Well, I have a neighbor who used to import M-Bs from Belgium to sell here in Costa Rica.

He told me that most of the cars he bought from also a fishy dealer, were mostly total losses from severe accidents.

Hence, many W124s he imported were the 50% front from one car while the 50% rear from ANOTHER car, welded together!!!

He also commented that most of the cars did NOT have the original engines on them. For example, a 300E will come with a 230E or viceversa.

I would not be surprised that in your case the engine was swapped from another car and mounted into an original gas engined chassis.

Lessons to be learned: never buy a car from Belgium, and never buy a used car from my neighbor.

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A. Rosich
CL 500, 1998
S 500 L, 1998
E 320 T, 1995 [Sadly sold ]