Is this the Holy Grail Mercedes 300TD? A road trip to Tennessee reveals a rare 1982 wagon, boasting a midnight blue exterior and a surprising array of original features. The presenter inspects a meticulously maintained vehicle and its unique accessories, including a Hartman luggage set.
Is this the Holy Grail Mercedes 300TD?
A Mercedes-Benz restoration expert has just discovered the Holy Grail of his top favorite brand. It is a 1982 Mercedes-Benz 300TD wagon that checks all the boxes of a unicorn. It is finished in Midnight Blue, features an all-leather interior, the third-row seat, the Hartmann Luggage set, and is all original. The car has spent its entire life with the family of the man who ordered it in 1982.
A trip from Georgia to Tennessee results in an incredibly rare find for a Mercedes-Benz guru. He goes back home with a 1982 Mercedes-Benz 300TD on his trailer. The wagon spent its entire life with the family that drove it off the showroom floor over 43 years ago, and is now waiting for someone to fall in love with it. As far as we’re concerned, there is plenty to fall in love with.
John Woods, the co-owner of the Woods and Barclay shop, specializes in meticulously restoring classic Mercedes-Benz cars in their shop in Roswell, Georgia. He is the one who loads it onto his trailer to undergo a makeover and then sell it.
The car he found looks like the Holy Grail of Mercedes-Benz wagons. He claims to have discovered one of the rarest Mercedes diesel wagons in the world. It is finished in Midnight Blue. John says that about only 2% of the iconic S123 wagons rolled off the production line in this color.
The wagon is still with the family of the original owner. The wife of the man who ordered it in the early 1980s drove it to the Belle Haven Country Club in Tennessee and back home for years before she stopped driving altogether. There is still a sticker of her country club on the front bumper.
The car was refurbished at some point by Kevin, whom John refers to as “the leading Mercedes diesel wagon expert in the country.” John flies him in a few times a year to work on the cars he has in his shop.
The iconic W123 generation (wagons were actually codenamed as S123s) was the first wagon model produced in-house by Mercedes-Benz. The model is renowned, like many models and generations bearing the three-pointed star logo, for its reliability and durability. And this 300TD wagon is the motorized proof that it is not just a myth.
The Benz has 73,146 miles (117,717 kilometers) on the clock. It is the only one he has ever seen with under 100,000 miles (160,934 kilometers) traveled in over four decades. It features a rear cargo net, a third-row seat that pops out from the trunk, facing rearward.
The occupants sit back there next to the vertically positioned spare wheel with a jerry can. Additionally, the all-leather interior, which shows barely any signs of wear after over 43 years of use, makes the four-decade-old Benz a unicorn.
Everything is original in the car. The family that has owned it hasn’t made a single change. It comes with the original Mercedes-Benz Bundt wheels and the original Pirelli Cinturato tires, and still includes the original snow chains, which haven’t been used for quite a while.
The roof bars with wind deflectors enhance the car’s rarity. The anodized aluminum trim around the windows proves it has been a garage-kept vehicle over all these years, sheltered away from pouring rain or scorching heat.
Under the hood sits the 3.0-liter inline-five turbocharged diesel engine, producing 123 horsepower (125 metric horsepower) and 184 pound-feet (250 Newton meters) of torque. The OM617 is known for durability, with many examples powered by it surpassing one million kilometers (over 600,000 miles) with only basic maintenance.
The engine of the 43-year-old Benz bay looks like a museum piece. Mercedes zink-plated the wires and hoses, and even the brackets. New hood insulation keeps the noise and vibrations out of the cabin. A four-speed automatic transmission, which was standard for the examples sold in the United States, puts the power down in a rear-wheel drive setup.
The trunk still hosts the safety triangle, tool kit, and first aid kit from 1982. The sale also includes the full Hartman Luggage set, famous for featuring the belting leather tanned with the same procedure as drive belts in old textile mills in Lebanon, Tennessee.
John loads it up and takes it to his shop in Georgia, happy to find a unicorn. He is taking with him all the original documentation from the original family. He will fly Kevin in once again, to make it drive like it did the day it drove off the showroom floor.
The car won’t bring him a fortune. The 1982 Mercedes-Benz 300TD usually sells for an average price of $21,300, as reported by classic.com. The most expensive example sold recently was the one that went home with someone who paid $41,500 for it.
It won’t take long before we see this Holy Grail 1982 Mercedes-Benz 300TD S123 with an all-leather interior, third seat row, and a Hartmann Luggage set listed for sale. Something tells us this is going to hit a record price.
