Why The Mercedes W124 500E Is a Modern Classic (4K)

[Music] in this video i will go over the fascinating story of the mercedes-benz 500e as well as the e60 amg then i will discuss what 500e buyers should look out for in today's market [Music] the w124 was the hallmark of the golden era of mercedes-benz styled by bruno sacco the design was pure and the engineering and manufacturing process of the w124 was world renowned however mercedes did not have a high performance version of the car despite the growing popularity of the bmw m5 meanwhile a small tuner named amg created a stir with its w124 300e 5.6 hammer super sedan the innovative four valve heads on its m117 v8 engine produce an incredible 355 horsepower and 358 pound-feet of torque for the end of 1986 top speed was recorded at 180 miles an hour making it one of the fastest cars in the world its performance was at the level of supercars of the day but so was its astronomical price of around 160 000 us dollars at the time by the summer of 1987 amg cemented their status as the ultimate mercedes tuner with the six-liter hammer putting out 380 horsepower and 417 pound-feet of torque and capable of 187 miles an hour mercedes themselves took notice and wanted to capitalize on the performance trend and send a message to munich by producing the 500e mercedes already had a state of the art engine in development slated for 1989 with their own four valve heads it was the five-liter v8 engine for the upcoming 500 sl it was to be mercedes most powerful engine and featured variable intake valve timing for 322 horsepower this engine would also gain a strong racing pedigree has modified twin turbo virgins and the sauber mercedes c9 would go on to secure a 1-2 win at le mans in 1989 [Music] using the m119 engine from the sl in the lighter weight e-class was an ideal formula for performance but turned out to be more difficult than mercedes anticipated mercedes had never put a v8 engine into a mid-size sedan before and the w124 was only engineered for small in-line engines design capacity at mercedes at the time was taken up by the development of the upcoming w140 nonetheless mercedes still wanted to produce the 500e and looked for assistance with the project initially in late 1987 reportedly amg was approached to build the 500d this made sense because amg was already modifying w124s to carry powerful v8 engines however amg did not have the production capacity as it was still a small firm at the time mercedes wanted to build over 2500 ease per year and amg was just too small for that the following year in 1988 mercedes contracted porsche also based in stuttgart to execute the 500e project taking the 124 300e as a base mercedes together with porsche developed and tested structural changes to make the m119 drivetrain work in the 500e the engine compartment had a thickened firewall to add body rigidity the engine cradle was widened and reinforced to carry the 5-liter v8 the engine was also pushed as far back as possible in the car the battery was relocated to the trunk in a new compartment as the car's computers took its place the driveline tunnel was expanded to fit the dual exhaust catalysts of the v8 the floor of the car was reinforced as well as the rear axle carrier panel mercedes chief engineer dr wolfgang peter in a 1991 interview confirmed that porsche did take on a portion of the 500es engineering and chassis design essentially getting the mercedes-made components to work in the car and ensure smooth production the m119.974 engine from mercedes had specific changes for the 500b compared to the sl the deck height of the crankcase was lowered and paired with shortened connecting rods for a more compact engine the oil pan was revised among other parts also in the name of a more compact engine a new intake runner and bosch lh jetronik management meant that the 500e had 22 pound-feet of torque more than the sl the power output of the 5 liter dual overhead cam v8 was 322 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque the four-speed 722.3 automatic transmission was also borrowed from the 500sl as were the disc brakes with four piston calibers up front the rear axle ratio was a shorter 2.82 to 1 compared to the 2.65 to 1 in the sl the suspension was enhanced for the 500e it caught the heavier steering knuckles steering linkage and rear axle crossmembers from the sl the 500e was lowered by one inch on stiffer coil springs up front and was controlled by hydraulic self-leveling struts in the rear the car featured a tandem pump driven off the engine that supplied hydraulic pressure to the power steering and the rear suspension the steering ratio was a reasonably quick 14.5 to 1. the front and rear tracks of the 500e were widened by 1.5 inches wider fenders were fitted to the front and rear of the 500e as well as bumpers front and rear to match the 500d initially came from the factory with one wheel option the 8 by 16 inch eight hole wheels inside the 500e was fitted with sport seats supplied by recaro only two passenger seating in the rear was implemented in the 500e otherwise the interior stayed relatively similar to the 300e once the 500d was developed the major design overhaul on the chassis meant that these changes would have to be done by hand in production porsche executed the plan and built the 500es the mercedes factory was lacking capacity for a low production specialty car like the 500e the normal w124 production line would have been too disrupted by all of the structural changes that would have to be made on each 500e also porsche's facilities were underutilized at the time due to financial trouble thus the timing was right for