Over the pond and into... a Dallas junkyard.

Today, bringing a fairly new car in from Europe or Asia to the United States is virtually impossible. No, it's not impossible; you can bring a Porsche 959 in, but you'd better have pockets as deep as Jerry Seinfeld's. Realistically, a European model of a standard car, like a Mercedes-Benz E220 CDI or a BMW 330d, is not going to be legally imported to the United States for on-road use unless you're a diplomat or are willing to buy several cars for the government to crash and sniff tailpipes.

But it wasn't always so. Once upon a time, it was so common to import a specific model from Europe that we had a term for it: Gray Market. Yes, that term still exists today, but we don't use it for newer cars in the United States. A huge industry in the past, importing European models of common cars is now a mere relic of the past.


So why did people once want European models? Often, it was because they were cheaper than the ones distributed officially through the dealer network. You could scrimp on luxury options and have the same basic goodness in a less expensive package. Rather than getting leather or MB Tex seats, you'd end up with plaid cloth; electric motors went out the window to be replaced by manual cranks; air conditioning, a "must have" for U.S. consumers wasn't so necessary to Europeans. Lots of little differences.


Sometimes it was for performance. Less stringent European emissions standards in the '70s and '80s meant that simpler, more reliable powertrain options were available on the cars U.S. buyers wanted. Instead of suffering through complex fuel injection systems, expensive catalytic converters and seemingly dangerous reactors.


And, maybe, some buyers just wanted something a little more exotic. A slightly different badge on the back, less aggressive bumpers, unique color combinations, and the like.

Regardless, all Gray Market cars came over for a reason and it seems that most were just used as daily transportation, just like the U.S. cars. No doubt all of the cars pictured - Mercedes W123s found in a Dallas area junkyard - each have their own interesting story. Too bad they'll never be back on the road.


Do you have a good Gray Market car story? Please share in the comments section below.

21 window.

A friend of mine has this 1961 Volkswagen Bus sitting in his garage. It's a 21 window model which is quite valuable today. It's seen better days-- it doesn't have an interior, doesn't have an engine, has some body issues and some broken glass but it's a perfect candidate for a restoration.

Spider and bees.

The last registration on the plate of this 1981 Alfa Romeo Spider dates back to 1994. "I don't know much about it.. it ran once", according to the owner. The car was parked because it needed a clutch and it was never started up again. It's sat outside since and it's deteriorated to the point where it's a parts car at best. Interior is trashed, top is trashed and the body is breathtakingly rusty. Drivetrain is intact but it would obviously need some work to run again. The trunk is home to no less than half a dozen bee nests (which by now have most likely died a very cold death.) 1981 is generally considered as a year to avoid for Spiders and this car isn't worth restoring. I considered buying it to put the drivetrain in my GTV but I passed on it. It'll likely end up being sold for scrap metal.

Road test: 1979 Mercedes-Benz 300D.

The W123 300D has long had a reputation for longevity and operating economy. This particular example, a 1979 300D, displays 194,000 miles on the odometer. It is common to find these cars with an unfaithful or completely dead odometer but this one seems to be fairly accurate. The body shows some rust behind the front wheels, a common place for rust to start; replacement fenders are available (though by no means cheap). Another common place for rust is behind the rear wheels and in the jack points. Plugs for the jack points are available and will go a long way in preventing road salt and other debris from entering the points.

The 'thump!' of the door closing gives you an idea of just how solid this car is. The seats in this car are upholstered with MBTex and are quite comfortable but not as smooth as standard leather would be. The trade-off to that is that after nearly 200,000 miles, these seats don't have a single tear in them. European-market cars that have meandered to this side of the Atlantic often have cloth or velour interiors which are sought after if in good condition. The interior in this 1979 has held up very well over the last twenty eight years: the original Becker stereo works, the cruise control works, all the windows and the sunroof work, all the interior lights work, the carpet and the floormats aren't faded, the wood trim isn't faded or cracked but it needs to be reglued in some places, most notably the glovebox door. The dash does have some cracks (a common w123 issue) but they're not bad and the aftermarket dashpad covers them nicely, albeit not very discretely. The backseat is roomy and comfortable to ride in. The gas gauge works at its discretion.

Turn the key to 'on' and wait for the orange glowplug light to come off. A moment of silence for Rudolf Diesel, as it's been called. The car can be started as soon as the light comes off. The 1979 still uses the old loop-style glowplugs which take longer to fully warm than the later pencil-style glowplugs. Retrofitting pencil plugs to earlier w123s is easily doable.

