Mercedes Benz cars have an aura of indestructibility about them, especially the older, heavier models. With proper care, their engines will keep going and going, until one day you get tired of driving the car. Then you can sell it, or, in some cases, retire it to a barn. Now, we are not sure how these “barn finds” are actually discovered, but we imagine some guy (who in our minds wears a cheap suit) driving around the country, stopping in at remote farms, then asking if it just so happens they have a car parked in the barn.
Something like this:
Car treasure hunter: “Hello, ma’am, I notice you have a lovely barn over there.”
Farmer’s wife: “What are you selling, fella?”
Car treasure hunter: “Nothing, ma’am, just canvassing the farms in the area for old cars left in barns.”
Farmer’s wife: “That’s a bit odd, isn’t it?”
Car treasure hunter: “You’d be surprised how many cars are found this way.”
Farmer’s wife: “Do you want some lemonade?”
Car treasure hunter: “No, ma’am, thank you kindly. Do you mind if I have a peek inside your barn?”
Farmer’s wife (defensively): “There are only chickens in there, now get off my property! I am counting to ten, then getting my shotgun!”
Or something like that. But occasionally, honest-to-God barn-finds are, well, found, and sometimes they end up on eBay.
Today’s listing is one of those rare Mercedes barn-finds, this one a Vintage 1960 Mercedes 190D diesel Stationwagon ‘Karosserie’:
1961 Mercedes 190 Sedan Grille
This is a very unusual model car, in that the front of the car looks like a regular (and more common) Mercedes 190 sedan (pictured to the right) but the body of the car is that of a station wagon. This specialized enhancement was somewhat common back then, and done, for the most part, by Binz Karosserie (Coachbuilders).
But back to this true barn find. The seller relates the story:
“This rather rare vintage 1960 Mercedes Benz 190D diesel station wagon is a literal barn find. I had to help the owner remove about 4 inches of dirt that from in front of the old barn doors to get them open so we could pull the car out! Here is the story of this car: In 1960 James Battle, Captain USMC brought this car back to Idaho with him from Germany where he had special ordered the car while in military service in Germany.
Mercedes did not build thier own station wagon for the 190 series cars back in those days, but had Binz Karosserie build the wagon part of the car for them, it has serial number 1569 from that company. In 1966 the 2nd owner bought the car, and drove it until 1977 when it was last licensed. His wife died that year, and for sentimental reasons he then put the car into the dairy milking parlor barn on the family farm where it has sat until yesterday when I bought the car from him.”
The seller goes on to say the car has some surface rust, but no deep-seated “cancer rust.” And it looks to be in pretty good shape, a worthwhile project for someone who loves the challenge. Of course, you could also use the car for parts, but it seems a shame to take this one apart, as it has such an interesting story and pedigree.
Good luck on the bidding!
Related links:
I really love this old school car. It is great car for rebuild, but only problem for me would be low performace 1.9 diesel engine.
@Michael
Greetings Michael! Actually, you can boost that little 4 banger!
Best,
Tito
Low perf. for sure may not have a turbo .
“Old school car” were they using it to haul kids to school ?
I came home to Portland, OR. from Nam in 69. I test drove and almost bought a 59 190D. It wasn’t a race but had a four speed trans that shifted from the column. That was my selling point, problem was, $1900 was a little steep for me then.
Great story i think it’s great we have people tresspassing on other peoples property ,stealing from older folks that aren’t aware of something’s value ! Definetly an american source of pride !
Why would you be worried about the power of the diesel or even think about modifying it? Are you crazy? The fact that the engine is a diesel gives it a good chance of actually running again, when it does with the ORIGINAL engine it will be worth far more than if you stick some 4 banger gasoline engine in it or attempt to modify a perfectly serviceable existing engine. Not a lot of horsepower, but LOTS of torque which is what you need to move a heavy car like this, and no matter what you put in there it’s an extremely heavy vehicle.
Salt- sounds worse than it is. Normally peoples kids or family just junk the car or if there are no relations the government takes it and junks it. At least in this case people with unused unwanted vehicles pass it to someone who wants the thing and makes a little money in the process.
@ salt
Give it a rest. Nobody trespassed, the car was bought from the owner, it’s been stored for 34 years and needs a lot of work to bring it back to showroom.
Grow up.
@ Hmmmmm
I agree with salt-
as ye sew so shall ye reap…
@ Salt
I see people like you all the time complaining on the “American Pickers” TV show. If the seller is not aware of the value, then that is their fault, they should have done their homework. If they ask a low price just because they see the item as junk and want it gone, that is also their fault. It’s not the buyer’s duty to tell them what they have. Salt, like your name, you’re just bitter about people that actually leave their house and find these cool deals, and not sit on the Internet all day and type out insults.
