Launched in January 1976, the Mercedes W123 sedan is celebrating its 50th anniversary. In the spring of 1977 it was followed by the Coupé (C123), and in the autumn of 1977 by the first station wagon in Mercedes history (S123). With 2.7 million units produced, the Mercedes W123 is the most successful model in the brand’s history.
In January 1976, Mercedes unveiled the new W123 sedan in Bandol, in southern France.
The history of Mercedes mid-size sedans began in 1953 with the W120 (Ponton 180, produced until 1962), followed by the W110 (1961), W114, W115 (1968), and W123 (1976).
In the spring of 1977, the coupé version (C123) was introduced, and in the autumn of 1977 the station wagon version appeared—the first T-Model (S123) in Mercedes history.
Between November 1975 and January 1986, a total of 2,696,915 units were produced, of which 2,375,440 were sedans, 199,517 station wagons, and 99,884 coupés. Few people know that there was also a long-wheelbase version, the V123, with 7,020 units produced. The best-selling versions were the Mercedes 240 D with 448,986 units, the Mercedes 230 E with 442,000 units, and the Mercedes 200 D with 378,000 units, while the rarest was the 280 C Coupé with only 3,704 units built.
The Mercedes W123 was produced in Sindelfingen as well as in South Africa, China, and Thailand. Sedan production ended in November 1985, while coupé and station wagon production ended in January 1986.
The successor to the W123 was the W124, which received the E-Class name for the first time with its facelift in August 1993.
The design of the Mercedes W123, signed by Friedrich Geiger, borrowed styling elements from the Mercedes S-Class of the time (W116). From a technical standpoint, the W123 featured a newly developed safety steering column and seat-belt buckles mounted directly on the seat fittings. From 1980, the W123 could be equipped with ABS, and from 1982 with a driver airbag.
The dashboard was classic, with three large gauges placed behind a single plastic cover, two round central air vents, and a single row of control switches in the center of the central console.
The Mercedes W123 was praised for its high-quality finish, excellent suspension tuning, and the generous sense of space in the interior.
Both diesel and gasoline engines were available. The diesel range consisted of four-cylinder engines—the 200 D (very popular as a taxi), 220 D, and 240 D—as well as the five-cylinder 300 D. In 1979, the turbo-diesel version of the 300 D was introduced.
The gasoline lineup initially included carbureted four-cylinder versions (200, 230) and six-cylinder versions (250, 280), later replaced by fuel-injected models: the four-cylinder 230 E and the six-cylinder 280 E.
The Mercedes W123 became renowned for its exceptional reliability, with many cars used as taxis reaching 500,000 km without issues. Later, these vehicles were exported to Africa and third-world countries, where they continued to operate without problems, coping well with poor roads and being easy and simple to maintain. Mercedes W123 examples can still be seen on the streets of African countries today.
In 1977, two Mercedes 280 E cars won the famous London–Sydney endurance rally, held over six and a half weeks across a distance of 30,000 km on three continents—Europe, Asia, and Australia. The winning vehicle of the Andrew Cowan / Colin Malkin / Mike Broad team from 1977 can now be seen at the Mercedes-Benz Museum.
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