What: 1990 Mercedes-Benz E300 Color: Surf Blue a.k.a. Deep Blue (surfblau; non-metallic; 900; Mercedes-Benz) Chassis #: Unknown Mileage: 52,000 km, 32,311 miles Price: €43,000 CarFax: N/A Window Sticker: N/A Location: Lestizza, Italy Private Seller Listing:Link
Why We Love It:
Log this car in as under the tasteful and rare factory specifications column, and maybe something you only would find in a market like Italy. Yes, it appears to be an order guide specification, but its combination an exercise in extravagance more akin to a passionate Italian than a logical German.
The car in question is a 1990, a C124 (a.k.a. coupe-version of the W124 E Class). While its 3-liter V6 engine wasn’t the V8 of its era, it was still an extravagance in markets like Italy that love to tax displacement. Also, the V6 still came with a manual as did this car, making it exceedingly rare in Mercedes-Benz circles where automatics were even ubiquitous during this era.
While the ad doesn’t confirm it, we believe this car was painted Surf Blue (a.k.a. Deep Blue) that was offered in that model year. While that medium blue hue isn’t quite as eye-catching as some other cars in the palette, it’s handsome and bold in context of what was offered. Now throw in red leather and it bestows the car with the flair you’d expect from a wealthy Italian buyer.
This car isn’t an AMG, nor is it the era darling that was the Porsche-developed 500 E. In as much, it’s more obscure. However, for a Mercedes collector or someone seeking something truly unique, we think it qualifies.
This is one of our Euro market finds, so the usual caveats apply for our primarily North American readership. For Europe and other markets, we focus on cars older than 25 years, meaning a relatively easy import into the USA. This is often done by working with firms such as our friends at Orchid Euro, you can have the car purchased, transported to port, shipped to America and cleared through customs for clients seeking this sort of service.
What: 1978 Mercedes-Benz 280 CE Coupe Color: Cypress Green (zypressengrün; metallic UNI; 876; Mercedes-Benz) Chassis Number: N/A Mileage: 222,000 km, 137,944 miles Price at Time of this Writing: €18,990 CarFax: N/A Window Sticker: N/A Location: Autozentrum Frankenthal, Frankenthal, Germany Dealer listing:Link
Why we love it:
Nowadays, the W123-generation Mercedes Benz 280 CE is a pretty rare thing. Built in a day when nomenclature and badging actually stood for something, the 280 CE is an E-class Coupe (a.k.a. “CE”) with a 2.8-liter V6 (i.e. 280).
This one is Cypress Green metallic, making it a rare spec but neither a custom build from the factory nor a special limited edition factory model. Hawk-eyed viewers of our “tailored driver” qualification rules may call foul here as a result, but we’re also keen on occasionally listing the very tasteful and/or very rare specifications that may have been off the factory standard option list, but are nevertheless still both rare and sought-after. We think this car qualifies.
In the tailored car collector space, sometimes points are also deducted for modifications. Here again, we tend to give leeway for modifications from iconic aftermarket brands that are period correct. In this case, that includes wheels from longtime Mercedes tuning house Lorinser, a wooden steering wheel from Raid and color-matched bumper covers / body kit from 80s European car accessories house Zender. While these changes may boot this car out of a hallowed space at a Mercedes-Benz factory museum, we suspect they’d definitely earn you street credit at the local cars and coffee.
This is one of our Euro market finds, so the usual caveats apply for our primarily North American readership. For Europe and other markets, we focus on cars older than 25 years, meaning a relatively easy import into the USA. This is often done by working with firms such as our friends at Orchid Euro, you can have the car purchased, transported to port, shipped to America and cleared through customs for clients seeking this sort of service.
What: 1999 Mercedes-Benz E 55 AMG Station Wagon Color: Unknown Green or Blue VIN: N/A Mileage: 199,999 km (24,273 miles) Price at Time of this Writing: € 19,900 CarFax: N/A Window Sticker: N/A Location: Rüsselsheim-Königstädten, Germany Dealer listing:Link
Why we love it:
Hear us out. Yes, we know the E 55 AMG Station Wagon was sold in the United States. They’re exceedingly rare, especially in solid survivor condition, but they were sold here. Still, anyone who loves these cars or is seeking a unique long roof may find this one worth going through the extra effort of importation. That it’s old enough for easy import is one obvious reason, but more so is the unique build specification this car got from the factory. This sort of specification would have been extremely difficult if not impossible for anyone in North America to order, so it’s worth noting… even if it does have a dash of turn-of-the-century Y2K kitsch in the color choices.