I’m a cab driver in S.F. and I think it would make a great taxi. But keep it original,just paint it and add a dome light
To: Salt.
Actually don’t think of it as people robbing the elderly, I see it as passing on things from their era to ours, almost like a right of passage.
I bought an old celebrity one time, not a classic like this but older non the less. The woman wouldn’t take anymore than 300 the car was well worth 1,000 but she just kept sayin its too good of a car to charge ya that much …
I didn’t quite get what she was sayin, heck I thought she was crazy , until i finally found out what she meant. I drove that car for 7 years and when I was done, I had it repainted and stuck over a thousand into it performance wise and I sold it for $300 just like that old woman did for me.
Money isn’t everything.
@Kamb – nice story, I couldn’t agree with you more.
nh3 boosts past 5000 hp. good?
I like the car and I don’t have a problem with how it was discovered. I wish I had found it.
I would like to find out how I can get eBay Stories to do an article about my rare photographs of the last major gathering of the Beat poets and novelists in Boulder, Colo., in 1982. Unpublished group shot of Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, John Clellon Holmes, Lawrence Ferlenghetti, Abbie Hoffman, Gregory Corso and many others.
guitarlance2094
What a charmer (the car), and so much character… who would not love this wonderful auto for town ‘n country spins? I think it would be an absolutely outstanding taxi too!!
@Lance: We’ll be in touch and see if there is a story there. Thanks!
Amazing story. I am an avid car buff and grew up in my Fathers auto resto business which I carried on the past 35 plus years. Sadly I have seen far to many of our classics go to the scrap yard that end up converted into today’s no class so called vehicles. These vintage master pieces had class, quality, and personality that very few if any offer today other than the modern spin offs of yesterdays muscle cars like the challenger, camaro, ect. I recently witnessed an all original 1956 Caddy Deville, with every factory option including the continental kit being scrapped at a local scrap yard. The old lady received a whopping $475,00 for it. it was complete and very restorable and would have brought well over $5K any day of the week. I personally tried to talk the scrap yard into selling it to me but the refused stating policy. I watch as they took a grapple and lifted it by the roof and dropped it in a heap of scrap. I still kringe when I think of it. This is a big part of our heritage and when they are gone they are GONE! I applaud anyone who goes out of their way to save and or preserve our classics of days gone by and if they make a buck doing so good for them. People that have the mind set of salt would never understand that. Best Regards, Combsey
Well, its gonna still be good, but what is the speedometer reading?
@Haruna: The odometer reads 126,009, according to the seller.
I love this car! I always wanted Jill Taylor’s (Home Improvement t.v. sitcom) old Nomad, but this would be awesome as well. It would make a better grocery grabber than a mini-van!
I had a 190D sedan, and it lacked for HP. It would do only about 70 on the straightaway, but it was a great town car. The engine vibrated mercilessly at idle, so attaching an air-conditioner was out of the question. Tried twice. Also, the valves had to be adjusted every fall, or else it wouldn’t start on the first cold day, just blow diesel oil straight out the exhaust. The lifters worked themselves tight, and when things got frigid, the exhaust valves wouldn’t close … no compression=no bang.
Wow… Some good stories there.
What “Great Story” to be found! Just think… She could still be in that old cold barn, waiting for her price charming to bring her back into the light of the world and get to once again drive down the highway with wind in her face and giggling children inside!
Bravo.
*Don’t listen to “Salt”… HE is just jealous. Very rarely any money is “made” in the end.
I own a 66′ VW 13 window DLX Bus. I only paid, $1,000 over ten years ago. by the time I’m done finding all of the parts to restore her and the metal, body work, paint and interior re-do and all of the parts to rebuild the mechanics, it will be 27K invested. Yeah, she might have a little more street value, but I’d never sell, just hope my son or some else will keep her on the road with the wind in her face too.
Cheers, ZZZ
We had two identical 220D’s (Diesels)…..we called them Sadie and Ben…..they ran for years and years but their bodies rusted thru; NOT the engines, though! I cringe when I watch the news from any war zones: I am afraid I will see them being shot at! The neighbors thought “Sadie” and “Ben” were the names of our kids’ grandparents, until I told them it was the cars’ names! Yes, those cars go on and on…..too bad the improvements in metals and paint jobs that are in use now could have been used back then: they’d still be on the road! The one we brought our first child home from the hospital took her to college! Mercedes, if taken care of, can be the Cheapest Car on the Road! Good Luck with the restoration of the station wagon! What a Keeper! C
They left out the part that the owner was a USMC WW-2 Hero Vet just a small issue !
