The section ‘The Soul of’ is about iconic cars that we believe the brand as a whole. Here we have set 1970 as the lower limit. The Model Choice is not based on scientific research but purely the result of lively discussions in the editorial office.
When you want to find that one mercedes that can represent Both the past and the present of this famous car brand, you face an almost impossible task. This is due to the huge expansion drive in Stuttgart, which has been the model range more than eightfold Since 1970. Where should you look?
Five Mercedes-Benz Models in 1970, now 34
What An Organized Car World It was in 1970. BMW had Exactly Three Model Series, Toyota Four, Volkswagen Five and Opel Six. With Five Models, Mercedes-Benz was in the middle of the pack, Although Two of Them, The 280 SL and the 600, Were Among The Exotic Cars. At Mercedes-Benz It Therefore Mainly Came Down to the W114/115 (Better Known As the Strich-8) AS A Sedan and the Large W108/109, which is Unofficary Considered the First S-Class. Not official, because typology only applies from the w116 or 1972. If we look at the current range, the Dutch website of the brand States that it supplies no ferwer than 34 models, with the electric and hybrid versions in a model series Being counted. More Important is the Finding That Are So Many More Types of Cars Nowadays than there were then.
From the Stately Four-Door Limousines, A Distinguished Two Door Coupé And That One Roadster From 1970, It Went About A Period of 55 Years to A Colorful Palette That, In Addition to the Mentioned, also Includes, Four-Done Coupe’s SUVS. In Between there were also Thoroughbred Sports Cars, Such as the SLS AMG and SLR McLaren. We search everywhere, but we could not find a single model series in the brand’s rich history that is so wide spread that would do justice to all these different types of cars. This necessitated a different approach, while one -one classic and modern Mercedes after Another Drove Into the editorial Attics. From a Pale White 200D Taxi and Bright Orange C111 Study Models to a Smeared 300 GD and an immaculately shiny 560 sec. Each and every one of them are beautiful models, and all one hundred percent mercedes. But we still have to park them one by one on the hard shoulder, because we are making way for the models that matter even more.
Mercedes-Benz 190 (W201) and the 200-/300 series (W124)
Benz-Vorthy: 190 was only one body variant
Now that we have established that is no ‘overarching’ Mercedes that representents Both the present and the past, we are going to look for that one model series that has driven itself into the spotlight in as a many different ways as possible, and and that. Not Literally of Course, because we would end up with the red mercedes-amg gt that acts as a safety car at every formula 1 race and presents itself there to an audience of millions. We Better Look at What the Different Models Have Meant For The Brand. It turns out that we immediately have to resolutely relegate quite a few benz, no matter how beautiful and great, to the reserve bench. The 190 for example. An icon for the brand, because of the new market segment that it was able to enter from 1982 and in which it is still active with the c-class. The 190 is Considered One of the Best Quality Cars Of All Time and Has Been Technically Refined and Refined Like Almost No Other Model. Thanks to its timeless appearance, the inevitable aging process remarkable long failed to get a grip on it. His Motorsport Career also Literally Gave the 190 Wings (or Gigantic Size Even), But It Always Remained with That One Body Shape, A Four-by Sedan. Mercedes Still Supplies Such A Model these Days, also in the Compact Class, But It is not Enough for Our Podium.
What about the w123 then?
As far as the latter is concerned, the immortal W123 Naturally Comes Into View. It Combines Wonderful Classic Lines and Heavily Chrome-Plated Ornamented with ProSverbial Steadfastness and its status as the first benz to be build as a station wagon in series-a very nice one too. Good arguments, But We Miss, Despite the Top Version 280E and Models Tuned by the then Independent AMG, An Extra Fast Version, as An Equivalent of the Current HorsePower Violence.
