Automotive History: The Curious Case of the W126 Wagon

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As some of you know, I have a serious love for the W126 Mercedes S-Class. Can you blame me? It’s just the best in engineering and nigh-on invulnerability that a Mercedes-Benz at the top of its game could do. In my mind the only way that you could improve it in my eyes was to make a station wagon out of it, and….here it is! I love you, Wagon Week.

It turns out some coachbuilders decided that since Mercedes itself was already making a coupe and a convertible in addition to their sedans, it was only sensible to do the one variant that wasn’t available. And thank the coachbuilders for that.

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The best documented and recent of the conversions is the 560TEL that appears above this text. Made by Caro International, a coachbuilding company in Hamburg, this was a spare-no-expense project overseen by the CEO (A classic Mercedes fan) himself. The objective: take a 1990 560SEL and make it the most luxurious of wagons. The engine and drivetrain are unchanged from a standard 560SEL, but the body has seen substantial alterations from the B-pillar back. The doors have been elongated and custom glass has been added to better fit the new shape (and  avoid the Volvo Amazon look).

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In the back, tall taillights out of an S124 wagon have been fitted to replace the longer ones of the 126 and allow for a larger rear door. Currently Caro is working on a second wagon, this time built on a 1991 model. Price: Very expensive, I’d say.

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While the TEL seems like the newest and best done wagon based of the W126, the idea in itself is nothing new; in the 1980s, Zender built this 560 ZEL.

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And if you Google around you’ll find pictures of a slew of custom jobs that go from the very well done…

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To the done…

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To the ‘What have you done?’

I’ll no longer say that any W126 wagon is a good wagon, but the fact that someone actually went ahead with the idea of making a wagon out of the S-Class is amazing in and of itself. Now to check every couch in the nation for change–I’m sure Caro doesn’t accept organs as payment.