My older brother bought one of the 1.9L diesel sedans back in 1976. I had a big Block Chevelle with modifications to the motor with a four speed transmission and 4.88 geared rear end that was a screaming hot rod. He said to me,” Seriously,You should take the Benz for a drive man, its the slowest car you will ever drive !!” IT WAS !!! What a piece of junk that was put onto or USA roads. I was embarrassed to be seen in it and he sold it soon after that thankfully. I still drive USA muscle cars and whenever I see one of these piece of junks I pity the owner. A friend from England summed it up best when he was here looking for USA muscle cars to buy and ship back to England. He said to me, “I don’t understand why people in the USA think so highly of the Mercedes Benz automobile, Mercedes are taxi cabs in England you know !!” I will never understand why someone would think they are cool either.
There are people who take advantage of older people on buying older cars. Especially the classic ones. I know. This guy kept bugging and bugging me about buying an old classic I had and I kept saying no. Then I got laid off at work and he came around and started bugging me again and I gave in and sold it to him for practically peanuts he said it wasn’t worth anymore than what he gave me. It needed some work because it had been sitting for a few years but not that much. He acted like he was doing me a favor by giving me what he did for the car. Since I was laid off work and at that time didn’t expect to be called back anytime soon I went ahead and sold it to him. I cried after he took the car away. And then cried a lot more about a week later when by my surprise I got called back to work. Now an old rust bucket and I do mean an old rust bucket on the internet sells for more than 100 times what the guy gave me for my old classic. That car was my pride and joy when I was driving it. There are people out there buying cars tht are just out to make money and take advantage of people to do it.
In Mainz Germany 1973 . Went to junk yard on base.
180 gas power . Vibrated way to much. Bought the car for
50.00 bucks. Then went to Mercedes factory down the street.
Replaced the right front motor mount gromet, that was worn out
after that, ran like a new car. Cleaned it up, new Mercedes black paint
brought it home show room . Sold it in 85 . I wish not.
The sale produced 5000.00. What a chick mag. Even back then.
I had a 66 gto in mint condition. a man brought his soon around at least once a week and begged me to sell him the car. I finally did for what he said was and exobitant price.
He immediately sent it to japan and made more than 3 times what he paid me for it. and still brags about how he took advantage of me. I am an honest person and would never lie or mis represent in order to make money. I hope they sleep well.
I HAD A 61 190D THAT I PURCHASED IN 1967 FOR 900.00,WHAT A GREAT CAR WITH ITS CANVAS SUNROOF AND PERFECT PAINT,I DROVE IT TO 170,000 MILES AND REBUILT THE ENGINE MYSELF,THEN DROVE IT FOR ANOTHER 150,000,MILES AND LATER SOLD IT AS AN ANTIQUE FOR 3200.00 ,POWER WAS NOT TOO BAD,IT WAS THE 180D,S THAT WERE THE REAL DOGS,DON
I love old classic cars whatever they are American, European, whatever…
But you cant go around complaining about people buying cars from older people and saying they are being taken advantage of.. It’s your own responsibility to educate yourself about everything, even the worth of a ‘Junker”! especially if your selling it or buying it!
I would love to find a classic like that!!!
I agree with Salt 100% It is one of those things, What would jesus do? I have a similar story involving a collectable card game called Magic the Gathering. I was on a business trip and I see two men playing the game. I am well versed on the value of the cards and notice the two have an array of power 9 cards and beta dual lands. Right in front of me several thousand dollars was on the table. The two were playing without protecting sleeves how most played back in the day before anyone knew the cards were going to hold value. I could have very easily offered the guys probably $100 dollars for the cards and likely had gotten them. Rather than rip the individuals off because basically that is what you did with the car here. I exclaimed you guys should play those with sleeves I confirmed they had no clue the value of the cards. I told them to look up the values on ebay and they may look to auction them because many of the cards printed in 1993 are worth a ton of money now.
I guess this is an ethics call here, but bottom line do you think if you went back to the old people and said hey I sold your car I bought from you for several thousand more than I paid you they would be happy to hear you ripped them off?? I would have to bet not.
@stupid:
Sounds like the name fits…How did this guy take advantage of you?? You didn’t have to say ‘Yes’, did you? Didn’t you take his money?? Did he force you to take his money??
Some people have a lot of nerve making a decision and then playing the victim and whining about it. Go sign up for FB, it would be the perfect venue for your complaining!
in 1972, my husband bought a 1972 450 SEL Mercedes Benz – first one to be sold in our
city – Lafayette, Louisiana – it was beautiful – he had always dreamed of owning one and
at that time, paid $11,000 for it – everyone thought he was out of his mind – he absolutely
loved that car and drove it until 2004 – at that time he became ill and it was sold – I
think he felt he was giving away one of his children – I only hope the person who has it
now gets as much pleasure out of it as he did – I think he had over 400,000 miles -
I live in Idaho and I’m not surprised to hear about this. When I was a kid I found a ’52 XK 120 in a barn, I didn’t have any money then (or now) so I wonder if it’s still there.
turn it into a bio diesel