Buried in water and mud in an underground car park, waiting to be rescued. That is how a Mercedes-Benz W123 spent a few days after catastrophic storms hit the east coast of Spain. Surprisingly, the indestructible sedan eventually drove out of the garage on its own power.
Mercedes W123: El icónico modelo que sobrevive a la DANA de Valencia
Storm Dana caused massive destruction on the eastern coast of Spain as it swept the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, bringing massive rainfall and powerful winds that caused landslides and floods in the area.
However, there are survival stories that bring hope to a land severely hit by tragedy. One of them is the story of this Mercedes-Benz W123, which belongs to a brand enthusiast residing in Carlet in the Valencian Community, Ivan Felici Rubio.
When the owner went into the flooded garage located in Algemesi to check on his car after the emergency services had drained up the parking lot, he did not even dare to hope that his car would fire up ever again. It looked like that would be the end of a Mercedes that had the reputation of being immortal.
Mud had entered every single crevice of the vehicle, and the cabin was soaked. But Ivan had to give it a go. He could not just give up his old motorized companion. He had his toolbox and a new battery with him.
After minutes of work, he had the surprise of his life when he heard the engine running. “It started on the first attempt,” Ivan told the story for the Spanish media.
His good old Mercedes drove out of the flooded garage on its own power. The sedan was covered in mud, dripping from its body and windows. You couldn’t even guess the color of the paint this car rolled off the production line with. That is how bad it was.
Ivan’s Mercedes is a W123 300D, powered by a 3.0-liter engine, which generated 87 horsepower (88 horsepower) and 127 pound-feet (172 Newton meters) of torque.
When the model hit the market as a replacement for the W114/W115 series and a predecessor of the future E-Class, back in 1975, the German carmaker offered a generous engine lineup.
The four-cylinder 2.0-liter and 2.3-liter, the inline-six 2.5-liter and 2.7-liter were petrol engines, while customers could also go for one of the five diesel options: a four-cylinder 2.0, a four-cylinder 2.2, a four-cylinder 2.4, a five-cylinder 3.0-liter and a turbocharged 5.0-liter.
The car came with a deformable steering column to protect the driver’s torso in case of a front-end collision, central locking, a two-panel windscreen, and a passenger-side mirror as standard.
In 1980, Mercedes offered ABS and a driver’s airbag as options. Customers could go for the four-door sedan, like the one we have here, the station wagon, a coupe, or the limo body styles, which came with a seven- or eight-seat layout.
The German automaker rolled out 2,696,915 examples between November 1975 and January 1986. Considering the reputation of the model, many of those are probably still on the road today.
With a reputation for being robust and reliable, the W123 is a survivor. For instance, there is a W123 240D that traveled over 7 million kilometers (4.34 million miles). The car resides in Gran Canaria, Spain, with its owner, Domingo, who used it as a taxi his whole life. However, he had to replace the engine once.
The 240D version was the most popular of the series, with 455,000 units delivered. It was a 2.4-liter (146.4-cubic-inch) four-cylinder naturally aspirated diesel engine, which delivered 71 horsepower (72 metric horsepower) and 101 pound-feet (137 Newton meters) of torque.
The car took a lifetime to get from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 kph): 22 seconds. The needle of the speedometer went up to 89 mph (143 kph), which was really nothing to write home about either.
One of the reasons the old-school Benz survived might be the fact that it runs on little to no electronic components. Whatever the secret, one thing is for sure. Some cars are meant to survive. But first, this one has to get cleaned up.
