Video: Old Mercedes family hauler hits 200 mph

Mercedes-Benz wagon classics are known for their reliability, versatility and style, but not exactly record-breaking sprint times. The tuners over at Valtonen Motorsport in Finland decided to address this issue – and the result is admittedly impressive.

The car seen here is a Mercedes-Benz 300TD (W123), which usually ships with a 3.0-liter, inline-five diesel under the hood. Valtonen Motorsport dismantled the old engine and put a 4.0-liter Ford Barra six-pot turbo in its place along with an eight-speed automatic transmission.

They put the wagon on a dyno next, and while the power and torque figures are too blurry to see in the video, you can tell it’s not a stock car. Tongues of flame erupting out of the exhaust tips are another dead giveaway.

The wagon then headed to the Halli Airport runway, where it reached 322 km/h (200 mph) on a mile-long stretch of tarmac. It started to become dangerously wobbly by the end of the sprint, but was brought to a safe halt by a parachute. Imagine needing a brake chute in a wagon in the first place!