230TE, 1985. Owner: Raymond Swayngim. San Diego, CA. USA
The history of the car is like this, I work for a Mercedes repair shop here in San Diego, It was our shuttle wagon, for customers and parts, we bought a new ML for that, so the owner was going to junk it!! I couldn't believe it, so I needed a car at the time because I was doing a head on my wife's BMW; he sold it to me for $500. The shop was the second owner, he told me that the people he got it from was a wealthy family here in San Diego, they went to Germany specifically for the car, he said that for some reason they wanted a gas model instead of a diesel, so they bought the 230TE which has the same engine as the 190E, but even with the weight of the chassis this car really runs a lot better than any 190 I have driven, I have put some work into it, but not much, the shop has done so much the car really needed nothing but tires.... front end pic: I think I hit a mud flap or something!
This wagon has a/c, manual sunroof, & cruise control. I don't think it had a radio initially, because it has the antenna in the front, wagons always had it in the rear. The funny thing is the front windows are factory power and the rears are manual (this is an option!), and it has the rare Heavy-Duty Rear Suspension option too.
Production Figures for a 1985 230TE: 6,340 units worldwide.
