Heinz,, Ilve had many examples of the 124 Mercedes coupe and convertible my favourite would be the 220 sportline version, not the smoothness and power of the 320 but much lighter front end so marginally sharper handling (for a Mercedes) than the 320. Seemingly built ffrom granite, well engineered with simple and easy controls that naturally fall to hand. Whilst the engineering has moved on today the current Mercedes seem to lack the same build quality feel of the 124. The same is probaly true when comparing earlier Mercedes from the 60”s with the 124… The coupe and cabriolet lines are so clean when compared with some of todays offerrings………. I suspect its the car that most attracted us in our more formative years. Unfortunately, the high mileage capabilities of the car, leaves very few pristine examples around today.
Yes, I agree about the shape lines of the 124. And it's true, our 220CE W124 is absolutely well balanced and weighs 1,400 kg, which is not much for such a car by today's standards. It has 265,000 km on the clock, of which we have done 120,000 km in 17 years. But you don't notice the high mileage, it is also a rare car, for one thing only built for 1/2 year in the combination series 1 body and 220 engine and with full leather, which mostly only the 6 cylinders had at that time. The engine whirrs as smoothly as on the first day...I also think that with good care, the old naturally aspirated engines can last longer than the downsized turbos of today.