both parties so the basic w124 body shells were shipped to porsche's rosso bow assembly plant in zuffenhausen the w124 shells were assembled on wheeled pallets moved by hand between workstations the electric spot welding was done by hand to get the cars to 500 e spec upon assembly all of the body panels returned by truck across town to sindelfingen for corrosion proofing and painting at daimler benz ag's finished facility then the cars went back to porsche along with their mercedes-benz assembled engine transmission and rear axles for final assembly and testing after that the cars returned to centolfingen for final inspection this production process took 18 days to build each 500e with roughly 12 cars being completed per day the 500e launched at the paris motor show in october of 1990. it was immediately flooded with praise by the motoring press the powerful m119 engine could launch the 3 800 pound sedan to 60 miles an hour in less than six seconds and pulled to an electronically limited top speed of 155 miles an hour [Music] 1991 was the first official model year of the 500e with an introductory price of 134 000 deutsche marks many options were offered for the euro version from leather seats to a sunroof to an electric rear sunshade among many others for 1992 the 500e was introduced into the north american market with a base price of around eighty thousand dollars which made it about twenty thousand dollars more expensive than the bmw m5 the us cars came fully loaded though with standard features a full leather interior sunroof sound package and automatic climate control were among the standard us features a cd changer and cellular telephone were the only dealer installed options available the us version like other w124s had different headlights corner lights and headlight wipers relative to the euro versions also usa and japan delivery cars had no engine oil cooler due to the lower speed limits in both countries and be deemed the oil cooler unnecessary auto journalists in the u.s market continued their high praise of the 500e current driver magazine was impressed by the 500 e's performance they recorded a 0-60 time of 5.5 seconds and crossed the quarter mile in 14.1 at 101 miles an hour in 1992. compare that to the 14.5 seconds at 99 miles an hour for the ferrari 348 ts from october 1992 the engine output was lowered slightly to 315 horsepower and 347 pound-feet in order to reduce both fuel consumption and pollutant emissions this was due to the elimination of full throttle enrichment programming in late 1993 the front brakes were upgraded from 11.8 inch to 12.6 inch from the 600sl euro euro-spec cars also got larger rear brakes but the u.s japan spec cars stayed the same in the rear for model year 1994 the 500e was given a facelift and now called the e-500 the hood front grille and lights were updated for the facelift the bumper impact strips were now also painted body color the trunk lid as well as the badging of the car was updated other changes were made as well also for 1994 the optional e500 limited model was introduced with three unique interior leather upholstery options and other exclusive touches under the vin number these cars carry code 958 500e limiteds were offered with the 8.5 by 17 inch aluminum wheels which did a better job of filling the wheel arches compared to the standard wheels e500 limiteds were also offered with bird's eye wood trim inside and bespoke door sill covers 1994 was the final u.s model year for the e-500 production of the e-500 was officially discontinued in april of 1995 however the last car ever to leave the factory was reportedly in september of 1995. by this time e500s would have been produced alongside the audi rs2s just 10 479 units left the factory in zuffenhausen and porsche still retains one limited example to this day [Music] moving on to production by year as we can see in this graph 1992 was the main year of production as the car was introduced to the us market in terms of where 500 e's were originally delivered germany was the dominant market the united states japan and switzerland followed as the next three top markets now moving on to production distribution by color as we can see dominating this graph is the black pearl metallic option followed by the brilliant silver metallic option this chart then shows the range of the next top colors next moving on to production by interior color black leather dominates 500d production followed by gray leather and the cream beige leather [Music] the 500e was conceived prior to the mercedes merger with amg but by 1993 mercedes had secured a controlling interest in amg and entered into a cooperative partnership with them to develop new models together thus mercedes officially sold e60 amgs in their own showrooms for the 1994 model year the e60 was a radical departure for amg because of its standardized spec compared to older amgs that were individually built to order based on the e500 the e60 had its m119 engine punched out to six leaders with a larger board and stroke as well as new pistons connecting rods and crankshaft amg ported and gas flowed the m119 heads and tuned the inlet manifold higher lift camshafts were fitted as well as a better flowing exhaust system horsepower climbed up to 375 and torque to 428 pound-feet 0-60 times for the e60 dropped by about half a second compared to the standard e500 the transmission valve body was revised for firmer shifts the suspension was upgraded with stiffer springs shocks and a thicker front stabilizer bar a 300 kilometer per hour gauge cluster was fitted to some e60s however now as part of it being an official mercedes product a 250 kilometer an