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AMG subsidiary AMG Japan produced some wonderfully subtle vehicles in their heyday. The natural course of action if you are a tuner is to go big or go home, which they did occasionally, but not every car can be a 6.0L V8 with giant wide fender flares to make the Batmobile jealous. Today’s car, a 1988 230TE 3.2, exemplifies how AMG Japan sometimes modded cars. It is very subtle and under the radar compared to the normally flashy vehicles that came from Japan and they even went as far as converting the front end to a facelift look that I think finishes the car off perfectly. The thing is, if you want one of these, you’ll be paying for it. Collectors are gobbling up any early AMG car they can get their hands on and this one looks like it will be no different.
Last week I looked at a really cool 1992 Mercedes-Benz 250TD that was an European import that I’d love to own to rack up the miles. Today, we have another European-spec W124 estate although this one is still in Europe and has the steering wheel on the other side. This 1990 230TE resides in Northern England and as you might have noticed from the photo, this wagon wasn’t used as the workhorse that most were subjected to.
For many, the W123 remains the definitive Mercedes-Benz. With an iconic silhouette, invincible build quality and well-deserved reputation for durability, these cars can still be spotted on the road today, serving as daily drivers and usable classics. In fact, there’s a mint condition 300D in smoke silver that I see driven around my neighborhood on a regular basis. Looking like it just rolled out of a showroom, the owner is a young professional who I would guess is in his mid-thirties. Now that is a man with good taste. The estate bodyshape adds a useful amount of cargo space in the rear, making it the perfect choice for a stylish trip to the beach (or the lumber yard). To the uninitiated, they might just look like old wagons, but prices for mint examples can quickly reach into the high teens.
It was an interesting Wagon Week last month, featuring more utilitarian choices than normal. We began with a Mercedes-Benz 230TE equipped with a 5-speed manual and ended with a 1980 Volkswagen Passat L Variant. We’re back this week with another 230TE equipped with a third pedal, this time on the other side of the pond. This 1992 model is in much better nick, having covered only 30,000 miles. It might only be a four cylinder model, but good W124 estates aren’t getting any easier to find. If you know anyone in Europe who could hang on to this for two years until it’s legal for US import, keep reading…
Wagon Week is back here at GCFSB. We’ve decided to start off not with one of the high-horsepower hyper wagons the Germans are known for, but rather, a workhorse of sorts. With the end of W123 production in the mid 1980s, the W124, now named the E-class, would take over the middle of the lineup for Mercedes-Benz. The W123 estate was the first such mass produced vehicle for Mercedes-Benz, and the W124 range would include a successor for the 300TD. The W124 estate has now itself become a bit of an icon, representing the durability and magnificent engineering that Mercedes built their reputation on. This particular W124 estate was one that was not sold here, the 230TE. With a 2.3 liter four-cylinder engine, it won’t win any acceleration contests, but with the 5-speed manual gearbox, you’ll be able to make the most of the power it has.
