The W124 Mercedes-Benz range is famed for its comfort, class and bulletproof reliability, but when AMG get involved, the ordinary becomes something special. South Africa had its own AMG agent in-period, fitting body kits, suspension upgrades and doing the fine tuning. Most of the time the 6-cylinder 300E was the base car, but every now and then a 4-cylinder 230E slipped through for the full treatment.

This 230E is one of those rare cars. It received the South African AMG package and was then sent to Alpine Developments, where it gained a turbo conversion for extra punch. The ageing turbo has recently been replaced, and the car now pulls strongly and smoothly, just as it should. The result is a tidy, well-sorted W124 with real period tuner pedigree, something genuinely different from the usual classic Merc crowd.

Location German Autohaus