Here it is: the ultimate professor’s car. At least, that’s what I thought of the Mercedes-Benz W123 when I grew up across town from the University of Notre Dame. My working-class neighborhood was filled with Chevys, Fords, Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, Dodges, Plymouths, and Buicks, in descending order of popularity. But when we ventured to the north side of town near the university, a W123 would sometimes glide by.
Not every professor drove one. My dad’s best friend was a Notre Dame professor who drove a Vista Cruiser and then a Delta 88. Those cars spoke to values that resonated with Dad, I suppose, because we knew nary a soul who drove anything not assembled in the U. S. of A.
So it was in the Midwest in about 1980. But change crept in during that decade, and by 1990 even my dad had owned a foreign car, sort of: a Renault. It may have been assembled in Kenosha, but it was otherwise not even remotely a car of the American idiom.
I haven’t been paying attention. Just what kinds of cars do professors drive now? Accords, I suppose: conservative, roomy, reliable. But when I visited the campus of my alma mater last autumn, an engineering school down in Terre Haute, I came upon this 30-ish-year-old professor’s car. Such rough condition she was in. No bumper!
Whaddya know, this W123 is flanked by Accords, one older and one newer. And at my alma mater, professors usually park back here, behind the main classroom building.
Just check out all that rust. You’d think a professor could afford one a lot newer and nicer. Could this be a student’s car? But what student in this day and age would be charmed by a W123? Perhaps one who reads Curbside Classic?
The W123 is heralded for being long-lived, so maybe an aging professor bought this when it was much newer but then did only whatever was necessary to keep it rolling. And just check out that cassette deck in the dash. Any self-respecting student would have swapped in a head unit with Bluetooth or at least a USB port so they could listen to the music on their phone.
Whatever its provenance, it was refreshing to find this 300 diesel awaiting whoever drove it in.
Nice find Jim! I can’t really comment on what my professors drove, as I went to a school in the city. Most of my professors were adjunct professors, so they had other successful careers in business. However, I did talk about cars with several of my professors my sophomore year at Suffolk. One drove a late-model Accord EX-L as his daily driver (he also owned a red Corvette) and the other a 10-year old Mercedes S-Class.
The small parking lot next to the business school always had mostly very expensive luxury cars, but I know for a fact that many of the cars were owned by the filthy rich international students here on their parents’ wallets (or more likely offshore bank accounts).
” filthy rich international students here on their parents’ wallets (or more likely offshore bank accounts).”
Let me guess. Mercedes AMG, BMW M, Audi, Porsche, Infiniti, Maserati, Bentley, or a lime green Lamborghini. Oh that’s back in Michigan State University, but new-money shares their limits of vision everywhere. ( Oh, count on Justin Bieber type too )
” Let me guess. Mercedes AMG, BMW M, Audi, Porsche, Infiniti, Maserati, Bentley, or a lime green Lamborghini. Oh that’s back in Michigan State University, but new-money shares their limits of vision everywhere.”
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LOL ~ I was in Beverly Hill recently and a kid , maybe 20 Y.O. , looked Middle Eastern , drove past me in his brandy new Ferrari Drop Top , in second gear going 30 MPH , engine floating the valves , just showing his $ to everyone else…
Kids .
GET OFF MY LAWN ! .
-Nate
How can I forget Ferrari! Yes! And looked Middle Eastern, right on nail! Yes, it can’t be more typical. ( maybe missing Chinese though. http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2014/04/michigan_state_chinese_student.html http://www.reddit.com/r/msu/comments/1q1fjt/asians_of_msu_how_do_you_get_those_cars/ )
I think that’s why hard-working mid-eastern people are almost always overlooked.
You pretty much nailed it. Don’t forget the ridiculous custom paint jobs either. Money can’t buy class.
even without paint, it’s still ridiculous.
Typical
http://thesupercarkids.com/girl-crashes-chrome-wrapped-lamborghini-that-parents-bought-her/
Most adjuntcts aren’t people who had success in other fields, though. Most of them are recent grads trying to get by until they can get on the (ever shrinking) tenure track; a clapped-out ’90s Accord or rusty W123 would be just about what they could swing.
