W123 still in production?
 

Apparently factory fresh W123s with newer engines can be bought for 23000 Euros (around $29,000 USD) by special order in Southern Europe. My source is sorta sketchy but has anyone else heard of this or know if this is true? I think that would be an awesome car for the money, esp. if it had one of the newer Mercedes diesels in them. I am skeptical but still curious.

Southern Europe as is Spain, Italy and Greece? Given their economies, I can understand the demand for 123s. That much money will buy a decent late model MB that gets twice the fuel mileage of a 123. Unless they're specialty or collector issues, there's no way they'd pass modern safety requirements.

Sixto
87 300D

Apparently this factory is in Turkey

Maybe they found some NOS stampings. Phil should arrange a group buy :) In the late 70s and early 80s, 123 200s (123.020) were assembled in the Philippines. You could tell by the VIN which was 123020-5x-xxxxxx. Apparently the 5 indicated a CKD (completely knocked down) vehicle as it left the MB factory (Sindelfingen?). Knocked down makes it sound like it assembled then disassembled before shipping. I think they were assembled in South Africa, Malaysia and Korea as well.

Sixto
87 300D

We need a lot more info on this. This is the first i have ever heard of this kind of thing.

Or are you just jerking our chain :)

I imagine so. Sounds like some Mercedes urban myth to me. Do the math. No one could build a Mercedes up from scratch for $29k.

There is a guy in the UK who restores w123s to as-new condition, replaces every worn part and gives a 12-month warranty on the car. He sells them for around £15,000, about $24k USD. The story you heard may be something like that.

Here is a newspaper story on the UK guy: Classic Mercedes-Benz W123 - Telegraph

There is a guy in California who is close:
Mercedes Motoring

I'm emailing MB International right now to see if I can get an answer from them. I am very skeptical of this person's claims but still curiosity wins out on this one.

I don't know about Philippines, but I know for a fact that they assembled Mercs in Malaysia. Champion motors did VW and Merc and I was actually talking to one of the guys who worked at the factory then. He's a body man now in Canada.

I can confirm they did CKD W123's in the Philippines back in the day.

Mercedes sold the rights (and machinery?) to build their older vans to companies in Iran and India. You can still find new models of the 207d vans in India. Wouldn't surprise me if MB sold the car rights to another country also but Turkey seems a little too close to Europe to have them built there.

If anywhere would build them my guess would be India. But they are way more popular in North Africa.

...I have this gold-painted brick, sorry, solid gold brick for sale...:rolleyes:

Eastern Turkey. which includes the restive unrecognized state of Kurdistan, borders Iraq.

That is nobody's idea of "near Europe".,

True, but there's a good part of Turkey close to the Med.

And Turkey licenses and makes all kinds of vehicles and engines, even Cummins?
So why not older MBs?

True, but there's a good part of Turkey close to the Med.

And Turley licenses and makes all kinds of vehicles and engines, even Cummins?
So why not older MBs?

I just want NOS fenders, that's all!