View Photos of the Vintage Mercedes-Benz W123 Suspension Rebuilds
See photos of how a California specialist brings the suspension of the W123 Generation of mid-size Mercedes cars back to life.
Mercedes-Benz's W123 Generation lives on because it was built to last—other than one weakness, its hydraulic self-leveling dampers. The problem affects 1979–85 300TD wagons, but the replacement parts are out of production. That's where vintage-Benz fanatic Andrew Villaseñor comes in. Scroll to see some images of his operation in central California.
Andrew Villaseñor has an exchange program: When a customer orders his remanufactured dampers (for $1100), they can get a refund of up to $500 if they send him the old, worn-out parts for rebuilding and future sale.
Villaseñor's operation uses a U.S. supplier that produces a bespoke one-piece seal for the rebuild, an improvement over the previous two-piece seals.
Villaseñor says the self-leveling suspension "compensates for load and brings the ride height of the car to a safe level so you can drive at autobahn speeds."
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