The city of Stuttgart is not just the home of the historic Mercedes-Benz plant at Sindelfingen, but it also became Porsche’s base after the marque’s Austrian infancy. And back in the late ‘80s, Stuttgart’s second-biggest carmaker was not doing so well, for a myriad of reasons. So what was the neighborly thing to do? Ask Porsche to engineer and build the most bad-ass Benz four-door since the 6.3 litre W109.
Initially, Mercedes only needed Porsche to develop the blueprints for the car. It was a substantial job: Installing the the SL 500’s new 5-litre V8 (paired with the 4-speed auto, no manual version was planned) into the W124 required some structural strengthening. In order to accommodate a true dual exhaust system, the floor pan required some changes, including a small widening of the central tunnel where the exhaust hugged the driveshaft.
The engine, which was premiered in the fourth generation SL in 1989, was a 4973cc DOHC V8 providing the rear wheels with 322hp, which was about 100hp more than the next-biggest W124, the 300 E-24. That was quite a lot of extra cavalry, so everything else had to follow suit: shocks, brakes and tyres had to be beefed up, often using SL parts.
These internal changes ended up having an impact on the outside of the car: the fatter tyres and wider track required flared fenders and there was a larger front air dam with integrated fog lamps. Because the 500 E needed so many modifications and ended up wider than the standard-body W124, Mercedes-Benz decided it would be more practical to not tie up their efficient mass-production W124 lines with it by building it in-house. As luck would have it, Porsche’s Zuffenhausen plant, the former Reutter works, were severely underutilized.
So, from late 1990, a strange ballet started taking place around Stuttgart. Trucks left M-B with bare W124 shells and 500 E-specific parts (as well as a few R129 suspension bits) for Reutter, where the floor pan was cut, widened and welded back together, and the body was assembled. The cars were then trucked to Sindelfingen, where they were painted. The painted 500 Es shells, along with the engines and transmissions, then travelled back to Porsche’s Rössle-Bau works, where they used to make 959s, so that the suspension, interior and drive train could be fitted to the cars. They were subsequently sent back to M-B for a final inspection.
Befitting its role as an exclusive high performance sedan, the normal W124 seats, which were rather flat and had limited bolstering, were replaced by Recaro seats, covered in real leather and heated.
The rear seats (which I stupidly did not capture, but here’s a shot of a 500 E rear seat from the web) were initially also unique to the 500 E. They are deeply contoured to match the front, and have a console between them, making the 500 E a four-seater. This package of four deeply contoured seats was first used on the 500 E, but then became available on all W124 sedans as part of the Sportline package, which also included suspension changes.
There are a lot of W124s still on the road there – as is the case in many countries. It’s a daily sight, pretty much. After all, these were still made back when Mercedes-Benzes were literally over-engineered and built like Swiss watches. But the 500 E is a W124 of a different kind, and a far less common catch at that, though apparently Japan probably has the highest concentration of these exclusive cars on the planet.
Now the issue was selling this beast. The handmade nature of the car, as well as the multiple journeys across Stuttgart, meant that manufacturing a 500 E was an 18-day process and that Porsche could deliver a maximum of 12 units per day. This meant that the price of these exclusive machines was set at DM134,500 in late 1990 or, by the time it crossed the ocean, US$83,000 (1992 list price, plus “gas guzzler tax”).
With prices like that, i.e. close to a Bentley Mulsanne, sales figures were going to be comensurate, but Mercedes had a plan: Porsche were tasked to engineer a slightly smaller V8-powered W124. The 400 E, whose version of the M119 was brought down to 4196cc, was a bit less wild and, crucially, lacked the flared fenders that meant the 500 E could not be built on M-B’s regular W124 line. The price was consequently much lower, but so was the prestige, in a way…
In late 1993, the entire W124 family was facelifted; the easiest to spot change being the switch from orange to transparent front turn signals housings. Consistent with Mercedes’ new nomenclature, the 400 E and 500 E became the E 420 and the E 500 (as seen and caught above and below this very month). Model year 1994 was the final one for Japan and the US, though the big W124s carried over into 1995 for other markets.
There was only one even more exclusive E-Class: the 1993-94 AMG E 60, with its 380hp 6-litre V8. The 500 E / E 500 was not a hit in its home country, but over 1500 were shipped to America and Japan received about 1200 between 1992 and 1994 – the only two markets where the model topped 1000 sales.
