A proper barn-find?
Image by Mathias Westermann from Pixabay
I recently sold my Kodiaq L&K SUV, and now I plan to replace it with a 31-year-old classic W124. It all started out as an obvious way to save money because my wife is not commuting while on parental leave and it did not make sense to have two expensive cars rusting away in the carport. We decided to try and get by with only one car. Before long, we realized that a 2nd car is indeed a very good idea when you’re living in the countryside. But it does not have to be anything fancy if you only need it a couple of times per month. I then remembered that my grandfathers very nice W124 has been collecting dust in a garage for at least a decade. Is this a proper barn find perhaps?
Tomorrow I shall go and look at it, and I am properly excited. It is not a race car by any means with its 111 hp six pot diesel. But anyone who knows their cars, know that the W124 is one of the all-time greatest cars ever made. The W124 is an infinitely serviceable package that will probably out-live my current Superb. This one, driven by my grandfather is a guarantee that most of the 30 000 kms on the odometer are very calm. And it has been resting in a warm garage, so chances are that it is in very good shape. But what really gets me excited is that this is a properly analog car. No fancy electronics that will break down, but still all the crucial comforts that you should expect from a modern car. And a stick-shifter. A proper manual. They are very hard to come by these days. Having driven hyper-effective DSG gearboxes for over a decade, I have all but forgotten the feeling of shifting gears. But I do know that I miss it.
If this car turns out to be in as great condition as I hope it to be, I will first make sure that all the mechanical parts are OK. There are many examples of these cars that has run insane mileages. But you never know with >30 year-old cars. I suspect that anything made of rubber will suffer from old age and there might be some necessary seal repairs in the near future. Then there’s some rust and dings of course. But this is the part I am looking forward to the most. To repair all the paint and bodywork issues and then take it to my favourite car detailing company and let them work their magic. They can bring out the new-car feeling in everything I have given them, but it’ll be very interesting to see what they can do with something that is now classed as a veteran car.
That’s right, at 30 years old you will never have to pay any taxes on the car again. And the insurance should also be very cheap for a car like this. And there will never be any finance costs on the car either. Combined, these factors make this an extremely interesting alternative if we won’t run into any complex mechanical issues, Inshallah. Then I will probably need to install a modern car stereo with Bluetooth. FM radio only is not my cup of tea. However, it does have the original Becker cassette player installed. Maybe I should see if I can find some old tapes in the garage? It is a very different way of listening to music. Could be a fun experience too actually. But I don’t think I will be able to resist the temptation of a proper audio upgrade further down the line.
Anyway, maybe it is madness to throw money on a project like this. But I don’t think so. My gut feeling tells me that a car like this will become a future classic that petrolheads will appreciate very much. It is one of the last truly analogue cars, made by MB when they overengineered the living daylights out of everything and quality was the primary focus, regardless of cost. This car is a true engineering masterpiece, and that is something that I have the utmost respect for. It will be a pleasure to restore this thing to its former glory.