Watch: Old Mercedes Wagon Goes 200 MPH in the Standing Mile

This old Barra straight-six-powered W123 defies physics in a top-speed run.

Mercedes w123 wagon sitting on a runway

Brian Silvestro

By: Brian Silvestro

Jul 7, 2024 at 12:00pm ET

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Old Mercedes wagons like the one you see here are iconic for a slew of reasons. They're good-looking, reliable, and practical. But they're not exactly known for straight-line speed, with most examples having underpowered (but stout) diesel engines from the factory. This one's got an extra cylinder and a big ol' turbocharger. And it can do 200 mph in the standing mile.

According to Engine Swap Depot, this old W123-generation Mercedes 300TD had its 3.0-liter diesel inline-five swapped out for a turbocharged 4.0-liter Ford Barra straight-six. The builders behind this creation, Finland-based Valtonen Motorsport, mated the new engine to an eight-speed automatic gearbox for maximum speed.

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The tuner shop published a short video to YouTube showing the car lay down a fat dyno pull, complete with flames shooting out of the exhaust. Horsepower is unknown—the video blurs the screen so we can't see the results. But judging by what happens later in the video, it's clear this car is making a ridiculous amount of power.

Following the dyno clip, we're shown the Mercedes blasting down a runway at Halli airport in southern Finland. Though there's no onboard footage, it's clear this thing is going very fast by the end of the run. Valtonen says they had some instability towards the end of the runway, but the parachute helped settle things in the braking zone. A parachute attached to a station wagon doesn't sound right, but here it works.

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