The CC effect is working perfectly, as one of these has turned up on a driveway around the corner from me – and a very nice one, at that. “But what student in this day and age would be charmed by a W123” you ask? It turns out that both of my college kids were home last weekend and remarked how cool it was. I told them that it was sort of the last “old school” Mercedes, and that Dad was kind of enamored of it too.
When graduation from law school was approaching, I still harbored the illusion that it was possible to get a taxi-trim W-123. I was willing to put up with the diesel if I could get it with a stick, crank windows, an no other fancy shit other than maybe air. Unfortunately, that ship had long sailed by 1985, and even the lowest priced one of these was waaaaaaayyyyy above my price range. Some things have not changed.
I would suspect that your professor bought this eons ago, perhaps in a fit of optimism, or maybe out of a small inheritance. Then realized that he would never be able to afford another one, and has kept it all these years. He could certainly have done worse.
Actually , although 1985 was the very last year of W-123’s , you could indeed have bought just what you wanted .
Not cheap to say the least but apart from the tinworm , it’d prolly still be running just fine with 500,000 + miles on it…
Getting an honest 30 MPG too .
-Nate
I thought I remembered reading in the sales lit that you could no longer get a stick. Or maybe it was that you could no longer get a gas engine. In either case, the price was head and shoulders what I was prepared to pay for a big stripper, even an MB.
Long time lurker here. Pretty sure you are right I used to sell them back then. The last W123 offered with a manual transmission was the 1983 240D. It went away when the 1984 190E/D came out, leaving only the automatic and power windowed 300D/CD/TD in the W123 body.
I always thought these cars were ugly, especially the head and taillights. But their good engineering is endearing.
I agree, especially compared with their timeless predecessors, although the T models are ok.
Notice how nice that Glasuriet paint still looks in spite of the gaping rust holes…
This car is wretched ~ it’s a non turbo (last year) and worse yet , has the wretched Chysler Air-Temp II under license , called Klima I by Mercedes ~ it has an EVIL SERVO that I’ll bet $5 is broken and by passed meaning no heat , no AC , no fresh ar , no nuttin’ .
I stupidly bought TWO 1980 Mercedes 300D’s and learned the hard way how to fix this awful HVAC system and then keep it working (constant tinkering) .
-Nate
Did you notice the parking place?
I can think of cars I like more, cars that were better, but given proper maintenance by a good mechanic, IMO, these W123 Mercedes, and their predecessors are the most “solid” mass-produced cars ever made.
“Could this be a student’s car? But what student in this day and age would be charmed by a W123? Perhaps one who reads Curbside Classic”
A hipster student, perchance? They love these things, and I like them too.
-Signed, a person who might be considered a hipster in certain circles
We definitely had student-driven W123s around, including a really nice 300CD with a Euro lamp conversion, subtle air dam, and graphite BBS rims. And I do see them being driven by people in the “18 to 35” age range not infrequently. Plus all the biodiesel folks, though that seems to have died down a bit.
hipster students. Some of them pops up in Volvo 240 around Ferndale, Mi a big gay community here with a big sticker of Lawrence Tech and a blue devil. There are very high concentration of 240 in hipster areas here ( And I think it’s because of the rust resistance too )
At my college,professors generally drove Volvos,Saabs,or VWs.
My neighborhood in Richmond has a quite a number of these W123 Benzes, including one that looks exactly like this one except minus the rust and plus a rear bumper. They just run and run and run, and we don’t see heavy road salt down this way, so they *don’t* rust like this. Definitely does fit the bill for an 80’s professor’s car, I’d think. Couldn’t be sure as I was under 10 years old at the time! I remember seeing them frequently though, and was always charmed by the color-keyed hubcaps.
