Niki Lauda’s Mercedes estate
Registered to him for two years
Beautiful color combination
Extensively optioned
Barn find
This unassuming Mercedes was found parked in a barn on a farm in Lower Austria, somewhere in the middle of nowhere between St. Pölten and Vienna. Twenty-seven years and 260,000 kilometres have clearly left their mark. The fact that Mercedes bodywork of the period was not exactly blessed with the greatest longevity has done the rest, and others might have sent this estate to the scrapyard long ago. Its extensive specification, from automatic climate control and xenon headlights to a rain sensor, does little to change that. Nor does the combination of Emerald Black metallic outside and Mushroom inside – by now perhaps in the biological sense.
Were it not for a certain name listed as the first owner in the papers: Nikolaus Andreas Lauda, better known as Niki Lauda or Niki Nazionale, needs no introduction. Three-time Formula One World Champion as a driver, he would later serve Mercedes as an adviser on numerous occasions. In 1999, importer Pappas collected the car directly from the factory for Austria’s national hero. On 23 September 1999, Lauda registered the Mercedes at his home address in Vienna-Grinzing. On 9 August 2001, he deregistered it again. One of the mere three subsequent keepers was clearly no great master of automotive preservation.
Anyone already fearing the worst can be reassured! The Mercedes drives and brakes and steers. It simply looks a little worse for wear. Which, admittedly, it is. But none of that really matters, because what stands before us is the practical estate car of one of the greatest Austrians of all time.
So the question of whether it should be restored or scrapped simply does not arise. Even if this C-Class estate becomes the first of its kind to undergo a full restoration, which other one could possibly be more deserving?