[TheStig]

Oh, how did I miss this thread??

Anyway, a few pics of my 1998 W140 S320. One of my most precious possessions.

[Ascari]

I am gonna get greedy and say the Mercedes that I own is the greatest Mercedes ever! I am just kiddin! But personally the best Mercedes ever made has to be the original gull wing SL.Heck even Steve Jobs had one.

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by TheStig

Anyway, a few pics of my 1998 W140 S320. One of my most precious possessions.

All I can say is 'wow'! That is one superbly-kept Mercedes-Benz S320. It was cars like these that earned the image for the Mercedes brand. After a brief lull, I guess they are well on tract to reach those lofty standards yet again.

[Jeroen]

The best Mercedes is very much in the "eye of the beholder"

The last Mercedes that was completely designed in house is actually the W123 series! So anything after that is not a proper Mercedes anymore. All sorts of parts and design were outsourced to the cheapest bidder!!

Don't want to offend anybody, again, best is in the eye of the beholder. From an engineering point of view every little part and detail on a W123 was designed by Mercedes engineers. Not by some third party who was contracted to do so.

A little detail, the W123 uses a pneumatic system for the central locking, head light adjustment etc. Some earlier models do as well. But the system was based on the aviation industry and adapted by Mercedes engineers for their particular cars. Noting less would do!

A W123 is an engineers "wet dream". Here's a car that you can actually take apart, piece by piece, because it was designed and engineered by engineers who thought this through like that. And put it back together again in the opposite order, just as easily.

It wasn't just about getting a slick car, it was also about design and maintenance. Being able to take things apart with a minimum of effort and being able to put it back together again.

Nothing has been designed like that by Mercedes since! Try and remove the door cards on a new Mercedes or any other car for that matter and compare it to how it is for the W123. On just about every car you will break a few of the special clips, it's a hassle to get off and to get back on. On the W123 it simply comes of and goes back on. No fuss!

Jeroen

[Macfreak7]

Originally Posted by spadival

W126 for me is a truely classic Merc, especially in black.

Absolutely! Not necessarily just in black tho
The W140 comparatively was always considered a bloated oversized boat, which Mercedes tried to "fix" in the w220 by improving on proportions (for example the taillights).

Here's a clean 500SEL.