What do professors drive now? Well I worked at a large university from 2000 to 2012 (IT staff, not faculty) so I did a lot of parking lot observing. And, really, I didn’t find any sort of pattern. Lots of trucks and SUVs (this was North Carolina after all). Accords and Camrys, sure, but they’re everywhere. I did see quite a number of Volvos, maybe there’s something to that. Plus a handful of CCs…highlights included an immaculate E28 535is as well as a euro import M635CSi (owned by the same guy), ’68 Porsche 912, 427 Cobra replica and a ’79 Ferrari 308 gtb (both owned by the same professor plus two vintage corvettes but I never saw him drive either to work), ’72 Ranchero GT, Series II Jaguar XJ12 Sovereign.
Oh, and a professor emeritus who was an advisor to my program when I was a student, and who was still involved with the program in a semi-official capacity when I left–he had three Model A Fords!
With the demise of Saab, what do professors and opera lovers now drive?
Subarus
I went to Architecture School in the late 90’s in southern California and most of the professors drove SAAB’s…definitely the architecture professor car of choice or anything German. But I had one teacher- and Italian-Argentinian who drove a pretty sweet Chrysler Lebaron convertible…the later ones with the flush headlights.
That’s a lot of rust for a Mercedes before W210 and W202 ( But it’s more terrifying to see a rusting W202 though ) even in deep salted areas with long winter. Even most abandoned W123/C123 didn’t show that much rust in the chaotic Detroit suburbs ( but they could have more holes, in the other hand ) Indiana Bicentennial Plate could indicate something also.
W123 itself I think a handful of students drive them somewhere. I saw one in Ann Arbor driven by a young guy few years back, where it is home of the University of Michigan. I was driving my slant six Plymouth Volare struggling with the hill, so I guess our cars are similar in age.
In the university here, it’s common to see cars from ’80s hanging around, in different conditions. Sometimes cars from ’60s-’70s pop up also. This New Yorker is spotted in the parking lot last year, in quite a pristine condition.
Id love one of these New Yorkers but they are so hard to find…once in a while a LeBaron shows up, and the 90’s EEK’s turn up now and then….but one of these E-Class NY’ers with the crazy landau roof and the tall(dare I say bustle-backish?) trunks are nearly extinct!
EEK. Oh, I had one.
E-Body New Yorker is getting scarce probably for the turbo, and the questionable reliability of the digital stuff. Even though they were not eligible for cash for clunkers, they are still very rare.
We had one too, inherited from the father-in-law, pinkish with the maroon clarinet-case interior. The daughter didn’t want to be seen driving it, so it ended up getting traded on a 1984 RX-7.
didn’t want to be seen driving it,
indeed. When I drove this car, I made quite few cars in great panic for no obvious reason. Maybe because I cruise at 65 after them for an hour ( but I stick on I-75 for 200 miles anyway ) . Anyway, my LeSabre doesn’t have this effect at all.
The SAAB 99 and 900 beat this as the ultimate professor’s car.
Oh, yes. Saab 900 is still common among older cars here, especially in a university parking lot.
That Saab looks about as good as my parents’ 87 900 about 10 years and 200K miles after they bought it from Forno’s Saab of Endicott. Wonder how the owner of this Saab has kept it looking so good in New England? The rusty fender is a bit of a risk when working under the hood from personal experience.
Even though it’s from Maine, it’s spotted in Southfield, Mi where salt trucks spread as much salt as if they tip over. For a Saab, it’s okay. Volvo 240 fares even better without a spot of rust unless taking a close look. Maybe he picks up some POR-15 or Eastwood cans from some locals.
These cars had the weirdest feeling seats I have ever encountered in an automobile. It is like sitting on a seat with springs and no foam. I can’t really explain the feeling, although they aren’t uncomfortable, just weird.
You´re right Tom. Those seats were just horrible. We would say: its like sitting on grandma´s sofa. And the rear bench was even worse.
I think they got better and more comfy from 1982 onwards.
They did get better. By 1993, last year of the classic, they were very comfortable indeed. You could drive across the country nonstop without any aching.
I love my ’84 300SD Turbo Diesel that I picked up last year. I was looking for a car that I could drive and not have to replace. 185K on the non-working odometer, which I have now repaired. There is the burned out clear-coat, but she is a driver, so that is OK by me. My car does not have the “tin-worm” problem as pictured above.
