Pizza Delivery Wagon: 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300TD

Is there a better color for a Mercedes diesel wagon than orange? No, no there isn’t. But, there’s probably not a better color for any vehicle. This one was painted orange by a previous owner to use as a pizza delivery vehicle. I kid you not. This 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300TD Wagon is posted here on craigslist in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and the seller is asking $3,700. Here is the original listing.

Jeff Lavery is as knowledgeable about basically everything as anyone you’ll find on the globe, but he’s also the German car guru here at Barn Finds. There are other folks here who know a ton about German vehicles, but Jeff is truly a guru. We’ve seen two 1985 Mercedes-Benz W123-chassis 300 TDs here on Barn Finds, and both were written up by Jeff, which isn’t surprising. It’s shallow of me to focus on the color so much, especially since it isn’t even a factory color.

You can see that the paint has seen better days. I’d absolutely, without hesitation, repaint this car in this exact shade of orange, and it really needs it. We got the W123 Mercedes line here in North America beginning with the 1977 model year, and until early 1986. If this has been a Minnesota vehicle for any number of years or decades, I’d want to see the underside. The seller says it does have some rust, “mostly from sitting, not salt,” but most of the undercoating is still in good shape.

With 175,000 miles, this example is barely broken in, and the Palamino MB-Tex interior looks like it has 1,750 miles, not 175,000 miles. The seats appear perfect, both front and rear, and the rear cargo area also looks great. I’m assuming that the rear headrests aren’t included, but we don’t know for sure. There has been a ton of work done on this car. The seller “went through some of the pneumatic system when I got the car- have not had issues with leaks since. I did glow plugs and injector hoses a few years ago. battery and tires a few years ago. Front and rear brakes a few years ago. Fuel filters every year. I had a mechanic install ball joints, control arms, struts, shocks in the front end a few years back.”

You can see the paint condition again here, and sadly, there is no engine photo in the listing. It should have a Mercedes-Benz 3.0-liter SOHC inline-five turbodiesel, with 123 horsepower and 181 lb-ft of torque when new. Backed by a four-speed automatic sending power to the rear wheels, the seller believes “the ‘B2’ piston in the transmission could use a seal. This causes the car to slip out of first if you accelerate quickly. Once you are in 2nd gear is shift just fine all the way up through the gears without any slippage.” Given any mechanical and paint issues, how much is this orange 300TD worth?