Star time travel
03/15/2018
Some people wish they could travel back in time. How many years can it be? 25, 37 or even 44? Yesterday, we had the opportunity to travel back in time and drive the six-cylinder top models of the W114 (better known as /8), W123 and W124 series from Mercedes-Benzin direct comparison - even the colors matched the period perfectly.
And once again we were amazed at how good the W124 was back then. Admittedly, we were lucky enough to enjoy the last evolution, so to speak, in the form of a 280E from 1993 - with manual transmission! Even today, it still amazes us how beautifully this straight-six engine revs up like a turbine.
The gap between the W124 and the W123 is significantly greater than that between the W123 and the W114 (/8). Both were equipped with automatic transmission and the same in-line six-cylinder engine that had already provided propulsion in the Pagoda.
Despite (or perhaps because of) the much more classic driving experience, the earlier model series were also a lot of fun to drive and, in comparison, it is actually surprising how advanced the W114 feels. Even today, you would trust it with any long-distance journey, and the W123 as well.
Of course, there were many differences between the three generations and on our journey through three decades we were able to really understand how the development progressed, for example how they went from seatbelt whips to seatbelt buckles attached to the seats or how the windshield wipers went from the butterfly principle to parallel wipers and then to the famous single-arm lift wiper. The design of the body shape and interior changed in several stages, including model upgrades.
Surprisingly, only one thing remained untouched for 26 years: the foam-wrapped steering wheel. Leather came later. It only became smaller and, of course, the last W124s all had airbags.
The proverbial Mercedes quality was evident at all stages of the journey through time; after all, even the youngest car was a quarter of a century old and still felt like a well-worn annual car. And the earlier models were hardly inferior.
Incidentally, the three Mercedes-Benz models will gounder the hammer at the next auction at the Oldtimer Galerie in Toffen on April 21, 2018 . The list of cars and motorcycles on offer is getting longer every day ...
And of course we will be reporting on the three stars in more detail in the future.
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