Number of cylinders: 4
Registration number: TX-362-F

Mercedes-Benz 200-Serie 230E, 1983. One owner, 157,197 km.

W123. For a lot of people, this is a car they associate with a Moroccan greengrocer's, a German taxi with two million on the clock, or an estate capable of relocating entire furniture showrooms in a single trip. And that's exactly the beauty of it: the W123 never had to shout for admiration. It simply did its job, decade after decade, with a kind of stoic dignity that a modern car loses after just three years, somewhere around the lease hand-back.

My grandfather didn't drive one, he was religiously devoted to Alfa Romeo, but my parents' neighbour did. A man who washed his 230E every Saturday morning as though it were a sacrament, with a chamois leather he'd apparently inherited from his own father. What I remember most is the sound of those doors. That heavy, muffled 'thunk', as if you were pulling shut the door of a bank vault. These days modern cars try to recreate that sound with speakers and software. Mercedes actually built it in back in 1983, out of steel and German stubbornness.

The story continues on our website, where the full file is kept as well. 77 photographs including the underside. The service history, scanned in full. Paint thickness measured panel by panel. The original factory brochure to page through. A timeline from 7 December 1983 to today, with every owner and the mileage year by year in a single graph.

Every car here follows the same route: first pre-market, then the showroom, and finally the online auction on our own website. What changes is the way you buy, not the location — once a car has arrived, it stays with us in Katwijk. This one is in the showroom and you are welcome to come and see it, no appointment needed. You buy it here at a fixed price: no bidding, no waiting. Our showroom in Katwijk, 30 km from Amsterdam Schiphol, is open Mon–Fri 9–18 and Sat 10–17. Call ahead and it will be standing ready, with someone free for you.

Within the EU no customs duty arises on this purchase. Registration tax and registration costs in your own country are not included. We supply the export documents and assist with the registration. The price shown is the full price for collection in Katwijk. We arrange insured door-to-door transport worldwide, cost quoted per destination beforehand.

Prefer a different colour or specification than this example? Tell us what you are looking for — another Mercedes-Benz we can often find through our network of marque specialists and collectors, outside the listings. Have one of your own: we buy exceptional cars outright, classic or modern.

Our showroom measures 6,000 m², with over 150 cars under one roof. You are just as welcome if you are not buying — walk around, take your time and enjoy the cars; sharing the enthusiasm is half of it.