Mercedes classic car rolls out of flooded underground car park under its own power

“He got through it well” – that’s all the Valencian Iván Felisi Rubio, who lives in Carlet, writes about his. It shows how an ancient Mercedes-Benz, completely muddy and dirty, drives out of an underground car park in Algemesí, a municipality in the Spanish province of Valencia – with lights on and without any complaints.

That’s a small miracle, because the underground car park where Rubio kept his classic car was hit hard by the flood disaster in Spain. The cars sat meters high in mud and water for days. The chance of being able to recover the vehicle in working order was therefore extremely small.

The enormous material damage caused by the flood in Spain speaks volumes. Most of the cars that were caught in the water masses met their end there.

Not so with the Mercedes-Benz 300 D, W 123 series. The old Benzers are well known for being extremely solid – but demonstrations of this magnitude are still rare.

Rubio explained to the Spanish newspaper “”: “The only thing I did was change the battery, drain the water from the engine and check the oil. It started immediately.”

The owner published , which makes the damage clear. He says: “This car was under water for more than a week,” and the old diesel is running in the background as if nothing had happened. A quick pull on the cable shows that it runs smoothly. “These were real cars,” Rubio continued. “That doesn’t compare to what we have today, gentlemen.”

As great as the joy of the running engine is, the owner now has to do a lot of work. “El Mundo” shows that the cleaning work is apparently underway. From the outside, the mud even seems to have completely disappeared.

But for vehicles that were covered in mud, that’s only half the battle. In such cases – and with such a long time under water – the dirt works its way into every conceivable crack. Rubio also knows this, as he wants to completely disassemble the car. “The odometer will be very complicated, but fortunately it is a car for which there are many spare parts,” said the owner hopefully.

The fact that the W 123 was able to survive is also due to the fact that it has practically no electronic components. The old diesel is also not too picky when it comes to fuel; in an emergency, vegetable oil fuel will do the trick.

The story of the old car is of course accompanied by malice towards newer cars on social media. Comments like “Mercedes still built quality back then”, “This quality no longer exists” or “These cars were designed to last a long time, not like today’s ones, which seem to have an expiry date” are common. Rubio supports this. He told the newspaper “El Mundo”: “People are convinced that the electric car is the future, and they are completely wrong.”