Wednesday 2 April 2014

Mercedes-Benz W140 S-Class



Today I’m writing about the Mercedes-Benz W140 S-class. Many of you who were born in the 80’s and early 90’s would surely remember this automobile. And maybe by looking at it, some may even remember this car to be the same model as the one Princess Diana crashed in 1997. The Mercedes-Benz W140 was one of the largest Mercedes to be manufactured during the 90’s and it replaced the very successful Mercedes-Benz W126 and not surprising, they were both designed by top designer Bruno Sacco.

The W140 had many different engine variations which included the entry level 2.8 litre 6 cylinder, the 4.2 litre V8 and to top it up was the 6 litre V12. The common engines in Malaysia were the 2.8 litre and 3 litre 6 cylinder, though there are a few rare imported models with the 5 litre V8 and the 6 litre V12, both known as the S500 and the S600 respectively. They came in 3 main different body variations, the short wheel base (SWB), long wheel base (LWB) and the Coupes later to be known as the CL. And there was also a made-to-order limousine version.

During it’s 7-year production period, more than 400,000 units were built. As what most of the S-Class cars were used for, they were mostly used as State cars for ministers as well as high ranking government officials worldwide including in Malaysia of which you could once in a while come across a bullet-proof model even here.

There were also many technology advancements that were present in this car and to list it would be endless but do go have a look at one if you are interested as it’s luxury will certainly blow you away like it did to me some time back. A good example with everything intact and close to mint would only cost around RM 25,000 depending on the condition. Trust me, these older top range cars have never failed to surprise me with the technology available during that time.

 The short wheel base (SWB)

 The long wheel base (LWB)

 The Coupe later to be known as the CL

 The stretched Mercedes-Benz W140(R) and the W100(L)


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