30 Years Of The Mercedes S-Class W 140

Stuttgart (dpa/tmn) – it was the wrong car at the wrong time: As a Mercedes in the spring of 1991, the cloth of the new S-class Generation W 140 moved, were in a blaze of glory somehow from yesterday.

Because the German was starting to realize that the newly acquired unit could be an expensive pleasure, the Worries about the climate have always been of concrete, and with the second Gulf war, the fear grew to the finite nature of the Oil. A big tanks for celebrities and politicians didn’t want to quite fit into the picture.

A lot of criticism in the home

While abroad, according to the clapping was over, the Mercedes came up especially in the home to plenty of criticism. As then came out that the up to 5.21 metres long Limousine with your 1,89 meters was too wide for the car train to Sylt, add any amount of ridicule.

Although the technical qualities according to the former chief engineer Wolfgang Peter “the largest passenger Car project, the Mercedes were taken-Benz ever,” at liberty. The magazine “Auto, Motor und Sport” wrote at the time about the “best car in the world”. But the “taz lashed out at” the saloon as a “figment of engineer delusional and climate killer instinct”. “The mirror” overrode his presentation with a look at six hundredweight of weight gain, and a Balance of 2.2 tonnes, with the “already heavy”.

Many feel the W 140 to the Chancellor of that time reminds. Not only because, of course, Helmut Kohl, in the Mercedes flagship was driven. But also, because the S-like class as the politician, often as a down-to-earth and sedate, as to the time, and as “the thickness” reviled.

Dipsticks for better Overview

But, just as the Chancellor of the unit that led the country for 16 years, also had the W 140 a long breath. It was built only in 1998, as well as cabbage, his office issued. But especially in the East, many of the approximately 400,000 copies exist to this day as a luxury sedan more.

So, according to the criticism of the S-class may have been, at the latest, at the wheel of the Trouble is forgotten. At that time, the retractable side mirrors and the Dipsticks, which were pneumatically to within two seconds after Inserting the reverse gear from the butt fenders out helped against the Oversized. And today, the W 140 looks compared with some of the SUV’s almost dainty.

As soon as the heavy doors to retract automatically, you are already on the road in his own world – an impression that is supported by the Design. Because of where Mercedes is focusing its attention on flowing lines, the S-class of the 1990s, more than ever, like a capsule with an attached bow and trunk.

In this capsule, the environment disappears behind a thick layer of luxury. For the first Time in the S-class a, double-glazing, which guarantees a tremendous peace of mind when traveling. Central locking and electric Windows were Standard. And why lend a Hand, even if at the touch of a button curtains and a roller blind in front of the rear window for privacy concerns, and-adjustable and heated individual seats in the second row, the comfort of to maximize? No wonder that up to 60 electric motors were installed in the Mercedes.

Luxury liner for Low-Budget Fare

To Start, there was according to the Mercedes Classic speaker Ralph Wagenknecht first four engines of 210 kW/286 HP up to a twelve-cylinder with a displacement of six litres and 300 kW/408 HP. By 1992, a Turbodiesel came with just 110 kW/150 HP, there is also a 2.8-litre six-cylinder petrol engine followed with 142 kW/193 HP.

30 years after the Start of Daimler’s not arrived big thing for collectors, but even so, says Frank Wilke from market watchers Classic Analytics in Bochum, Germany. Firstly, because the sedans are long so sexy as coupes or convertibles. And, secondly, because of the W 140 already had so much back then, modern electronics is that it discourages hobbyists. The car will be traded according to Wilke with six or eight cylinders in a state of 2 for well under 15,000 euros.