Junkyard Find: 1973 Mercedes-Benz 280C
There’s a lot of talk going around about how every restorable example of the Mercedes-Benz W114 coupe is worth plenty these days. Five grand? Ten grand? The junkyard tells me that the real-world prices for these cars in non-perfect condition is still quite low, because I see them regularly. Here’s a solid, fairly complete ’73 without a speck of rust that I saw in a Northern California junkyard a few weeks ago, and this car comes on the heels of this ’71 250C, this ’73 280CE, this ’74 280C, and a bunch of W114 sedans that I haven’t even bothered to photograph. I’m sure that the cost to restore one of these things is just breathtaking, which is why those in the know rarely take on such projects.
In their time, these cars made just about every conceivable competitor look like a shoddily-built, frivolous rattletrap, built for idiots who didn’t understand the value of a Deutsche Mark.
How’s this for dignified air-conditioning controls?
This car listed at $11,530 new, which was about 61 grand in 2015 bucks. Meanwhile, the much bigger, cushier, more powerful 1973 Lincoln Mark IV cost just $8,694 (just for fun, how about a brand-new Citroën SM— about the least sensible car you could buy in 1973, yet also the most beautiful— for $13,350?), while the Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado— with five hundred cubic inches under the hood, no less— could be purchased for $7,360.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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I drove a 73 280 sedan daily for two or three years not long ago. Averaged about 13mpg. Solex 4v we were cursed with in the US in an abomination, but otherwise it was an outstanding car. Tank like or vault like only scratches the surface. It was amazing how well that car handled and braked for a stock, original, 1973 sedan. Better than the later w123's I've owned in a lot of ways. I'm a fan of domestic cars of that era and they had nothing on many aspects of the w114. That car got looks and thumbs up everywhere. The M110 dual cam six was a sweet motor even if it was an odd match for a sedate four door sedan, one could manually shift with the awesome gated shifter and move along pretty quickly. Interstate speed cruising was a little noisy with the gearing but that motor was perfectly content to rev, and it was rock solid, especially in the rain with the skinny tires. I think my two favorite things were the outer mounted wipers that swept rain into the water channels and magically disappeared off the rear of the car somewhere without impeding the side or rear window visibility. That and the little round turn knob for the opening quarter windows in the front doors which felt like as precise a machine as has ever been made by man. Plenty of old Mercedes quirks, the weird hvac as was mentioned (but was plenty functional), the 73 had an add-on shoulder belt of sorts but it worked. Funky springy seats that you'll either be ok with or not (assuming they aren't worn out). It was the first "modern" Mercedes in a lot of ways, and the last of the old school vintage looking models. I miss that car a lot and I'm afraid it will likely catch on and become expensive before I can buy another one. Every time I get another Mercedes I find myself asking "why the hell have I not been driving a Mercedes all this time?". I buy other cars, I enjoy them, but Mercedes back in the day was a breed apart. There are some interesting advertisements videos on youtube of Germans thrashing them offroad for some reason if you go look.
CC Effect ~ recently I've been making many parts runs to the local O'Reilly's FLAPS and often is an old W-114 four door sedan with many ripples in the body but the old guy who owns it , keep the re spray highly polished . The interior is always clean and tidy . I think he's a local curb side Mechanic . -Nate