1987 Mercedes-Benz 200TE – Auction Car of the Week

There’s a lot to be said for a usable classic. Yes, it’s fun to get swept up in the romance of two-seats with no roof, or with big V8 GT cars with impossibly long bonnets, but they’re not very… practical, are they? You can’t move a wardrobe with an E Type. We’re not suggesting you move a wardrobe with this utterly stunning 1987 Mercedes-Benz 200TE, either. But it would nice to know that, push come to shove, or in order to win a bet, that it could. Right? Plus, when it comes to applying logic to buying your classic, you can soothe your brain with the rationale that this car is useful, it’s practical, you can drive it every day. By being practical, this 200TE is all the more appealing than a classic fit for only high days and holidays.

Okay, we’ll stop with the logic. There is no logic to buying a classic car. A classic car is never a thing you need, but it is always a thing you want. You know how it goes. You’ll be having an idle look and then it’ll hit you, the classic car you didn’t know you needed. That’s what happened with this 200TE, and that’s why we have chosen it as our Auction Car of the Week. It a glorious survivor that seems to be in credible condition throughout, it’s done a paltry 65,000 miles and it’s one of those classics that still looks good today. It’s got a timeless, and for a Mercedes, ironically classless look. This car would look at home in the car park of B&Q, and it would look just as at home parked up in Chelsea.

The W124 was one of those cars that Mercedes-Benz truly went to town on. Many would even go as far as to say it was over-engineered, but that’s not a bad thing. Up until last year, we had a 1989 230E on the fleet. Over the course of its life, it had a million different owners, it wasn’t looked after all that well by previous keepers and it had 204,000 miles on the clock. Yet, after a damn good service and some new brakes and tyres, it still felt tight and solid. How solid? It’s currently heading back from France after a several thousand mile road trip with the current owner. And that’s a rough one. Imagine how much life this 200TE has left in it. By comparison to most out there, this is a new car.

This 1987 200TE has had just three owners, it has been regularly serviced and it has been cared for incredibly well. The gloss red body shows no rust nor any dents, the underside is solid with no rust or rot and the MOT history is also just as clean. No, seriously, this car hasn’t had an MOT advisory for ten years. When it did have advisories in 2010, they were for a bulb and the ABS light. That’s it. There are stacks of paperwork, the interior is near mint with no wear and no damage. Even the boot, with the pop-up row of rearward-facing seats is like new. It still has the factory Becker stereo.

You will not find another car like this, ever. This is the ultimate survivor. A car that will only go up in value, that’s for sure. Okay, so it’s the 2.0 four-cylinder petrol with the less popular five-speed manual transmission. But this isn’t meant to be a hot rod. The 2.0 will pull it along admirably. And when it does, you will be the first thing everybody looks at. This 200TE serves to prove that classic cars don’t need to be sans roof and dripping with chrome. They can be more humble, too. And if they’re as near perfect as this 200TE, they are every bit as deserving of the title ‘classic’ as that E Type.