Japanese sources claim that there was such an appetite for these cars here that many more were privately imported. Some claim that about a third of the 10,479 units made between 1990 and 1995 have now made it to Japan, which, if even ball-parkingly true, is quite startling. It’s worth noting that some of the cars featured in this post lack a yellow Yanase sticker, which one regularly finds on M-Bs imported from new into this country, like on the 500 E above that I caught back in November.
And it’s a fact that I’ve seen a few 500 Es about Tokyo, whereas I don’t know that I had ever seen one before I moved here last year. The majority of W124s prowling the pavement here are still of the 4-, 5- or 6-cyl. kind, but it seems this is the only country that really took a shine to the chunky V8 cars, no doubt because it’s the ultimate Schläfer for the sizable population of wealthy Benz otaku living in Tokyo.
Personally, the 500 E leaves me nonplussed. I don’t see the need to go from 0 to 100kph in 6 seconds, I’m not particularly keen on flared fenders in general and losing the rear middle seat feels rather silly for a four-door car. That’s ok; it just leaves more of these monsters for people who love them. Give me a W109 instead – even a 6-cyl. one. I’m not picky.
Related posts:
In-Motion Classic: Mercedes 500E – Not Your Average W124, by Chris O’Bryant
Curbside Classic: Mercedes W124 (1985-1996 E-Class) The Best Car Of The Past Thirty Five Years, by PN
COAL: 1992 Mercedes 400E – The Sleeper Jim Klein
Thanks Tatra. I never knew these MBs were quite special, and to learn anything new is always good. I share with you the fact that these cars leave me cold, their looks are too generic no matter how good the car may be.
Have to say I applaud your ability to write in depth about a car which “leaves me nonplussed”. That is a quality of a good writer.
A few things I noticed, in the picture of the car turning, the rear wheel camber looks off. In the close up of the end end, the panel gaps between the grille, bumper and hood looks large and uneven. Either MB built gray market cars to a lower standard or this car was in an accident.
I am surprised cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side is street legal in Japan.
Not only street legal, they’re a bit of a status symbol – but only for high-end European cars. American iron, with the exception of maybe Jeep, just didn’t have the quality to take advantage.
The other easy tell for a ’92 vs later models is 1992 was the last year for the separate grille that is grafted onto the front of the hood with the hood ornament mounted to the grille. From 1993 on the hood actually wraps around the grille separating it from the headlights and the hood ornament is mounted to the hood’s sheetmetal.
I adored my 1992 400E and in hindsight (such clarity!) never should have sold it. Of course I too wanted a 500E but it made zero sense financially from a used car purchase standpoint. In the intervening years, having learned more about the 400 and how little it really differs mechanically from the 500, makes it even more of a sleeper as there is no visual distinction between it and the W124s of the hoi polloi.
While the 500E did of course have more power than the 400E it isn’t that significant (322 vs 268 in 1992), and a bigger difference in their rates of acceleration is the final drive ratio, the 400E is geared much higher (and thus gets much better fuel economy, not that it’s a sipper). Either way, while quick for the early 1990s, the real beauty of the V8 cars comes in being able to step on it while already traveling at very high speeds and then feeling a rush of power still come on, truly built for the Autobahn or high speed passing and less so normal around town traffic.
While I can certainly enjoy newer MBs, having started with a W124 400E as my first MB kind of left a high water mark, with such marvelous build and component quality kind of makes the newer ones hard to measure up. I still would like a 500E (or E500) in my fantasy garage, but certainly wouldn’t mind my 400E back either.
I suspect part of the 500E’s issue in Europe was that at the same time the BMW M5 (E34) was on sale as well as the Audi S4 (C4) – the BMW being more overtly sporting and more established as such and the Audi as offering AWD while easily tunable to even greater power levels. Both were quite a bit less expensive as well. Both cars are excellent too, but note that with much hindsight both the E34 and C4 are sometimes noted as the W124 of their respective makers, never the other way around.
Great finds, T87, and good to see so many of them actually being used on the road.
