My sister in law's husband bit the bullet and bought a W123 to play with as well...

Halos lahat pare-parehas ang problems if not extremely well maintained by the previous owner... Rust spots will creep up to you, especially near the firewall, flooring and trunk...

To be honest, it's very costly to maintain such an old car, but it comes with the territory of owning one. The cost, of course, depends on your financial capacity to pay hehe, the deeper your wallet, the more negligible the cost is.

Other frequently replaced parts (due to age) will include bushings, engine mounts, steering column bushings, shocks, flexdisc, pcv valves, tappet adjustment (for diesels), antenna, upholstery (esp driver's side), etc...

Again, I strongly believe that rust is the biggest obstacle with cars 85 and older... If you can get a unit that is almost rust free (not from the outside, but from the inside), then the mechanical repairs are very reasonable in cost since they do last quite a long time and the parts are quite abundant.

Basta NEVER assume na "madali lang irepair yan" if you see any defects sa car that can't be fixed by mere part replacement. Coz it's not madali nor cheap hehe.

Kung umangat ang side trims na chrome, you need to take the whole thing out and buy 5 pairs of thimble shaped clips that cost 30 bucks a piece (i think), so that's 300 bucks already just for some plastic clips.

Vacuum locks may be cool, but they are A PAIN to trace if there's a leak since it affects the whole vacuum system of the car.

If I have the dough, I'd get another one (but good one this time) hehe.