I was checking out Craigslist late at night a few weeks back when I stumbled upon this beautiful Euro 300d. I ended up emailing whoever posted the ad requesting for their phone number. The following morning I was refreshing my email nonstop, knowing at what a rare car I had found. At 9:30 am I received an email from Udo (son of the owner). He emailed me back saying that I was not the first to inquire about the car, and people as far away as Chicago were messaging him. In the email, he had left his phone number. Within seconds I was dialing, at 9:31, praying to God that I could be the first to look at the car. I ended up talking with him for a bit while trying to remain calm. I essentially pleaded with him so that I could be the first person to look at the car.

My girlfriend and my father accompanied me the very next day on a road trip just 3 hours south of where we live to Sonora. It was quite the drive over, and the entire time I was nervous. We had the asking price in cash and I was feeling very pessimistic for some reason. I felt that the car could in no way be priced this low and be in this good of condition. We were asked to show up at noon, and we did.

We arrived at 12:01. I just want to point out that it seems like everything in this story fell into place so perfectly down to the exact minute of every encounter. Anyways, we approached the driveway and it was a very steep paved driveway. We were climbing in first gear in my 300d. At the top sat the most beautiful W123 I have ever laid my eyes on, and we parked right next to it. I got out of my car. My heart was pounding. I couldn’t believe the condition it was in! The windows were all unrolled and I was peering inside of the car. The interior looked brand new! The entire car looked brand new! I couldn’t believe my eyes. The owner and her son were still inside the house at this point, not knowing that we had arrived. I looked the car over for a few minutes in disbelief.

I knocked on the door and a lady came to it. She was about 4’ 5” and looked as if she weighed 85lbs. She introduced herself as Sylvia, and I shook her hand, carefully. Her youngest son, Stefan, ended up coming to the door as well. I shook his hand too. My father and girlfriend exchanged greetings with both of them. We all gathered around the red W123. The lady was very sweet, and she was 84 years old. Her English was not so good, and she was speaking German to her son the majority of the time. I looked at the car for a few more minutes. I had already decided on purchasing it the moment I laid eyes on it however.

Sylvia came up to me and said in a very thick German accent and said “everything works.” I almost started tearing up, she was so adorable. The thought of her having to sell her car after all these years was heart breaking. I imagined her and her husband choosing the color and all of the features way back in ’84. It was a very touching moment, and I will never forget it.

I ended up turning to Sylvia and her son and told them I will take the car. I gave the full asking price. I shook Sylvia’s hand one last time and assured her that I would take care of her car. We filled out paperwork and we were on our way. My dad hopped in my ’82 and fired it up. My girlfriend and I hopped in the newly acquired ’84 and fired it up. We drove away at 12:15 pm, we had only been there 14 minutes. I could see Stefan and Sylvia watching us depart in the rear view mirror. It was truly a sad experience, but I will give the car the best life that I can.

The color is called English red, it looks a slight bit of orange at times. The pictures are almost spot on with the color.
504 Englischrot (English Red)

edit: I believe I am wrong in saying that it is English Red. They stopped producing English Red after 1982, and this car is an '84. Although very similar, I think this color is called 585 Altrot. I will check the paint code when I get back home in December.

This is the day after we bought the car, exactly how we found it:








Strangely, some traditional housing carpet was cut and placed in order to protect the factory carpet underneath.



Even the wind laces, which usually fray, were all still intact and holding up well:



Import paperwork:



The entire service history came with the car, as well as the import paperwork. Every feature on the car works, and it seems to be entirely original. The windshield, the rear windshield, everything is original! The USA headlights that came with the car when it was imported were included. They are also brand new, never used!

One question I have for everyone reading is what should I do with this car in terms of originality? I'm debating if I should leave the car as I found it cosmetically, and keep all of the slight imperfections. For example, the grill insert has a chunk missing out of it, the manual shifter boot is torn and cracked all over, one of the quarter panel trim pieces has a slight dent in it. There are many other slight imperfections, should I fix them all is the question. This car is in a rare condition and I would like some input before I do any work to it.

Thank you everyone for reading. I've posted this on Benzworld already, but I wanted to share the beauty of this pristine W123 with the folks over here as well. This can act as my formal introduction to Peachparts. Have an excellent day

Full picture album: https://imgur.com/a/kiseN