Could it be possible- A 1980’s W123 diesel that hasn’t driven the equivalent distance of four moon landings? Better yet, a clean W123 in a color so mundane, yet so rich you can’t help but love it. Recently listed here on Craigslist in Greensboro, NC, this 1984 300D Sedan has been offered with a price tag of $28,000 or an average 88 cents per mile on the odometer. That’s right, in 35 years, this car’s travelled only 31k miles and seemingly just under 4k miles since the last time it was listed.
Finished in Manganese Brown Metallic (480) over Beige MB Tex (155), this W123 sure looks the part of a mid-80’s family sedan. This color contrast is rarely seen anymore and often only thought of by the masterminds under the Designo nameplate. A thoughtful brown and beige pinstripe accents the beltline of the 300D nicely and from what we can tell, has been there for some time. If the paint and body are original, it would certainly lend validity to the sellers claim that this car has been garage kept for the majority of its life and driven sparingly. We’d hope a plethora of spare parts, notes, binders, and records would be included with this car and ideally, even the original head unit.
Although the VIN isn’t provided in the listing (along with most other details we’d want to see), we were able to discover that the VIN for this example is WDBAB33A0EA072983. A little sleuthing led us to discover the car’s had three owners in its history and in the last several years was listed by a collector car dealer out of St. Charles, MO with 28k on the clock. The current seller and third owner has logged around four thousand miles and has relisted higher than the previous asking price. Perhaps this is an indication of market movement in recent years or just sheer seller optimism, either way it's nice to have some records available when it comes to low mileage classics like this.
The current listing doesn’t offer much in the way of history, maintenance or, detail aside from some basics including a recent service where all fluids were changed, shocks and struts were replaced, shift bushings were replaced, and got a new set of tires-which we dearly wish had been washed prior to the photos. For the price, we can’t argue the value of this special W123 but the ask is certainly at the top of the market and for top dollar. We’d love to see a hundred or more professional photos along with a detailed account of the car’s history once this car’s been professionally detailed. Interested parties who can’t see the car in person should request a PPI (pre purchase inspection) from a very thorough shop nearby and spend some solid time on the phone with the seller to garner any relevant information.
Comments