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Still A Headturner? 1985 Mercedes 300D Pickup

No one will ever claim that Mercedes’ W123 line is anything but useful. Fuel efficient in the case of the diesels; smooth performers with the gas burners; and unbelievably reliable across the entire lineup. One area it may fall short in, however, is hauling capacity – but wait, hold on: they did make a station wagon. Perhaps you don’t wish to sully those thick, lustrous carpets? Then a pick-up truck variant is in order of the home-brew variety, such as this example here on eBay with a $4,000 Buy-It-Now.

Thanks to Barn Finds reader Russell G. for tracking this one down. The car in question is a 300D, marking it a diesel-powered model that looks like it escaped the set of a Mad Max remake. The bull bar reminds of the kinds of nose shields I’ve seen on off-road rigs in Australia, where fending off kangaroo is a very real need. The Mercedes looks pretty good from this end, with the pickup bed not all that offensive.

From the back, the view gets a little less rosy, as the upright cabin and thick roof looks somewhat out of place. The rear doors look to have been crudely welded shut, and the custom bed apparatus is no show-stopper, either. I do like that the factory badges were retained, although the “Turbodiesel” badge needs to move inboard by about three inches. The seller calls it a “headturner” – do you agree?

Now, what I mentioned earlier about not wanting to muck up the interior of a clean W123 sedan or wagon holds true, as this roughneck pickup doesn’t have time for your prim and proper footwear; you see, it’s a truck, and it should be treated as such, and the interior on this custom cab pickup looks every bit like the workhorse the outside suggests it is. Would you drive this custom Mercedes pickup as a daily?

 

Comments

  1. Avatar art

    What happens when good cars are allowed to go bad.
    Frankenbenz.

    Like 8
  2. Avatar grant

    Look what someone did to that poor Benz.

    Like 4
  3. Avatar Marty Reardon

    It’s a head turner, but certainly not in a good way. It took a lot of time to butcher this Benz this way. It shows talent but not good design.

    Like 4
  4. Avatar Mike Hawke

    More like a head-scratcher…

    Like 16
  5. Avatar PAUL

    With no head rest and that window, I think you risk dying on a small rear end collision if you get rear ended. head right into window and brainstem on that metal

    Like 1
  6. Avatar Fran

    What?

    That was my reaction as I am stuck.

    Like 0
  7. Avatar Jack Quantrill

    This is the result of customizing whilst on the hashish!

    Like 1
  8. Avatar Don Foote

    Maybe a tree fell on the roof years ago?

    Like 0
  9. Avatar JBP

    In the 90s they made some very nice conversions in Denmark. but that was the neext Generation they used, and as a wagon. but they where very proff build. there was 3 companyes there made them, with wery Little differ..

    Like 1
  10. Avatar Little_Cars

    The three badges across the back of the improvised cab make this car super special! Seems with every hacked wagon we see made into a truck one gains LESS cargo area than you had when it was a wagon!! And look at how the rear doors were sealed. Oh my!

    Like 1
  11. Avatar Murray Arundell

    That Bull Bar wouldn’t save you from a runway shopping trolley!!

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Andrew Franks

    The listing has ended. Whatever that means.

    Like 0
  13. Avatar peterK

    they would have been smarter to take the rear glass frame and mould it into the body behind the front seat. As it is now its a real hack job .

    Like 0
  14. Avatar Wayne

    I have been wanting to make a Ute out of an older Benz for quite some time.
    But this is just a hack job!

    Like 1
  15. Avatar Mark Evans

    A real head turner. Pardon me while turn my head to retch.

    Like 0
  16. Avatar George

    More of a flatbed than pickup.

    Like 0
  17. Avatar Hasse B.

    Once in a while I see some old Mercedes butchered like this in Sweden (those W123 series are still rather common on the roads even though rust has taken out many), but usually Volvo 700-series done the same way. All with a small recess sunken in the bed floor as a a small cargo space and gears set to bring the speed down to 30 km/h (18.6 mph) to conform with traffic laws allowing young folks from the age of 16 to drive these cars by this transformation being re-classified as tractors. Sometimes just a way to make use of clunkers set for the scrapyard but sadly once in a while interesting cars get chopped up like that getting attention at the local burger joints parking lot until the owner comes of age for getting their drivers license. Such a waste of good rearwheel drive classics while the streets are piled up with present day generic frontrunner shuttles built to last until the factory warranties run out. Come to think of it, in past times Norway had a exemption in their import tax regulations that made it way cheaper to take in a small truck rather than a car, making it interesting to for example loose the rear lid of a 3rd gen Camaro and putting in a wall behind the front seats. And no, it didn´t do any good for the looks…

    Like 0

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