Once the car has started there is a little knob below the instrument cluster that lets you adjust the idle, an appreciated feature that is absent on later w123s. You adjust it higher for colder weather and gradually lower it as the car warms up.

This five-cylinder oil burner transmits power to the rear wheels via a four-speed automatic, the only transmission availble in US-market w123 300Ds. European markets got four and five speed manuals - if you are looking at a manual 300D it is either a conversion (an OM617 engine in a 240D or 240D manual transmission in a 300D) or a gray-market car. As with other Mercedes' of this vintage the gear shifts are rather crisp. The transmission is sensitive to input and you have to learn to feather the pedal through shifts to get it to shift smoothly. The transmissions in these cars can start to wear out after about 200,000 miles and can slip or flare. The relatively easy task of changing the transmission oil and oil filter will significantly prolong the transmission's life.

Unless you're coming from a Fiat 850, your first impression of it is that it's not terribly fast. In fact, it's not fast at all. Which brings me to another point: being a 1979, it's normally aspirated, it's not turbocharged like later 300Ds. With the 5-cylinder engine screaming away, the best 0-60 time you can hope to achieve is around 17 seconds. That's on par with a Super Beetle.

When you do get it up to speed it's very stable. It rides smooth like any Mercedes should and the steering, commanded through an almost comically large wheel, is precise. It has adequate power to pass but it's not the freeway cruiser that the 300E was, which is to be expected.

Mercedes doesn't build cars the same way they used to in this era, anybody who owns a w123 will tell you that. They are solid, reliable, relatively easy to mend and safe even without the latest safety gizmos. With the growing enthusiast base these cars have gathered they are quickly entering classic car territory, making the w123 300D the best of both worlds if you can put up with the lackluster acceleration.

If you are in the market for a w123 odds are you will find either a 300D or a 240D (both in US-market trim), odds are its odometer will read a number not too far off from the distance from the Earth to the moon and odds are it will have several little issues that need attention; these are your run of the mill w123s. Pay extra if you find a gray-market car (especially one with coveted five-speed stick) or if you find a w123 with low mileage (e.g. sub-150,000) on an odometer that is known to be original and working. Consider service records a huge plus.

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Old Fiats in their natural habitat.

On a recent trip to Rome I saw quite a few Fiats, as one might expect. These are some of the more notable ones.

Abandoned Fiat 500L:

The quintessential Fiat. Cheap to buy and run, easy to work on, you can park it anywhere and it gets great gas mileage courtesy of a 499cc air cooled 2-cylinder. They were produced from 1957 to 1975 and they're still very common in Rome.

Seemingly abandoned Fiat 126. Turns out it wasn't and I got some interesting words from the owner for taking pictures of it:

Introduced in 1972 to replace the 500, it never got as popular as the 500. They did make them in Poland until 2000 so that says something. I believe a British road test from when they were new said they had "an engine that managed to be frenetic but ineffective-- like a hamster trying to push a filing cabinet."

Fiat 850 Sedan:

This one appeared to be all original and was in beautiful shape. A real dream come true for me seeing as I've lusted after an 850 Sedan for years. Those were introduced to replace the 600.

Count the Citroëns.

This is the first of many, many, many photos that this particular contributor will be posting from the yard at Shade Tree Enginetrics in Nevada (say Neh-vay-duh), Texas. For those who don't know, Shade Tree is truly heaven on earth for Italian cars. Acres upon acres of old Italian cars - mostly Fiats but a good number of Alfa Romeos and Lancias as well as the odd Citroën. Why would a Citroën be parked in a lot full of Italian cars? The SM features a Maserati V6, of course!

I think the pictures speak for themselves. Expect many, many, many more photographs from Shade Tree, including lots of cars that you simply won't see on the road. Ever. Like an Alfa 6. And a Lancia HPE. Cool.

An Alfa-Saab shop? That's what dreams are made of!

How's this for perfect? A shop that specializes in my two favorites: Alfa Romeo and Saab. It's located in Albuquerque, just blocks from one of my favorite New-Mex restaurants. It had been about five years since I had last seen the shop, but I made a point to visit it again. There weren't many unique Saabs this time, but I did spot a couple of interesting Alfas, including Berlinas, Alfetta/GTV 2000s and a Giulia or Giulietta Spider. Having lived in the Midwest for the better part of the 21st century (prior to a recent move to Texas), it's always refreshing to see unrestored vintage cars that haven't been bitten by the rust bug. These cars have obviously been driven hard for their whole lives, but unlike cars in Michigan, their bodies are intact and, if the drivetrains are functioning, they're ready to go.

A shop like this would be a dream come true for me... but how many mechanics are trained in classic Swedish and Italian cars only? Probably not many!