The 500 E was pretty obviously a response to the 1986 AMG Hammer, which turned the W124 into a genuine supercar capable of trouncing just about any of them. It had a 6.0 L V8, which was based on the MB 5.5L V8, and crowned with AMG’s own DOC heads to make 355 hp. That gave it a 0-60 time of 5 seconds and a top speed of 178 mph. The Hammer made quite a splash. This was back when AMG was an independent tuner, before being bought by MB.
The 500 E was essentially a toned-down factory version. And it does not surprise me that so many have found loving homes in Japan. I suspect there’s probably a few Hammers lurking around too; maybe you’ll find one.
FYI, I saw a pair of head gaskets for the DOHC 117 AMG on a site in Japan recently, just under AUD$5000. AMG Japan did lots of cool things to cars in the early ’90s. Plenty of mint 500E on the auction sites in Japan and lots make the trip back to Europe. They are not cheap though.
W124 Mercedes is not doubt one of the best massive produced cars, one of my personal favorites all time. My goal is modest and will own a good copy of 320E (the last two years in US market) if opportunity shows up. I understand by today standard its high rev at high way driving could be annoying. 500E made in Porsche is good, and should call W124+. No clear if 400E was made by Porsche?
Those two cars in your article are all left hand drive models, not right hand drive models? Are those regular W124s in Japan right hand drive? Its popularity in Japan shows back then was in its economic bubble, over 1000 copies were sold!
One thing is if anyone knows what is the reason Mercedes used slightly smaller side mirrors on the passenger side. As far as I know W124 is only vehicle with this approach.
400E was built on the regular W124 assembly line.
036 chassis (500E, E500) only made in LHD. Asymmetrical mirrors are on W201 (190E) too, the driver’s is larger just to give more view. They are opposite on RHD cars.
Haven’t owned a 500E yet, but I’ve driven one, driven a few 400Es, owned a C4 S4 and an E34 540i, and W140 with the 5.0 M119… I’ll give my 2c: the 124 is better built than the E34, but the BMW is a better drive. The Audi was a good try, but they really cost about half what the 500E did, and it’s apparent. Speaking of cost, the 400E is 80-90% of the goodness of a 500E for 10-20% of the price in 2021. If you’re hankering for the 500E experience, try a 400E out, it’s pocket change!
Being predisposed to all things Mercedes and having owned several (but no prior 124), I started to be attracted to 124s about ten years ago. The MBCA “Star” was an influence. Paul provided advice, as did other gearheads I know. I have bought three – two 300CEs (one each M103 and M104) and a 300E (M103). Those are, of course, all inline sixes.
A neighbor had an “ruby metallic” E420. Though it was the next generation (W210, MY 1997) I wanted it. When she decided to sell I made an offer but unfortunately did not get the car. It had about 110K miles and looked new. It was so very subtle and, but for the badge and wheels, otherwise indistinguishable from a regular six cylinder E320. Missed a good one. I am used to that class of Mercedes V8 engine (M119); it is sublime. The 500E is also a M119, but as noted much more capable.
In the US there are often nice, used LHD Mercedes imported from Japan listed on various car websites. These include 500Es
Jeep is not known as America’s highest quality brand. The Chevy Astro was very popular in Japan, a car not exactly known for it’s precision engineering. I think you’re right about the status symbol, but like in America status and quality are not always the same thing. Jaguar, Audi and other European brands have high prestige value, but are not cars you want to have when the warranty runs out.
https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/chevy-astro-had-cult-following-japan-262424
For the Germans, it’s all very French, this, a farce of partial Mercedes’ careening all over Stuttgart in various states of undress. Imagine if the Brits had tried it? Well, you don’t have to in the ’70’s, where a half-complete Hillman imp would often-enough end up welded to Silver Shadow on their assembly journeys about the UK, with the result having to be sent into the middle of London for a craftsman at VDP to sew some wood and leather over the differences.
I agree that the result – We Widened It So You Could Have Less Seats – is somewhat silly, and as for the style, it looks an uber-expensive super-classy ’80’s suit where the pants have been heaved on over a pair of fat snowboots: “Look, mum, my distinctive square wheelarches have gone all round!”
Quite why the Japanese would pay big yen to sit on disliked cowhide on the wrong side of a car in for a bit higher top speed on autobahns that don’t exist is a mystery wrapped inside an enigma inside a traffic jam.