to fix that, which will only ever be satisfactory

That is a massive job to rebuild that shell

Good grief Seppo! I don't think that Odin himself could resurrect this old bus! I truly admire your enthusiasm and skill, but I believe you may as well throw your money into the sea! Best option would be to part it out and recover some of your money, as well as helping other owners restore their Mercs.

Good morning, love these oldie but goodies, that will be good for another 700k once done

Despite its age the S123 was a lovely design of an estate. When you took that front wing off (which didn’t look too bad) what was underneath was truly horrendous.

sometimes you just need to walk away.. this is one of them times...

Just in time, it is a lot of welding but when it is done you will want to keep it it will be good project.

That's a nightmare. Those inner wings and firewall are doomed. I'm amazed it hasn't gone banana shaped already. Swap the good bits into your brother in laws 240D!

if you can get most panels, then it seems doable...

What if,,,,considering fact that 123's are already pricy,,,in estate form, take 124 estate instead...those are still affordable, and to my opinion made to the peak of MB quality of all times. Actually they are also easy to work on, and parts still available at reasonable prices. But one needs to act quickly they're not going to be cheaper ;) I used one of those for years ....and I regret selling it to try some other ....french hydro...dramatic ...scary and pricy in repairs xantia break.

We have an electric mower and a string trimmer. They are very nice to work with and I like how non-fussy they are to use. I still keep the old petrol (gasoline) powered ones around because there are times when I need to run them for several hours at a time and the (multiple) batteries just don't last that long.

Hvis der kommer vand ind gennem luftindtaget foran , så skal instrumentpanelet ud plus plus . 4 nye hjulophæng .

Know where to stop, part it out!

It's certainly had a lot of self-lightening going on, as to whether it's a long-term repair project or a parts donor, well, that's all down to whether you're looking for monetary value out of it, or gain some form of personal value with it, like sentimental reasons or a project to prove you can do it or something, myself I'd be going for parting it out, that rust looks like it's probably gotten into places yet to be revealled... :\

Anthing is fixable ... it just depends on how much one wants to bring it back. Myself I've reshelled several cars to 'save' them. I personally think your "Do a bit, leave it, do a bit more" is the way to go. All good fortune to you & yours as always ☺

i thought it would be more bad :D It is savable, and you would learn alot of metal working if you would complete this. But it will take shitload of time and motivation :D

Wow! Rusty. Try "furious driving." he has done a lot of metal replacement on a 123.

Ahhh, yes... Quite a bit of weight reduction there. But a classic Merc and well worth saving!

You make me remember my Triumph TR6,at 9 years old it fell apart with rust, and i had to do what you see in this video, I checked the registration last year and the car is still alive, so all that work i did and rust proofing saved the car. The 123 is a great car, but how far do you want to take this project ? Once committed you cannot back out, I think i would price up panels etc and if too expensive consider a donor car.

Be wise and find another car which is better salvagable. You’ll have your fun, no worries. But this one will make you broke ánd sad. Very sad

Those inner front wings are grim. The whole project depends on whether you really think you can repair them well. If you don't then it's not viable.

the only rust my mitsubishi L300 had on the floor was from asphalt sound insularion sheets not thoroughly glued to the floor but merely laying on top. trapping moisture and digging rust holes...

'Do something, get bored - do more things, get bored' EXACTLY how I tackle jobs like this.

I think you should fix it, you have the skills, it would make good content, and you said you dont have the cash to buy a good one. You can't scrap it! They're not making any more!

Mat from Furiosdriving YT chanel had the same rust spots under the arches.

I would love to see this rising from the graveyard...but I suspect it too far gone... But if there is one person in the world that can save this car...it's you :-)

This is a also one of my dream cars. I envy you for even considering saving it, but its just so far gone.. The most profitable is probably parting it out and selling spare parts individually, 'parts cars' rarely make a profit :S If you decide to keep it and chip away at the rust then I genuinely hope its gonna be as pleasant as can be..

Trevlig/dejlig video ☺️🔧🫵 hoppas du kan rädda den men förstår om det blir så att du säljer den i delar. Man ska inte vara för hård mot sig själv 😅

Woah, she's got a hefty dose of tin worm. That's an awful lot of work there. A difficult decision for sure.

If you get an extra thousand patreons you will have to speed up your credits! Save it, don't weld it up to look pretty where no one can see it, just weld it solid, isn't sheet metal cheaper than factory panels?

