Sometimes, all it takes is a paint color to completely change your opinion about a given make or model of car. In the case of a 1979 Mercedes-Benz 240D painted in a rare shade of paint known as “Caledonia Green”, this sleepy sedan suddenly looks slightly stylish owing to its uncommon color scheme. Typically, when a W123 comes up for sale, we’re not talking about the paint color given most of the pallet is inoffensive if not downright forgettable. The combination of this unusual combination with the low mileage of just 68K miles makes this diesel sedan a standout, and it’s listed here on eBay with bids to $8,050 and the reserve unmet.
Any W123 that has under 100,000 miles is a major find these days. Owing to its incredible reliability and world-renown durability, the W123 is one of the few European models that seems to get better the more miles you rack up. That is, you start to appreciate it more because it’s still so solid despite having 300K on the clock. We’ve all seen the stories and images of W123s ending up in third-world countries to begin their retirement years as a taxicab. Needless to say, seeing one that looks like the proverbial grandma-owned example is a treat.
It makes you wonder if the unusual paint code was special-ordered, perhaps part of the European delivery program. Mercedes-Benz, perhaps more than any other brand, did an impressive job convincing Americans to buy their car overseas and spend a month touring the European countryside before shipping it home. Seeing a W123 in this sort of condition suggests it belonged to a conscientious owner, so it’s too crazy to think that from beginning to end, there was a bit of a love story involved with this car, from the day the color scheme was picked out of the glossy brochure. I realize I’m romanticizing things a bit, but it’s fun to imagine a car like this having a fairytale existence (at least as far as automotive fairytales are concerned.) The hard-wearing W123 upholstery appears to be in fantastic condition.
Of course, diesel-powered Mercedes do tend to belong to caretakers that understand the car’s inherent value, which is in its ability to provide decades of dutiful services with reasonable maintenance costs, which isn’t something every Europan make or model can say. The photos show all sorts of wonderful details, from a minty trunk compartment with an original spare tire cover to an undercarriage with nary a speck of rust and factory stampings still visible on even replacement items like the muffler. This W123 has to be one of the more original ones to come up for sale in recent memory, and it surely deserves more bids than it has at the moment.
I seem to remember seeing this color on the W114/115 cars. It is super nice and should bring good money. I bought a low mileage 83 240D for a friend with the manual transmission. She only kept it for a few months before I had to sell it on. These cars were slow in the 70’s but so were a lot of car of that era. Today unfortunately they are a road hazard unless you live in a remote area where you are less likely to be a victim of road rage. The 300D with a turbo is what I consider the minimum acceptable in one of these cars or better yet the 280E with 177hp.
True story. Diesel powered cars of that era were painfully slow. The acceleration felt like deceleration. I know, having owned a 1976 and a 1981 300D. I would consider this beauty only if a turbocharger could be installed.
My folks house was the same green color with white trim. We called it the avocado abode.
Alphasud is correct. If you think a VW Bus was slow in acceleration, this 240D is in the same league. This 240D worsens the acceleration with both an automatic transmission and A/C. But once at speed, it will run with the rest of the crowd and run all day without protest. This car is nearly bullet proof.
It’s in fabulous condition with a rare off-white interior, not many Mercedes had this color, so I’d guess this was a special order car.
I hope the new owner continues to care for this very clean Mercedes. This old Mercedes looks like a true Mercedes Benz, the new ones look generic, boring and plasticky. My Cuisinart toaster has more style.
Love the colour , as a Scot 🏴 why wouldn’t I “caledonia” is the old name for scitland
Aye, the color choice may have been inspired by looking in the mirror after a night of heavy drink.
My romanticized story is it was ordered by mistake and sat on the lot of an American dealer for awhile and sold at a discount.
Very nice find, like it… imagine the price if it were a wagon.
Bile green, and bog slow. And now diesel is more expensive than ever! What’s not to like?
Scholfield Pontica, MB, Honda dealership had one of this color (or uglier) on the showroom floor and a wealthy individual sat in it and asked the salesman if it mad his complexion look green.
Solid cars
MB, doesn’t issue mileage badges for fun. You get one for every 100,000 miles ( or kilometers). I’ve seen some million mile ones. With maintenance, these go forever. Who cares if they’re a little slow?
I like it and I would drive it as my daily, it being slow doesn’t bother me because I’m good at returning the one finger wave to those who like to speed around me only to catch them at the next light. I just don’t like what the price of this one had hit over $10k and still hasn’t hit the reserve
In Chicago if you do the one finger wave you will wish you had bulletproof glass!
I would return the favor
I’m a big fan of old Mercedes diesels. This is a beautiful well cared for example and with the low mileage will probably outlive its next owner should that person be sixty plus. As others have said they are not fast in the acceleration department (0-60, eventually) but once up to speed are good comfortable cruisers. I already have Mercedes diesels so I don’t need this but I would be chasing this one down if I were in the market. GLWTS
OI had a 1985 300TD wagon in this same color combo. Of all the ones that I had in a 10 yr span this is the one I wish I never sold because of the color combo. Alas it also has 350K miles on it and was do for some major work that I didn’t want to do so I let it go…
The only factor in the bidding on this one is that it is diesel powered. Considering the price of diesel fuel these days hovering around $5.00 a gallon, that seems to put a damper on the bidding. Had a Friend in N.C. had two of these, and he used to get 40 mpg. . Great looking car though.
Beautiful old car even in that color green. My uncle had one of these in Germany, the 0 to 60 time was mind-bogglingly slow (I believe it was measured around 24 seconds by a car magazine back in the day) but it was unbelievably reliable, and outlived him. Even though diesel is $5 a gallon, the fact that you’ll probably get 40 miles per gallon with this thing means that you’re going to be paying as much for fuel as somebody in a car that averages about 28 mpg on gasoline.
Diesel =fuel efficiency. Even with the new improved price of diesel it still costs less to operate than a petrol equivalent. Having owned diesels since the turn of the century (love that phrase); would like to return to the good old days when diesel was less costly than petrol. Not to enter the realm of politics but cheaper diesel wold benefit all of us.