Regarding the color, it’s a bit of a puzzle. It’s listed as “green” and 027 Designo-LCP paintwork, then later in the thorough option code listing we see Z98 PAINT FINISHES OUTSIDE THE SAMPLE CARD. So, we know it’s special paint, but we don’t know what color as “027” is effectively ambulance white in the lexicon of Mercedes-Benz color codes.
Looking over the photos, the color almost appears to be a predominantly blue metallic that fades to green from certain angles or in certain lighting conditions. So, we’re not even sure if it’s blue or green. Maybe it’s both.
Inside, the car has a period “Avantgarde” interior package, which is typically two-tone leather with segments of the seats in some more bold color. In this case, that color is green that would have been popular in the late 1990s when this car was produced. It’s not a timeless shade of green, but it definitely puts you in the period and plays on the theme.
We’re going to go ahead and list the listing description and options (translated to English with Google Translate) for reference here. We found them all in the car’s listing over on AutoScout24.
LISTING TRANSLATION BELOW:
Beautiful E55T AMG in LCP from 2nd hand with no maintenance backlog Vehicle from 2nd hand 23 years in one hand Service booklet available AMG rims in several parts in 18″ Inspection with engine mount recently new Summer tires in 5/2024 new Non-smoker Very well-maintained vehicle Sale on behalf of customer Original equipment codes according to MB query Sales name E 55 T AMG AMG order number 0822300604 Delivery date14.12.1998 Paint number027 (Invalid designo-LCP paint) Interior 581 (Exclusive leather – black/anthracite) Engine 11398060006397 Transmission 72263601237265 213 PARAMETER STEERING / VARIO STEERING 214 ADAPTIVE DAMPING SYSTEM 220 REAR PARKING ASSIST 231 GARAGE DOOR OPENER 242 RIGHT DRIVER’S SEAT ELECTRICALLY ADJUSTABLE WITH MEMORY 249 INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR MIRROR AUTOMATICALLY DIMMING 260 TYPE PLATE ON REAR LID REMOVED 275 MEMORY PACKAGE (DRIVER’S SEAT, STEERING COLUMN AND MIRROR) 312 SUN BLIND IN THE CARGO AREA (PARTITION GRID) 345 RAIN SENSOR 351 ECALL EMERGENCY CALL SYSTEM 363 ECALL CONVERSION TO NATIONAL EMERGENCY CALL 414 ELECTRIC GLASS SUNROOF 423 AUTOMATIC 5-SPEED GEARBOX 472 PETROL PARTICULATE FILTER (OPF) WITHOUT SENSORS 500 ELECTRICALLY FOLDABLE EXTERIOR MIRROR 543 SUN VISOR WITH ADDITIONAL FUNCTION 551 BASIC BURGLAR AND THEFT ALARM SYSTEM (EDW) 570 ARMREST WITH COMPARTMENT AND REAR COMPARTMENT VENTILATION 581 AUTOMATIC AIR CONDITIONING 581 EXCLUSIVE LEATHER – BLACK/ANTHRACITE 600 HEADLIGHT CLEANING SYSTEM 611 SURROUND LIGHTING 612 XENON HEADLIGHT LIGHT UNIT 673 BATTERY WITH LARGER CAPACITY 682 FIRE EXTINGUISHER 772 AMG STYLING – FRONT SPOILER, SIDE SKIRTS 774 AMG 5-SPOKE WHEELS 18″ ALL AROUND 810 SOUND SYSTEM PREMIUM 815 SINGLE DVD DRIVE 819 SOUND2LIGHT 873 HEATED SEATS FOR DRIVER AND PASSENGER 882 SENSORS AND SIREN BURGLAR AND THEFT ALARM SYSTEM 910 ALTERNATOR WITH LARGER CAPACITY 954 EQUIPMENT LINE/PACKAGE – AVANTGARDE 988 INVALID (VEHICLE REGISTRATION AND COC PAPER AND TYPE PLATE) Z51 BUSINESS CONSOLE WITH SOCKET Z98 PAINT FINISHES OUTSIDE THE SAMPLE CARD