The Powerful 300 SEL 6.3 (1967) is convincing in this regard, but this generation unfortunately falls away as a model series; Just like the later S-classes, the Technological Level was always very high, but we lack too few body variants. The Four-Seater Convertible, For Example, Has Played a Role in the S-Class for a Long Time, But Gradually Went Out of Fashion. We Cannot Simply Include the Two-Seater SLS. No, we have to look at it much more broadly.
Mercedes-Benz Bosses Discussing The New W124 With An S-Class and A W123 in the Background.
Model Series with As Many Different Body Variants As Possible
In The MeanMe, the Stakes Have Been Set: We are looking for a Model Series with As many Different Body Variates as Possible to Do Justice to the Versatility of the Current Range and An Impressive Palette of Technical Delicacies at The Time of its Introduction. That brings us to the w124, which was first show to the world at the end of 1984. It of Course first appeared as a four-by sedan, with a Choice of three diesel and four petrol engines, with the five-cylinder of the 250d and the Six-cylinders’s A Beautiful Station Wagon Followed Two Years later and in 1987 also an elegant coupé, so that all regular body variants of its predecessor W123 Were Back.
In The MeanMe, an Impressive 4×4 System Became Avarable Under The Name 4MATIC, AND MERCEDES-BENZ Introduced Turbo Versions First in the 300D, which as without a turbo Could call itelf the fastest diesel in the world, and tea aso in the 250d. At the end of 1989, at the time of the first facelift, the 220 hp and 237 km/h fast 300e-24 followed, with the first multi-fall engine within the range. All QUITE IMPRESSIVE, But in 1990, No Less than Six Years After the Start of the Series, The 124 Series would Once Again Focus All Eyes On Itelf: That Year It Introduced the 500E, Developed and Build in Collaboration With Porsche. A Monument of A Car, with the Devastatingly Strong (326 HP) Five-liter V8 from the 500 SL Between the Front Wheels and Widened Wheel Arches All Around to Provide Adequate Space for the Wider Footwear. The Top was set at 250 km/h. In 1991, Mercedes also introduced a full four-seater convertible, which was mockingly called a ‘taxi convertible’ by critics of the brand. Speaking of Taxis: or Course there was also an extended limousine (5.54 meters!) With, unlike the w123, this time six full doors for optimum ease or entry.
EXPENSIVE AND BARE
The Previous Paragraph shows that versatility was key to the 124 series, to an extent that later generations of the e-class, as the model series has been called the extensive facelift of 1993, no longer. Althegh: The 2009 generation also appeared as a coupé and convertible again, two models that had legs absent until that moment. And in 2017, The E-Class Appeared as the high-on-the-Legs Station Wagon All-Terrain, as its own interpretation of the recipe with which Subaru, Audi and Volvo had Been Successful for Years. These are not things that we need to pay furthertention to this context.
The e-classes followed and continuous to follow each other obediently, with increasingly modern jackets and increasingly efficient technology on board. That does not alter the fact that the w124 stubbornly Remains in our System as the model with which Mercedes-Benz not only manifested itself as a builder of Qualitatively very thorough, but also somewhat conservative automobiles. And for the first time also as a forerunner when it also came to technical refinement, high performance, impeccable road holding, boundless comfort and a brilliant appearance. The W124 was praised in the press as the best car of that moment, because of the giant leap it had made in the areas menttioned. There was also criticism, because the cars were (Especialy in Our Country) Screamingly Exensive and also Extremely Bare. Mercedes defended itself by Stating that the cars had all the necessities on board, but with, say, a 230e or 58,000 guilders (in 1984 Three Times the price of an entry-Level Golf) you could get a five-speedy fivt-hand side. Electric Windows and Central by Locking, For Example. A Mercedes Driver Always had to spare a bit of budget for the factory options, a policy that the manufacturer thankully can no longer afford. This is the only counter-argument for the w124 as a car that represents the soul of mercedes-benz.
Other contenders for the soul or …
In The Boxes Accompanyying This Story, We Show the Models that also passed in Review During Our Deliberations, but which Still had to go out to that one winner.
