mercedes benz W123 TE - bruno sacco

Produced from 1976 to 1985, the W123 Mercedes Saloons, Coupes and Estates bridged the gap between the classic, and the modern Mercedes.

The model which has always been the range 'star' if you like is the CE; the coupe. A restrained, pillar-less design which was handsome yet fairly sober, ever by Mercedes Benz standards. The model that is now starting to make a comebackhowever, is the TE - transport und tourisik, the humble station wagon. Dismissed by many for years, canibalised for spares and worth a pittance, it is the new 'cool old Mercedes'.

Possibly because its the most practical incarnation of the model, or perhaps because it was, in many ways the very first of a now popular genre - the mid-sized 'prestige' estate. Today, high calibre estate cars from the likes of BMW, Volvo, Alfa Romeo and certainly MB are common, but in the seventies the concept of the station wagon was almost one of a more commercial or down-market application. A humdrum workhorse that was used and abused by the family! 

This made Bruno Sacco's W123 estate possibly the first upmarket, factory designed and built station wagon in Europe. Volvo had made factory estate versions of the Amazon, as had Triumph with the 2000 and 2500 but those by comparison, were not luxury cars.

The W123 TE changed the perception and began a new trend in luxury estates. Sacco's tidy lines were most successful on the TE, where there was the opportunity to offer more balance, and the long roof and extra glass lent a detailed look to the design. As a seventies design, it retains the high-street fashion look, the look of quality that the plastic-clad cars of the eighties lacked.

 And this is probably why today, the TE is becoming fashionable again. It is totally different from any other station wagon on the road, it is a  restrained machine, that speaks quietly of its owner. People can be found, kerb-side admiring W123 Mercedes again as they're shedding they're dowdy, bargain basement, used-car image and there is a pride driven by the most-produced Mercedes Benz of all time.

Find one soon, and use it.