Yikes! Some off time at the storage, apperently didnt fix the rust! 😮😅

The main problem I see is that even if you fix all the rust, you end-up with a 300TD in a pretty sorry state

I'm sure you can do it if you're really committed. Maybe talk to Furious Driving, he has done a lot of welding on the front of his W123. Matt will surely want to share his expertise.

Think I'd be assessing the structural areas up front first before going any further 😊

Thats my dream car🥰 i would do everything i could to save it. please don't part it out.

I have scrapped less rusty cars, it really is too far gone to be viable, the deeper you dig, the more rust you will find!

It looks similar to my old 280E. It was far too big a project for me so I had to get rid of it. I would love another one though.

The best part of this Mercedes-Benz W123 is the engine abpnd there is another you tuber slowly restoring one of these and the rust he is replacing making repair panels he has the petrol one and been right hand drive and it has rusted in similar places yours has and the acceleratir pedal is not the best because of the rust he had all sorts of problems with the petrol system but it now starts and l also have an electric mower but it needs a long cord to run but l like it

It is in poor shape , a re-shell would be a good idea but with time and patience it is do able to repair . But I guess patience could run out before the rust.

Please do Not waste time and money in saving this. You will find another one that is worth to repair and save.

If you're going to keep and fix, I'd keep an eye out for a rear end crash damaged one and use that for parts

Rent or borrow a truck and come to visit Finland. I’m up to sell my property within a year and I have two sedan shells (and ton of other stuff for w/s123) for you wich have solid stuff at the firewall area. Approx 80 km from Turku. And yes, really cheaply.

If…you want to take on repairing the cowl/firewall/scuttle area, check out Soup Classic Motoring. He did similar repairs to his W123 on a fascinating to watch stop motion style. No idea how he does it, but great to watch. Your poor car is pretty far gone though. Quite a task. Good luck

Unfortunately, the car is passed its sell by date. Best to sell it off for spares.

I also have a w123 estate, I am not surprised how rusty it is. These w123s hide the rust very well. Once those drains in the bonnet hinge pockets get blocked things escalate quickly. It's pretty far gone, it's repairable of coarse but it needs a lot. Maybe you can repair one side of the floor and footwear and see how long it takes? It will make a good video if nothing else

But there are less and less of them.

That's the problem with W124 Diesels. The engine and transmission last far longer than the body shell.

When you took the wing off and just went “oh” 😂

Walk away...Or start with the most difficult repairs. Doing the easy ones now with obtainable panels will, as you say, be wasted if you decide to stop. In this way it will also be easier and easier :)

12:36 I think this is what would be quite literally a _bottomless_ money pit if you ever had the terrible idea to try to save it. Here you don't need to look for repair panels... no my friend, even if every single one was available, you still didn't needed them. What you need here is a replacement body, as a whole...

You heard the man - get to Patreon!

Lad den gamle mercer få fred! skrotpris!

At 0.10 min. I had my Joy moment. 😁

Start with the scary parts - Look to Yorkshire car resturations and Soup automotive for inspiration

That is indeed a tough call!

It's rough, ouch! Who did the MOT, Stevie Wonder?

W120'erne bliver meget mere værd i de kommende år, og pladedele er nemme at få fat i. Den skal selvfølgelig bare laves i stand! 😊

Not a big deal

Holy 123 Hell🫠

16:40 No, stop right there!! That is your baby you are talking about... I vote you get the repair panels and sort it out... It looks worse than it is.

How could the Danish inspectorate know whether the shell that you swapped came from Denmark or not?

Maybe you should swap notes with Matt Furious Driving on his W123 efforts.

I am still rust dramatised from the first video on this car Seppo , please please don’t ask me to watch it again 😂. Yes it’s BAD 😁 understatement ! watching your vids is like rust archeology, it’s a frightening story.

I would look into any guides or videos showing repairs to inner wings. If this can be done in a satisfactory way then the rest is not terrible. I would start at worst area and judge what you think. If satisfied then do rest when you feel like it. Matt from Furious Driving has repaired similar so check out his videos

12:30 That is not rust, that is all new air conditioning for your feet! I am happy you are fixing this up. You will be very happy when it is finished. If anyone can sort this out, you can. You are very good at this.

Perhaps strange to say but I hope it can be saved, it is just a heck of a lot of work, as you say.

Do it! Do it! 😊

0:10 Could you please come to my home and cut my grass for me? 😂😂🤣🤣😂😂

I'd enjoy a series of videos on the Drain repairs.

You've just got to love these old Mercs.

Such a fine car!

How the F does that car have an MOT?😮

Save it, start the restoration on it! I think is salvageable. But start from the areas where there aren't repair panels available, so you doesn't put more money on it...