In 1963, The Highest Achievable in the Area of Luxury, Comfort and Prestige. The 6.3-V8 or 250 HP cool the stately limousine a top speed of 205 km/h, while a hydraulic System Helped with, Among Other Things, Opening and Closing Doors and Tailgate. Built Until 1981.
Paul Bracq Drew a Timelessly Elegant Body for What was the Smallest Mercedes in 1968. The Series, also referred to as the 200-280 Series, was not really innovative exception for the emerging axle, but that did apply to the 240d 3.0, the world’s first-cylinder.
Despite the Many Blank Checks That Mercedes had Received for the C111 Since 1969, This Dream Car With Its Imposing Gullwing Doors Remained a Study Model. With a four-disc wankel engine it ran 300 km/h, as a five-cylinder turbo diesel it sharpened many speed records until 1979.
The SL Has Been the Uninterrupted Love Line of Mercedes-Benz With the Theme of Sports Car Since 1954, Although The R107 of 1971 is More of A Luxurious Gran Turismo for Two. It remained in production for no less than Eightenen years and aged rarely graceFully.
Industriality itself and therefore a permanent fixture in Daily Traffic for Decades from 1976. The Engine Choice Ranged from 55 to 185 HP. Immense Delivery Times and Ditto Residual Values Underlined the W123 Magic. A Worldwide Success with 2.7 Million Copies.
Came, Saw and … Has Been an Integral Part of the Model Range Since 1979. Not Surprising, because its steadfast character, Superb Off-Road Qualities and Tough Appearance Are Timeless. Recently Received a Free Pass for the Future as an Ev.
In 1982, Stuttgart was Finally Able to Present Answer to the Successful BMW 3-Series. The Clever Thing about the 190 was that it was a fully-fled Mercedes in Everything, But More Compact. A Great Success Followed, which Still Continues with the C-Class.
The S-Class W140 from 1991 was criticized for its enormous stature, but it has since leg trumped by the most recently S-class. He was particularly impressive as a 600 sel, which with its huge v12 cost exactly twice as much as the entry-level 300 SE: fl. 342,500 (€ 155.420).
A Four-Door Coupé had existed for a long time (at Rover for Example) when Mercedes SuccessFully Retrieved this body shape from the mothballs in 2004: The CLS was not only beautiful, but also clearly unclassy DIGERENT. Refreshing.
With the EQS in 2021, The S-Class, Showpiece or German Automobile Construction, is Witing a New, Electric Chapter. And that as an independent model on a purely electric platform and with an aesthetic that in many eyes is downright daring, because it is smooth. It makes the top class Future Tangible.
Mercedes-Benz W124
Body: 4-through Sedan, 5-by-Station Wagon, 2-by Coupé and Convertible
Drive: Rear Wheels Or 4WD
Dimensions (LXWXH): 4.74/4.77/4.66 x 1.74 x 1.43/1.49/1.41 m (4D/5D/2D)
Wheelbase: 2.80/2.80/2.71 m (4D/5d/2d)
Weight: 1,260 to 1,710 kg (200 and 300 CE-24 Cabriolet)
Price Level (1985): from fl. 53,650/€ 24.345 to fl. 80.150/€ 36.370 (200 and 300 TD Turbo)
Production Period: 1984 to 1993
Production Number: 2.7 Million Units
Engines: petrol: 1.997, 2.199, 2.299, 2.599, 2.799, 2.962, 3.199, 4.196, 4.973 cc (109/118/136, 150, 136, 170, 197, 190/220, 220, 279, 326 HP). Diesel: 1.997, 2.497, 2.996 cc (72, 90/126, 109/143 HP)
Competitors (1985): Audi 100, BMW 5-Series, Lancia theme, Opel Senator, Volvo 740
Most Special: The Impressive 500E With Its 326 HP Strong V8 and the Subtly Widened Body Arrived in 1990 as an incognito Porsche, with commurate performance.