Car people are Built Different; we don’t view cars as disposable appliances, we view them as family members, friends, even companions. I found Auto Parts City in Gurnee, Illinois on TikTok, where the auto salvage and recycling facility showcases its daily shipments of junked cars with the occasional rare find turning up. This video documents a harrowing rescue mission executed by the car people at Auto Parts City, where folks managed to save a beautiful S204 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG from the crusher.
According to the video, Auto Parts City received the 2009 C63 Estate from the owner who imported it from Switzerland. As it turns out, the import company lied when it imported the vehicle into the United States, claiming it was a C240. After the car was registered in Illinois for a year, it came time for the Swiss owner to get their C63 Estate’s state inspection, where it failed emissions testing. The emissions test failure was reported to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, who told the owner that they needed to export the car out of the United States immediately, or have the car immediately destroyed.
The owner chose not to shell out the $8,000 price necessary to ship their car back to Switzerland, so they were forced to take it to the junkyard to be crushed. Thankfully, the good folks at Auto Parts City had the heart to spare the immaculate 6.2-liter V8 powered RWD wagon from the clutches of its car crusher.
In order to save this rare long-roofed German speed machine, Auto Parts City held the car long enough to find an exporter who shipped the car out of the United States in compliance with the EPA’s orders. The folks at Auto Parts City save any car that comes onto their lot that isn’t ready for the crusher, often giving new life to rare or desirable cars that were junked by their owners.
Wagons hold a special place in a lot of car enthusiasts’ hearts, and wagons with 451 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque are especially vaunted. Sadly, we never got the W204 Mercedes-Benz C-Class wagon (chassis code S204) in the United States, which makes this situation all the more emotionally involved. Most American car enthusiasts exalt the powerful wagons that we are so cruelly denied, so it’s heartening to see folks at an auto salvage facility go out of their way to save this wagon. I am thankful to the team who saved the C63 AMG Estate, and many other cars that would otherwise be reduced to a rusty rectangle rotting in a recyclers yard somewhere.