A very clean W140 Mercedes-Benz S500, seen in the far west of the Chinese capital Beijing. The big S was in great shape, smooth in paint, and completely original down to its wheels.
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The W140 was manufactured from 1991 until 1998, it was also the first S-class that Mercedes-Benz officially sold in China. Most were sold to the government or to state-owned companies.
Today many are in private hands but it is becoming very hard to keep them legally on the road. The latest environmental regulations all but ban the W140 from the big cities, so sadly some will be scrapped and others end up in the countryside.
The S500 was powered by a 5.0 liter V8 engine, with an output of 335hp and 480nm.
It is rare to see a high-end S-Class in China without leather seats, but here it is! Happily, everything seems to be in a good condition, including the wood and the all-black steering wheel.
Note the ‘140’ in the license plate. I doubt that is a coincidence…
On each side sit the famous rear-parking markers, or guide rods. These rods popped up from the rear corners of the fender when in reverse. The idea was that this would help the driver to estimate where the rear of the vehicle was.
It didn’t really work that well, the rods where relatively small and they didn’t exactly sit on the very rear of the car, making the whole setup somewhat pointless. In 1995, this system was replaced by the sonar-based Parktronic system.
But the good thing is: whenever you see a W140 with these rods, you know it is a pre-1995 model. Makes life easy…
Have you seen a similar Mercedes-Benz in Beijing? Show us! you can upload images in the comments below.