[Auto/Moto] Even 45 Years Later, the Mercedes-Benz 280 TE Remains the King of Station Wagons

[-_-Moltres-_-]

 

Editor's Note: Our Motor1 colleagues in Germany recently visited an old friend, the Mercedes-Benz W123 wagon. Here's the experience in a special "first drive" review of this legendary Mercedes Estate. I imagine that some of you feel like I do when it comes to these older Mercedes-Benz models. Why on earth didn't I buy one when they were cheap? That would be around 10 to 15 years ago, when every German car from the 1980s wasn't being traded as if a 100-pound sack of diamonds was stuffed under the back seat.The W123 is a prime example of this phoenix-from-the-ashes kind of automotive turnaround. At the end of the 1990s, a Mercedes W123 coupe was the cool car me and my schoolyard friends coveted. But we were largely alone in this opinion—only a classmate of my brother, who was a few years older, drove a 280 CE in manganese brown with light velour upholstery. He was the idol for a 15-year-old boy named Wagner. Yes, I'm talking about me.Coupes in good condition—especially with six-cylinder engines—were not cheap even at that time (from today's perspective they were practically given away), which is why my brother, who was 19 at the time and not exactly in a good financial position, decided to buy a sedan. Nobody really wanted one, and they were cheap. So in March 1998, he bought a wheat yellow 1982 Mercedes-Benz W123 280 E, dressed inside with forest green and packing a four-speed manual transmission. It was in quite good condition with 185,000 kilometers on the clock; he got it for around $1,000. After spending much of our childhood in the old man's pea-green Mercedes 240 D, we felt like kings driving the 280. If I remember correctly, the T-model station wagons weren't exactly hot commodities in the used market 25 years ago. Tattooed furniture restorers, organic farmers, or urban cowboys with full beards weren't coming out of the woodwork to get one like they are now, but at some point over the last two decades, this forefather of the E-Class station wagon became cool. Just take this classic white 280 TE shown here. Built in 1979 and showing nearly 50,000 kilometers on the clock, you'll easily spend $48,000 to buy it today. Of course, the condition is so shockingly wonderful that you're afraid to even breathe near the car. And it's got a four-speed manual to boot.

https://www.motor1.com/reviews/721738/mercedes-280-te-review/