About a month ago, a pickup truck decided to plow into my '97 C230 at a red light. The damage appeared to be just to the body (i.e., passenger side rear bumper and panel), and I was able to drive the car back and forth to work and to the body shop the next day (~180 miles total). While at the body shop and in the paint shed, they were unable to get the car started.
So the car was towed over to my local mercedes (non-dealer) mechanic who thought it was a problem with the starter b/c the starter wasn't turning. The starter was pulled and worked okay on the bench, but a rebuilt starter was tried anyway. This didn't solve the problem so the original starter was put back in the car. While there has been some talk about whether there is a problem with the keys or a shut-off to the fuel pump, the mechanic claims there is fuel being delivered. I've been without the car for 5 weeks now. Any suggestions as to where to look?

Well for all interested the problem has been solved.

It took 2 local mechanics and towing the car to the dealer which is 50 miles away to resolve the problem.

It turns out that as a result of the rear end collision, the antitheft system was activated. The reason the car ran after the accident is that I did not open the trunk for fear that I wouldn't be able to reclose the trunk. When the body shop opened the trunk (and removed bumper and whatnot in the paint shop), this activated/blew a fuse in the antitheft system. The replacement of a simple fuse solved the problem.

I'm glad the remedy was that simple. I hope the repairs to you car are satisfactory. I have been lucky. In 36 years of driving, I haven't been in an accident that caused damage to my car.