While at the Sycamore car show where the St. Regis was residing, I noticed a circa 1990 W124. While the Niedermeyers would not need all wheel drive in the go-go 1980s, being in California at the time, the Not-Niedermeyers in Iowa might make some use of it.
I noticed this very nice example in the parking lot of Sycamore Mall in Iowa City, just a few rows away from the ’55 St. Regis. It rather stands out among the metallic beige Toyondas surrounding it.
Still my beating heart, 4-Matic or not. There is simply no other sedan from 1985 that still looks so “current”. That’s 27 years ago! Time is standing still, for some of us.
The original 4-Matic was a very sophisticated system and worked superbly, but it did add some weight and a bit of drive line friction, so, yes. I’ll take my not-W124 without.
I want you to do an article of the various iterations (and any precursors) to the 4-matic system.
Please?
alistair
I agree, classic design that wears incredibly well. Many W124s can be spotted in active use throughout SoCal today, some pretty beaten, others impeccably maintained by their owners. I assume they are pretty expensive to maintain. Rarely see (or saw) a 4-Matic but it is kind of exciting when one pops up.
Both my best friend and cousin bought them new (300E and 400E sedans) in the early 90s and experienced a lot of problems with the electricals and the AC systems. Indeed, after two W124s, my cousin switched to Lexus and never looked back. I loved to drive them (can’t say that about the Lexus) and they were so perfectly sized for urban life, good room inside but small with great visibility hence easy to park.
Tom, you scared me a bit there. I thought you were talking about the Sycamore, Il car show and thought I missed it. I forget there’s a Sycamore Mall in IC..
I’d much rather have a 420SEL, that car says “I’m Gordon Gekko dang it!”. The 300 series says “I’m new here. What’s that white stuff? Why are there credit cards on the table?”. 😀
(For the Midwesterners that don’t already know, The Sycamore, Il car show starts Friday 7/28 and ends Sunday 7/30. They shut down Rt64 (Main street), most downtown Municipal lots and all of the “Downtown” side streets for this. It’s bloody amazing!)