Car Stuff: A Cluster of Benzes

I haven't done one of these in a while, because I didn't have any new material for one. Then I started seeing these various 1980s vintage Mercedes-Benz E-Class models around. Most of them were diesels, and they were built to last, so it's not surprising they're still running around.

This one was the first one I saw, a couple of months ago at the traffic lights at Wellington Circle. I thought this one was the brown that a lot of them were, but it looks more like burgundy.

I spotted this station wagon after I'd been working in Harvard Square just a few days. The black paint is a little less common, and it looks like it's had window tint added on as well. I don't remember if this one was in fact a diesel, but it probably was. Yeah, there's a little dent on top of the fender, but it's still a sweet ride.

These cars do need service sometimes, and this one sits in front of a garage on Washington Street in Somerville. I passed it on the bus a couple of times before thinking ahead enough to get a seat on the correct side to take a pic as the bus passed it. (Just this morning I saw a fourth one, on College Avenue in Somerville, but we passed it too quickly.)

These cars weren't status symbols like Mercedes-Benz cars are today; in fact, the diesel E-Class was sort of an anti-status symbol. It's true that they were more expensive than many comparable cars, but people bought them willingly at those higher prices, because they understood that they were making an investment in a car that would run for decades. These pictures are proof of their wisdom.

(I can't say with certainty that the second and third cars were in fact diesels, but they were more common than their gasoline-powered siblings.) Update, 8/23: I saw the black wagon again two days ago, parked in the same spot, and it's a turbodiesel!