Armageddon Auto: 1982 Mercedes-Benz W123 300TD Estate – SOLD!

October 19, 2022, Update – We confirmed the seller of this “Classifind” deleted their listing, so we’re now able to call this one “SOLD!” While this one got away, please reach out either by email or call us directly if you’d like to be informed when we come across something similar.

For nearly every car made, paying fifteen large for one with over 200,000 miles on the odometer will likely be a bad investment. One notable exception is the W123 diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz, especially in station wagon form.  Noted for their virtually bullet-proof powertrain, 300TDs from the early 1980s continue to hold their value even for those exceeding the 200,000 miles mark. With its ability to run on cooking oil (when properly converted), a diesel-powered W123 Mercedes-Benz may be your transportation answer should you desire to survive in a post-Armageddon world.

This 1982 Mercedes-Benz 300TD Estate, originally listed in October 2022 on Craigslist in Anaheim, California, belies its 224,000 original miles as the seller reports this California car also benefitted from being garaged all its life when not in use.  The only modification we see in the pictures provided is a modern stereo.

Currently offered for $15,500, Classic.com, the analytics and search engine for the collector car market, confirms the ask is above the one-year rolling average of this guide’s summary for S123 300TD Mercedes-Benz wagons produced between 1978 and 1986.  By clicking on the green dots in the graph below, you can navigate to each comparable car sold as a way to help you evaluate the price of the truck featured here:

As a second data point, the  Collector Car Market Review Online Tool reveals the seller’s ask exceeds this guide’s #1 “Excellent” appraisal of $11,500.

Mercedes produced the W123 series of full-size cars for model years 1976 through 1986.  The W123 models replaced the W114 range and surpassed that series to become the most successful Benz ever with nearly three million over its ten-year production run.  The wagon version of this line, the S123, was the first factory-built Mercedes-Benz estate as previous versions were custom-built by external coachbuilders such as Binz.

While early versions of the S123 featured a non-turbo four-cylinder diesel, American consumers were not sold on the idea of a heavy wagon with only 77 hp.  Consequently, in 1981 M-B introduced the famed OM617 inline five-cylinder turbo diesel.  This engine is considered to be one of the most reliable engines ever produced with examples often reaching over half a million miles without being rebuilt and is one of the key reasons for Mercedes’ popularity in North America in the 1980s, as it was powerful and reliable compared to other automotive diesels of the time.

The Mercedes Classic With Paul Hedary YouTube Channel features his one-year-old take on what you should pay for a W123 300TD wagon:

Garaged and always based in California, this 1982 Mercedes-Benz 300TD Estate is in much better shape than most W123 wagons that have joined the 200,000-mile club. While painfully slow to get to highway speeds, there aren’t many cars this size that can achieve 30 mpg on the highway.

Here’s the seller’s description:

Show or go: What would you do with this 1982 Mercedes-Benz W123 300TD Estate?  Please comment below and let us know!