Even if you’re not someone who typically drives European cars, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered the Mercedes-Benz 300E, otherwise known as the W124. These cars helped establish Mercedes-Benz as a household name in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, and also seemingly made the brand more accessible to buyers. While Cadillac was still pushing out land yachts, Mercedes built a reasonably-sized sedan with good power and bank vault-build quality. While most were equipped with automatics, you could order a 5-speed manual – and a very small contingent of shoppers did. Check out this rare three-pedal 300E listed here on Facebook Marketplace for $2,699.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Jack M. for the find. The combination of a manual in a luxury car is one we don’t see often, and for obvious reasons. After all, most car buyers at the high end of the market have little interest in rowing their own gears. However, when the concept of a sport sedan was taking off in the U.S., it suddenly made sense: after all, these cars typically make good power and have excellent chassis dynamics; a 5-speed would certainly enhance the driving experience. BMW really championed this concept, even going so far as to offer a manual in its E32-chassis 7-Series. Nissan put a stick in the Maxima and for a brief time, you could order an early Lexus ES300 with three pedals. But the 300E is truly a rare find.
And really, “rare” is underselling it a bit. Mercedes only allowed U.S. buyers to opt for a 5-speed in the 300E for two years, and ended the manual option in 1988. Estimates are that around 1,000 cars or so made it in with the elusive shift-it-yourself option, and having counted at least two of those in salvage yards over the years, you can bet far fewer remain on the road today. After all, only gearheads like us would appreciate such an oddball, and I’m sure many of them were scrapped once the first large repair bill materialized. The 300E is powered by Mercedes’s familiar and durable inline-six, good for around 180 horsepower and 188 lb.-ft. of torque.
Now, this 300E has some obvious issues. First, it shows nearly 300K miles. While Mercedes of this era are generally considered to be capable of racking up such mileage, 300,000 is generally thought to be at the high end before significant rebuilding occurs. The paint is also a bit too shiny and coffee-toned to be original; while it looks like the door jams were done, I suspect this is a respray (and the misplaced badge on the trunk is a tell-tale sign.) However, the seller claims it was just polished, so maybe the original paint sprang back to life. He does note the presence of rust underneath, and the Ohio license plate offers a clue as to where this 300E spent its winters before moving to Maryland. One additional bonus? The iconic sticker in the windshield showing the signature of Mercedes-Benz’s founder could indicate it retains its original glass.
This is what I wanted when I got my similar W124 300E back in the late 1980s. I could not find a manual anywhere, so I had to get an automatic. What a great car, though. Mine was white (zzzzz) with blue MB Tex, but I like this paint color much better. I think the sunroof fuse blew once, and the AC went out (some random hose, from what I recall), but otherwise that was a solid, quiet, smooth highway car like no other. Nice one, Jeff!
I owned a 1968 300SEL in the mid 70’s. Beautiful car; burgundy with full leather interior, mohair carpet AND a 4 speed manual on the tree!
Great parts car for a 5-speed swap with decent trim parts too. The trans assembly with pedals and driveshaft alone is worth the price of the car. https://www.ebay.com/itm/306237695304?
That “misplaced” badge on the trunklid looks to be what’s left of the original model badge, the rest having fallen off and left behind some telltale residue.
Hard to imagine anyone would choose this color for a respray, unless they were just replicating the original color. More likely the factory finish just held up and buffed out well. Seems like a carryover from Benz’s ’70s palette, pretty sure I’ve seen W123s and even W114s in that hue. Adding a checkered taxi stripe could be an amusing addition, considering the popularity of this model for taxi duty abroad.
Ha, that reminds me, someone snapped off the hood ornament on mine when it was parked on the street overnight once, in sleepy little Duluth, MN, back in around 1990 or so. Unreal. It was only $29 for a replacement, but I kept looking for some clown wearing it around his neck. It was most likely the only one in town at that time, as there was no Mercedes dealership there. I got it serviced at “Small Car Parts,” owned by Bobby and Tommy Archer, fairly famous racecar drivers at the time.
More than “fairly famous” to me, but then again I raced against them in IMSA. If memory serves, they stared professionally racing the Renault R5s before moving up the ladder.
Would love this car to be able to swap the full tranny setup, with pedals, into my 94 wagon! So sick of automatics, even in my MB.
Well, be careful what you wish for. I owned 1984 190E I brought in from Germany when new. It had the manual transmission. I didn’t like it or the clutch at all. I expected it to shift like any of my previous BMWs but it acted more like the Nissans of that era. Pretty awful
I had one , maroon w/tan , the AMG subtle I was told, went 155mph ( I did venture up to 145 once sweating bullets and it wanted to keep going up) I bought it for trips to my GF in NH. What a car , mine was automatic . Every weekend I would hit the Highway and went to 110 and backed off to cruising at 82 , effortless . One day a fast and flatulent Mitsubishi 3000 came up behind me flashing his lights, I moved up to about 100 and pulled over he went by at about 130 … not to let the 300 be polished off that easily (and I was a little more rambunctious then) followed suit with me on him at 135 and he pulled over and I went to 145 , afraid the slower traffic would step in front going 70 and I would be median bound. The 2 of us idiots went 135 for about 20 mins, oh what fun…lol. Never made it to the GFs quicker in my life . Unfortunately when I broke up with her it sat too much and started with quirky little issues and trying to clear some issues with a quick run to 60 not realizing the hood wasnt completely latched didnt help. Ultimately the transmission was slipping and while trying to move it off the road blew a seal … sealed its fate to the boneyard . I wouldnt think twice about getting another one in good running condition just make sure its driven weekly at least.
About 25 years ago I had an 82 300SD diesel with this body. The 5-cylinder turbo engine was and is a very good engine. I sold it with only about 130,000 miles running better than when I bought it to a happy young couple. It was rust free. My wife didn’t like the diesel smell, though sometimes it ran on filtered cooking oil and smelled more like french fries. The milage on this one may be high for a gasoline engine.
My two W124 wagons both reached 300,000 miles. When they were new, I drove a stick 300E for a week, and the only downside was a slight “windup” in the drivetrain. Robt has a good, inexpensive idea: swap this car’s transmission, clutch, etc. into an automatic-equipped 300E, sell the automatic box, and keep the hulk as a parts car.