Car Buried in 1980 Earthquake Emerges After 38 Years and Sells for $252,000

A 1979 Mercedes-Benz 280 TE spent almost four decades buried under rubble after an earthquake turned its owner's garage in southern Italy into an underground time capsule.

The car was bought new from the factory and parked in a garage near Avellino. On 23 November 1980, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake triggered massive landslides that devastated parts of Campania and Basilicata and killed more than 2,700 people. The garage was buried, and the Mercedes stayed under the debris for 38 years. When the remains were excavated in 2018, the station wagon emerged remarkably complete and original, with less than 6,100 kilometres on the clock.

Instead of a full restoration, Mercedes specialist Scott Grundfor Company kept the car as original as possible, performing only necessary maintenance and replacing outdated safety components, leaving visible traces of its long underground stay.

The car is rare: it was finished in nickel green, a colour that disappeared from the range shortly after 1979, and its interior pairs moss-green MB-Tex upholstery with blue-green fabric and zebrano wood. Under the bonnet sits the 2.8-litre six-cylinder petrol engine, the most powerful available for the model line.

Sold last week at the Pebble Beach Auctions, the Mercedes went under the hammer for $252,000 (about 215,000 euros), far above the pre-sale estimate of $130,000-160,000 - likely making it the most expensive unrestored W123 estate ever sold.