After months of personal deliberation, I have decided to sell one of my two W123 wagons (the second will be coming up for sale soon...). Just WAY too many projects/vehicles and I honestly can't keep up with this.

This is a car that was scheduled to go to the crusher. The transmission had failed and the customer abandoned the car at the shop. I got wind of this months before moving to VT (I used to live in the south) and took a leap of faith and bought the car. The shop agreed to install a new transmission if I supplied one, which I did. I purchased a rebuilt transmission from Reinvent the Wheel, which is today known as Diesel Mercedes or MBZ. The car was not rust free, but was quite solid. Rust in the usual places, which I fixed, but mostly cosmetically. I did stop the rust in most spots by a combination of elbow grease and "miracle paint" (it's a thing!). The car was otherwise very complete and original. I did brakes, driveshaft flex-discs, rear RH axle boot, center support bearing, general service, fixed some vacuum leaks, upgraded interior lights, changed a few window switches and fixed some other auxiliary systems. Replaced rear hatch struts. Replaced air filter mounts. Restored battery tray. Replaced hood pad. Added cross bars. New diesel lines. New diesel expansion tank (metal; try to find one of those!).Sourced a used cargo curtain/dog net assembly and mounting hardware. I found a set of brand new bundt wheels, mounted new rubber (Kumhos Solstice) and installed the wheels. They look fantastic! Radio works, but the antenna is missing. Dash is original. Manual sunroof .Zebrano wood is well above average. All instruments work, including tach and odometer. Clock does not work. Engine is strong. Turbo works as expected. Cruises at 65-70 all day long. Shifting happens early unless you step on the pedal. I'm very confident that this is a result of a vacuum leak, but you be the judge. Kick down switch works. Cruise control doesn't work. A/C does not work. I removed the a/c belt. Heat works perfectly! SLS was converted to traditional suspension before my ownership. I hate to say this, but it's nice not having to worry about this. Don't get me wrong, I DO love the SLS, but it is kind of a pain when it does not work correctly, and parts are getting very hard/expensive to find. There are some leaks here and there but nothing unusual. Due to a persistent vacuum leak, the engine is hard to shut down. You have to increase RPM's for a few seconds to generate some vacuum. I have not tinkered with this yet. Vacuum from the engine driven pump is OK.One glow plug is shot, but I include a new set of Monark glow plugs with the vehicle. I do have a bunch of oem technical publications and a nice lot of parts that I will show and offer to the interested buyer SEPARATELY (as in not included in this sale).. I have not driven this car in the snow/salt at all, but I am sure it has seen this before my ownership. Manual, jack and tools, spare with bracket.
This vehicle used to be the roadside service vehicle from Mercedes Benz of Manhattan. Looks like I am the third owner. Does not really matter (I think).It has relatively low miles considering that this is a 42 year old vehicle. The paint is fine, not great but fine. It is original for sure, so it can be polished (even sanded) and I'm sure it can look much, much better. I know I'll get many inquiries about this car, just because it is a wagon, right color, great interior. The vehicle presents very nice to the untrained eye. All the lines are very good. If you know where to look you will find areas that need attention. I'm more of a practical person, and prefer to drive and enjoy the car while I fix things here and there. You will find a wagon that is a little cheaper and many, many that are multiple times more expensive. Very few sellers will tell you "how it is". This is by no stretch a garage queen or anything like that. I use the car, service it and do what it takes as far as safety and basic looks. I've owned over a dozen of these W123 and this is my 4th wagon (one which I owned twice...).The car is currently registered in VT, and it is inspected (I removed the sticker; prefer to deal with that situation than to look at that every day!) and insured. No title *eBay shows "clean", but there is no title in VT) as VT does not issue titles for vehicles this old. The registration and a bill of sale is all you need to transfer ownership.
To summarize, this is a great daily driver that needs some simple work, including:
trace and fix vacuum leak
valve adjustment
glow plug replacement
some rust
other small discrepancies

This auction is for an actual vehicle, not for a test drive. You win the auction: you pay for the car. If you want to inspect and test drive the vehicle (which I strongly encourage!), do so BEFORE the end of this auction.

The car is for sale locally, and I reserve the right to remove it from eBay at any given moment, as long as the reserve has not been met.

Thanks for looking and good luck bidding!