Hello,
Right, I sold my Pug 205 a few months ago as was after an older car of about the same size. Think, '70s/'80's Toyota Starlet, Honda Civic etc. Something with lots of chrome and character. As the Pug was also the small, hatchback car in the house it was handy for certain jobs, hence why I wanted to replace it for the same type of car. Whilst analysing the adverts in an obsessive way, I was unsuccessful (and also impatient
) in finding the car I wanted in the short time. I stumbled upon this Mercedes W124, but it has a 2000 (X reg) number plate! I thought hmm, interesting, car looked really good in the pics, and it was a bargain, so I couldn't help to go and have a gander.
I was amazed at the cars condition
and some further research revealed what was going on here. Some of you probably know, but Mercedes continued to supply the W124 in CKD form to various parts of asia (and possibly other parts of the world) until about the year 2000. This car was shipped to India in about 1997, and was built in 2000. It was then shipped to the UK as a new car at the time, due to a shortage of supply for the (then current) W210 model. So as it was a new unregistered car, it was given a X Reg number plate. The plaque under the bonnet confirms this is one of those cars. They differed from european models at had the 'Equipment For Rough Terrain' package, which consisted of:
Very tall heavy duty suspension springs (with Bilstein B6)
Sump guard
Suspension reinforcement (although it only looks like the rear spring top mounts are beefy - I don't know a W124 well enough)
90L tanks. Although I can not get that much in this one, so I suspect it's the 70L version
Air Con - Not working, but will investigate
Clocks in KPH and not MPH - These were modified by importing dealers at the time to show MPH. 'Mileometer' is still in KM though.
The service history shows it's been in the UK dealer network and generally looked after. I fell for it straight away, forgot all my small car plans lol, and thought about transferring the 18" (aftermarket) wheels from my W210 E55 to this, and buying some 18 or 19 inch monoblocks for that. It all seemed like a good idea at the time The wheels I have are 8.5/9.5 wide with 235/265 tyres so was confident the W124 would look nice, considering all the others I have seen on the net with similar sized wheels.
So the deal was done, and I drove the car home in pouring rain on the motorway, but it felt all solid and nice My Wife was following in her GT86, and later commented that it looks 5hit 
A few days later of having the car home, I tried my front wheel from my E55 on and it was protruding from the wheel arch by about 15mm 
I don't generally do the streched tyre thing) so then tried the spare from the E55 (OE Front 8" Monoblock) and that was similar. The car wasn't lowered at this point so I couldn't really get the right picture, but decided 18s are too big for a W124. Reading some related forum posts also told me this, and the car being a replacement for my practical Peugeot 205 had many jobs to do. Being impatient (for a change) I spent the whole evening looking for the right wheels and found a set of OZ Opera that were in lovley condition. Wheels were bought, along with Vogtland springs, and the correct spring compressor for the job. After all this was done, it was looking a lot better. I hadn't had time to drive it much as it was generally round the back of the house on jacks.
Just a few pics now, (house duties to do!) will upload more with more info as soon as I can
Right, I sold my Pug 205 a few months ago as was after an older car of about the same size. Think, '70s/'80's Toyota Starlet, Honda Civic etc. Something with lots of chrome and character. As the Pug was also the small, hatchback car in the house it was handy for certain jobs, hence why I wanted to replace it for the same type of car. Whilst analysing the adverts in an obsessive way, I was unsuccessful (and also impatient
) in finding the car I wanted in the short time. I stumbled upon this Mercedes W124, but it has a 2000 (X reg) number plate! I thought hmm, interesting, car looked really good in the pics, and it was a bargain, so I couldn't help to go and have a gander.I was amazed at the cars condition
and some further research revealed what was going on here. Some of you probably know, but Mercedes continued to supply the W124 in CKD form to various parts of asia (and possibly other parts of the world) until about the year 2000. This car was shipped to India in about 1997, and was built in 2000. It was then shipped to the UK as a new car at the time, due to a shortage of supply for the (then current) W210 model. So as it was a new unregistered car, it was given a X Reg number plate. The plaque under the bonnet confirms this is one of those cars. They differed from european models at had the 'Equipment For Rough Terrain' package, which consisted of:Very tall heavy duty suspension springs (with Bilstein B6)
Sump guard
Suspension reinforcement (although it only looks like the rear spring top mounts are beefy - I don't know a W124 well enough)
90L tanks. Although I can not get that much in this one, so I suspect it's the 70L version
Air Con - Not working, but will investigate
Clocks in KPH and not MPH - These were modified by importing dealers at the time to show MPH. 'Mileometer' is still in KM though.
The service history shows it's been in the UK dealer network and generally looked after. I fell for it straight away, forgot all my small car plans lol, and thought about transferring the 18" (aftermarket) wheels from my W210 E55 to this, and buying some 18 or 19 inch monoblocks for that. It all seemed like a good idea at the time
The wheels I have are 8.5/9.5 wide with 235/265 tyres so was confident the W124 would look nice, considering all the others I have seen on the net with similar sized wheels.So the deal was done, and I drove the car home in pouring rain on the motorway, but it felt all solid and nice
My Wife was following in her GT86, and later commented that it looks 5hit 
A few days later of having the car home, I tried my front wheel from my E55 on and it was protruding from the wheel arch by about 15mm 
I don't generally do the streched tyre thing) so then tried the spare from the E55 (OE Front 8" Monoblock) and that was similar. The car wasn't lowered at this point so I couldn't really get the right picture, but decided 18s are too big for a W124. Reading some related forum posts also told me this, and the car being a replacement for my practical Peugeot 205 had many jobs to do. Being impatient (for a change) I spent the whole evening looking for the right wheels and found a set of OZ Opera that were in lovley condition. Wheels were bought, along with Vogtland springs, and the correct spring compressor for the job. After all this was done, it was looking a lot better. I hadn't had time to drive it much as it was generally round the back of the house on jacks.Just a few pics now, (house duties to do!) will upload more with more info as soon as I can
.