Nigeria, from time to time, establishes a connection with me. Not only I spent a part of my childhood there, but that country was completely in awe of the three-pointed star, apart from the ,then, run of the mill Peugeot 504, 505 and the VW Beetle 1500, (and what was new that time was the Santana/Passat sedan). All of those being very desirable cars was also building up an expectation in my mind from objects that call themselves "cars". We lived 600kms from the Capital, Lagos, in a small town where a steel plant was being built. The area was completely traditional Africa, some of the roads encountered in leading a daily life being red dirt, a Peugeot 404 or 504 pickup hanging its tail out after everyturn, that kind. We had at our disposal, owing to my fathers job, a W123 apart from a Nissan Patrol and a Peugeot 504 station wagon (the 2000cc one, thats how my Dad puts it! It was his baby)
But Lagos, was completely modern, the hotels/restaurants where we used to visit used to be frequented by the, then recent, W124 200's and 300E's. Some of them with the star smack in the middle of the grille without the three customary horizontal chrome slats. I was always impressed inspite of my Dad always looking down at tham and discussing with a few uncles, "is that what Mercs have come up to?"!!
"Look at the sloping headlights", "look at the curve on the trunklid", the continous light catcher line from the side marker to the tail lamp was its only saving grace, "atleast they have given it that". I used to silently admire, being a small kid, afraid that saying anything good might invite unwanted statements. I was also amazed that the 190E that was earlier attracting similar responses, was suddenly a better looking Merc than the W124, for them.
Everytime a W124 overtook us, building up stability with increasing speed, I was completely floored. No other car displayed the same fluidity in motion. They used to sell the 200 in both W123 and W124 shapes that time, and they used to say, grab every W123 you can get, Mercedes isn't going to get better.
Although taking nothing away from the W123. But W124 in my then little, unwarranted, unsolicited opinion, was far better.
Once a German contractor (Bilfinger I guess) brought a W124 and it was subjected to good scrutiny, it was their (My Father and his really "pagal" colleagues) pastime, but they really was amazed at the suspension, and they also were talking about Citroen. I knew Citroen and their pneumatic suspension thing. I was previleged with overhearing experiences from a few of experience sharing sessions between my father and my own uncles and their foreign jaunts. Later on even I would see foreign shores once in a while, but it wasn't quite the same, but the w124 remained in my wishlist. And how?
As I would grow on, in later years I read about the self levelling rear suspension and the Citroen connection. The initial sheen of the w210 rubbed off sooner than expected. I witnessed the shift in opinion of the earlier generation towards the W124, thought even the 210 will grow on me, but it did not.
2002 saw me in US for one long term assignment, but that time, my meagre salary would make it too risky to own a good W124. Besides, I had other things in mind. I also came close to procuring another of my favourites the E30 BMW but why it did not happen is a different story.
On this foreign stint of mine, starting beginning of 2007, I was restricting my search to 300E's 400E's and a few E320's and E430's apart from a couple of E36 and E34 BMW's. Most of the Mercs were either in deplorable condition or the owners were being stratospheric in their demands (now I know why).
On one occasion, visiting a dealer for a black 1994 BMW E34, I found this immaculate piece on the dealership entrance. The dealer had not listed it at all. The black BMW was fantastic, with its lovely exhaust note an all, but the green W124 was playing its own games in mind. It also turned out that the dealer was a Nigerian by birth. I just enquired about the green car and he gave me a high price for it. I anyway did not have the money that day. But booked the Black E34 saying that I will bring the money in 2 days time (My office actually messed up my loan processing causing the delay).
The evening before picking up the Black one, I called the dealer to be told that the Bimmer was sold, and to my surprise he also said sorry he can make it upto me, by giving me an offer on either the W124 or another green W202 he had in his lot. I was jumping with joy....cntd