Drive-ON!
Robert R.
Just this past weekend I met a guy at a vintage car meeting, who had just purchased a 1979 240 Diesel. The car was originally from the south of France.
What can I say? The interior looked like new. And I really mean: like new. As if it just had been assembled at the Sindelfingen plant. I am usually getting bored by all those ramblings about the sheer vintage Mercedes quality, since I have owned myself quite a few of them and have suffered from their various unreliabilities.
But the W123 from the south of France reminded me of the ultra quality of the materials Mercedes Benz used back in those days. Simply bulletproof..or so it seems.
If you wanna get an idea what kind of car I´ve been talking about check out: http://www.mercedesmotoring.com
By day I’m a professor at a small college. My colleagues aspire to Prii and Subaru Foresters (two of which inhabit the tiny lot behind my building), but the less prosperous ones are content with “either” kind: Civic or Corolla.
One colleague bought a Chevy Volt with her Jeopardy! winnings.
I’m the outlier: ’79 Seville, ’64 Corvair, or my newest toy, just emerged from winter hibernation, the ’08 Solstice GXP.
I have repressed memories of getting stuck behind some of those dreadfully slow, smoky, smelly turds back in the day. Can’t stand them.
The ultimate professor’s car ?
Guys like these gentlemen were the typical W123-300D owners in their younger years.
(Photo courtesy Mark Pasveer)
Not in this country! Probably different now, but most farmers at that time wouldn’t have even considered a German car…
Cattle dealers (the men above), farmers, contractors and market vendors.
Those were the most loyal owners and buyers of W115-123-124 Diesels. With a trailer hitch.
There was nothing (really: nothing) else on the market back then that was as durable as those cars and had the same towing capacity. They used it for their profession and as a family car in the weekends. As such they were the counterpart of your pickup-trucks.
I used to have a farmer in a previous parish who had one of these, It seemed rather incongruous to me (typical Aussie sheep farmer in a Mercedes????), but he explained his parents wanted him to have a car that would last (after a few rather spectacular failures), so they’d bought it for him. It outlasted them and I think outlasted him too.
You could recognize the farmers’ and cattle dealers’ Mercedes. They seemed to come in some sort of factory mud-colored top coating.
Nowadays cattle trailers are mostly towed by all generations of Toyota Land Cruisers (90/120/150-series), Nissan Patrols and Mitsubishi Pajeros. Or a Mercedes-Benz ML 270-320 CDI. All these cars are ideal trailer towers.
Jeezo-Peezo ! .
When I was puling t*ts & shoveling sh*t (Milking Shorthorns) were were lucky to have a pickup truck without rusted out floors .
-Nate
Back in the early ’70s, when I was a student in Ann Arbor, the professors wives drove 250 and 280 SL’s. The ones with the pagoda top. I was on my motorcycle and got run off the road twice by the page boy, haircut wearing wives. I’d be doing the speed limit, AA cops loved to write student tickets, PW in the Benz would straddle the center line and haul past. I wasn’t expecting that, so I’m bailing off to the shoulder. One was the same beige on the rust bucket above, and the light yellow paint was the other one. Never had any issues with cars the 3 years I rode the bike. When I worked in Berkeley it was the same deal with the aggressive PW’s. By the 80’s, they couldn’t afford the Benz, so it was usually a Volvo that was getting in my face.
Traffic in south Michigan can’t be worse. Ann Arbor is relatively friendly comparing to the rest, especially the neighboring Ypsilanti.
I remember when i was a teenage boy i managed to drag off one of these 300D Mercs at the traffic lights in Auckland one morning on my way to school. My bicycle was only a sturmey archer 3 speed hub set-up, but by the time i flipped up in into second gear the Merc was already half a car length behind me . .
Sturmey-Archer FTW!
I still ride a 3-speed.
…mind you i was having to rev my legs pretty hard to do that (friction modifier in the hub and on the chain and tires rock hard for minimum rolling resistance)
…the Merc E55k AMG would be a different proposition ..those ones are quite ‘nippy’
I do believe that is the rustiest Benz I’ve ever seen.