hour or 155 mile per hour electronic speed limiter was fitted to e60 amgs three-piece amg 0z 17 by 8.5 wheels were offered for the e60 the price rose to about 180 000 deutsche mark for the e60 all e60 amg models as sold by mercedes-benz must include the 957 amg technology package on their mercedes bin data card if an e60 does not have this code but has a 6 liter engine the modifications were likely done by amg after the car was initially purchased as a regular e500 vendetta indicates that 147 e60 amgs were produced with the 957 code it is believed that 45 e 500 limiteds became e60 amgs as 45 cars carry both the 957 and 958 codes under their vin number when inspecting one of the official e60 amg's the engine number must match the vin number as indicated in the original data card in the service book as well as the production tag in the trunk e60 amg engines were factory fitted and not retrofitted with different block serial numbers beyond the e60 amg there were a few amg cars built prior to the 93 agreement using 500 ease as base cars to create amg 500e 6 liters in 1991 and 1992 with a similar power plant when looking at 500 ease there are quite a few things to consider most 500 e's came standard with 16 by 8 wheels however many owners feel that these wheels do not take advantage of the 500 significantly wider fenders thus many 500 e's on the market will be outfitted with wheels from later r129s or w21055s or even amg multi-piece wheels as seen on this 500d you'll also see many cars with an asr defeat switch added as the standard system is always on while the 500e is known for its superb quality there are still some things to look out for as these are near 30 year old cars and some problems are just inevitable due to age on the engine the electronic throttle actuator can fail and needs to be replaced eventually due to internal wear and heat damage to the wiring the upper and lower wiring harnesses on the engine become brittle and will need to be replaced at some point the mass airflow meter can also fail due to old age at some time around late 1992 mercedes used plastic cam oilers at the cam lobes rather than metal ones of the earlier cars the plastic tubes tend to pop out and make ticking noises and should be addressed at some point there is no clear cutoff point for this change with the cam oilers while the transmission on the 500d is dependable it will likely be damaged if the fluid surfaces were not conducted regularly the power steering or sls pump is known to leak on these cars the hydraulic sls suspension in the rear is also known to be problematic due to leaking gas spheres or lines additionally front and rear suspension bushings should be checked for wear in any 500 the air conditioning evaporator coil can leak and it is difficult to replace other than these things when looking at a 500d it's the obvious such as looking for corrosion or accident damage this may sound like a bit of a long list but again these are almost 30 year old cars and many of these items might have already been taken care of by now so check service records very closely when it comes to pricing these cars there is a huge range prices are determined by mileage condition originality and the specification of the 500e or e500 that you're looking at high mileage well-driven 500ds sit around 20 000 to 25 000 on the us market these examples are still well maintained cars but do have some cosmetic flaws inside as well as some potential mechanical fixes outstanding expect 100 to 200 or more thousand miles medium mileage cars maybe under 100 000 miles can fetch between 35 000 and 65 000 depending on their spec and condition these cars will generally have few flaws and good records collector grade 500es and e500s generally under forty thousand miles can run over eighty thousand dollars when presented well these cars will have no flaws and would likely be competitive at concord events the facelift e-500 cars especially the limiteds will have slightly stronger prices in the market compared to the older 500es also having documented rentec or brevis upgrades will add value to any 500e at the top of the range e60 amg 957 cars fetch huge money especially with low mileage this example recently sold for about 180 000 us dollars including auction fees some dealers ask way above this for their e60s 500 e's that were converted by amg that are not original 957 cars still have strong value 85 000 usd including fees for this example with roughly 90 000 miles again these are rough price ranges and there are definitely outliers whether high or low nonetheless what is clear is that the market respects 500 e's right now these cars have a lot going for them a cool story great styling and a reputation of quality all while having relatively modern performance and usability the 500e is right at the sweet spot for a modern classic car i hope you enjoyed this close look at everything about the 500e thanks for watching and if you want to support the channel buy a sticker from my store link is in the description otherwise subscribe for more videos like this [Music] you

Channel: AMGmeister

Views: 275,549

Rating: 4.9271026 out of 5

Keywords: amg, mercedes, used mercedes, reliable, engine problems, performance car, 500e, mercedes 500e, e500, e60 amg, e60, m119, classic mercedes, collector mercedes, r129, sl500, 500sl, w124, w210, w140, w201, hagerty, sport sedan

Id: d87NFdsfQyo

Length: 21min 36sec (1296 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 29 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/videopro10]

I'm sorry, that position is taken by the W123.

[u/pekak62]

Is this the motor used in the Luc Besson film Taxi?