The World’s Most Perfect 1979 Mercedes-Benz Wagon Was Preserved By An Earthquake

Gooding Christie’s is auctioning likely the world’s most perfect Mercedes-Benz 280 TE Station Wagon at Pebble Beach. With less than 3,800 miles on the clock, the car is practically unused, especially for a 1979 Mercedes-Benz. The factory original paint is gleaming, the interior is spotless, all of the chrome is in place and there isn’t a rust spot to be seen.

It’s unlikely that there is another Benz wagon like this anywhere in the world, and the price tag will probably reflect that. Usually, you can pick a decent or very fine S123 wagon for anything between ten grand and thirty, but this one will cost far more.

And just how does such a car come to be so well preserved, you ask? Why, an earthquake, of course.

Absolute Perfection

The W123 generation, built between late 1975 and early 1986, is from the brand’s golden era. These sedans, wagons and coupes are rightly considered some of the best Mercedes-Benz cars ever made. Sure, rust got to them, but these things go on to a million miles, even if W123/S123/C123 body cars with the biggest miles tend to be diesels.

The S123 wagon was also the first factory-built station wagon from Mercedes-Benz, as earlier longroof Benzes had been sedan or chassis based conversions from companies such as Binz, for ambulance or hearse purposes. It was offered in seven-seater spec, which is also the case with the car here: there’s a folding, rear-facing jump seat in the cargo area.

The 280 TE version has the coveted and sporty M110 twin cam gasoline engine, also seen in R107 SL convertibles of the time, as well as other high-end Mercedes-Benzes.

Eventually, the W123 generation was replaced by the more aerodynamic and less ornate, but still highly regarded W124 generation. Amusingly, the S123 wagon here is auctioned as “Lot 124”, not 123: Lot 123 is a Ferrari 250 GT. The Pebble Beach auction does have a couple of W124s, which are a 500E and an E500.

While it seems there are only extremely bare-bones or richly appointed 123s in existence, and nothing in between, this car belongs to the latter category. It has the fancy climate control unit instead of the usual rotary dials, automatic gearbox, Zebrano wood and part-MB-Tex, part-cloth upholstery, and it wears a tasteful Nickel Green paint instead of basic white or often-seen silver.

6088 Kilometers On The Clock

The car is unrestored. It’s been in this condition since new. It’s as if it never left the Mercedes-Benz factory, let alone a dealership. How is it possible? It’s all due to an earthquake.

The Mercedes-Benz was originally picked up from the factory in 1979 and driven all the way to its new home in Avellino, Italy, near Naples. The listing doesn’t mention why, but it was parked in the owner’s garage for the following year. And in 1980, an earthquake hit, and a resulting landslide sealed off access to the garage completely.

If the earthquake in question was the Irpinia quake that occurred on 23 November, 1980, it destroyed towns in the province of Avellano to such extent that some of them haven’t completely recovered even today. 80 percent of the town of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi was ruined. It’s no wonder that a complete garage with cars was entirely inaccessible under rubble and earth.

Since rebuilding the region has taken decades, it took until 2018 for the Mercedes wagon to be recovered from the garage, where it had been parked for almost 40 years. The car is said to have remained untouched and undamaged, as well as unregistered.

Scott Grundfor Company, a classic Mercedes-Benz specialist in Arroyo Grande, California, listed the car in April and included a photo of the car in its garage, still wearing the oval German temporary plates with which it was exported.

In the eight years since its return to daylight, the car has been shipped to America, where Scott Grundfor’s company has only needed to do basic maintenance tasks, with the approach to maintain the car’s unrestored look. A car is only really factory-original once, and this one certainly is.

A 280TE without any optional extras, such as air conditioning, cost some 34,000 DM new in Germany. That corresponds to around $57k in 2026, if all the inflation calculators are correct. Keep in mind Italian car taxation, which often meant that Italian car manufacturers had to develop special sub-two-liter engines to keep them in attractive tax brackets (think Ferrari 208 GTB instead of 308 GTB), and a 280 TE has probably cost a pretty penny new in Italy with its 2746cc engine.

While the Pebble Beach auction has no reserve price, the car is estimated to bring a neat $130-160,000 when the hammer comes down: imagine a Mercedes-Benz wagon being worth $100,000 more than it cost new. But that can happen, when it’s the nicest one around. And, weirdly, all thanks to a devastating earthquake.

Photos: Scott Grundfor Company/Gooding Christie’s