Mercedes-Benz W123

The Mercedes-Benz W123 is a range of cars produced in West Germany (Stuttgart) and several other countries between 1975 and 1986. They were sold as a 4-door sedan, 2-door coupe, 5-door station wagon and 4-door limousine with rear-wheel drive and a front-mounted engine. The W123 surpassed its predecessor (the W114) as the most successful Mercedes, and more than 2.6 million examples were produced in total.

Due to the slow ramp-up of production, customers faced a 9 to 12 month waiting period. For those who were willing to pay more for immediate delivery, a black market emerged. Slightly used models were selling foraround 5,000 Deutschmarks above the original selling price. After reaching the end of their useful life, they were often shipped to Africa andthird world countries, where they were highly prized. The cars were available with a number of engines depending on the model and also several transmissions during their production run.