In the Professors Parking lot at my college there would occasionally be found a Citroen DS Cabriolet: an early model like this one, only paler in color. One of maybe two DS droptops I’ve set eyes upon. (The other one may have been in Paris.) Never did find out which prof owned it, or which Department he/she was in. Quite possibly the ultimate “eccentric egghead” automobile.
I only had one professor that had a Mercedes that I know of. He had a 300E (back when MB were really expensive) and a successful civil engineering consulting business to pay for it. Civil engineers tend to be cheap bastards, I mean frugal, regardless of salary.
Wonder how much longer this Merc will be on the road until it literally falls apart? Would be interesting to take this car to a much more car friendly part of the country and see how much longer it lasts. Some Cornell University teachers drive fancy Germanic vehicles, but for many people a new Honda Accord is also a fashion statement.
My college head teacher actually drove a Mercedes. This was in the mid/late 80’s, and his car was a W114 Mercedes 230.6 in signal red, and he was mighty proud of it. He never drove it to school, as he lived just a block behind the school building. But I could see it every day as I rode my bike that way. He probavly bought it new, washed it every sunday. The Point Six was an intermediary designation after the -73 face lift, to distinguish the more luxurious six-cylinder W114 230 from the more plebian four-cylinder W115 230. I guess nobody would’ve been able to make the difference otherwise.
Professor here.
In my 25 yrs. as prof: LeCar, Civic, Wrangler …… ’08 Prius, with year-one Miata in the garage.
I fantasize having a modern version of a 300D. Straight-4 turbodiesel engine mated to a RWD transmission, wrapped in the W204 C-Class body (2008-2014). Simple mechanicals with not as much electronics for the critical stuff. Only this time around, a little more powerful, quieter and refined, and no vacuum lines of course.
I would imagine this car being built for those who are looking for a long-term investment, not something to dump after a three-year lease. I guess this fantasy of mine is somewhat real in the European market as M-B has offered and continues to offer a diesel C-Class, yet the US has never seen one.
The C-Class would be a great candidate for a diesel engine; not everyone wants a Volkswagen Jetta TDI nor does everyone want to spend $50k just to get a diesel-equipped E-Class. Because of its smaller size, I can see over 40-45 mpg highway or higher. I can also imagine it outlasting its gasoline-powered counterpart, just like the 300D has.
But..but, why.. would anyone, want a car slower than a bicycle??
My wife’s Aunt and Uncle had an ’85 300D. Bought it brand new, put 345,000 miles on it until late last year the transmission failed. The a/c broke a couple of years ago, but thats it. I’d say they got their money’s worth. Now they have a brand new Hyundai Sonata.
Nice find on that ’80!
This is interesting for me. I’m 17 and I just bought an ’84 300D Turbo for $600 as a first car because I know how reliable, safe, and unkillable these things are. Mine has a little rust above one of the rear fenders, about half a top coat, and it needs a little work mechanically, but after two months of ownership I am absolutely in love, although mine needs a couple glow plugs and didn’t start when the temperature got below 10 degrees F. There are two other W123s on the campus of the community college I’m taking classes at. One of them has a faculty parking sticker, the other is also a student. There are several of them around my town, so I’m in good company. My car is flawed but I smile every time I see it. I didn’t realize how classic it was until I owned it.
A good buy Alyx ;
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If you follow the cold start regimen *exactly* it’ll likely start for you .
DO NOT buy Champion nor Autolite glow plugs! (Pep Boys, Checkers/Autozone etc. TRASH) as they’ll fail quickly .
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Unless you have paid for or done it your self, the valves are surely out of adjustment, they get tight and hinder/prevent cold starting, the two special wrenches needed are $75 new, less used, need twice a year at bare minimum .
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Also : go to FLAPS and buy a bottle of : “DIESEL 911” and dump it in the tank, you’ll be glad you did .
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These fine cars are dead simple to maintain, ping me if you want connection to help full OnLine service group help .
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-Nate