Morocco encouraging taxi drivers to scrap Mercedes w123s

[billhard]

Article here, sad to loose so many W123's.

[CalicoJack]

Yeah, I heard about that...damn depressing in my book. Does anyone know what they're doing with the cars they take off the roads? If they scrap them all like they did with Cash for Clunkers, I may start to cry.

[Mxfrank]

If you'd ever been to Morocco, you wouldn't be upset. These cars are beat hard. The bodies may be preserved by dry weather, but I bet there isn't a straight fender among the 20,000 123's they have on the road. And the mechanicals are simply used up. A taxi carrying a single passenger is rare, except maybe for airport cabs picking up foreign tourists. More typically, the cars will be packed with people, and they'll travel immense distances on crappy desert roads like that. Here's a story I wrote about a fueling stop in Morocco:

Refueling

[Skippy]

Originally Posted by Mxfrank

If you'd ever been to Morocco, you wouldn't be upset. These cars are beat hard. The bodies may be preserved by dry weather, but I bet there isn't a straight fender among the 20,000 123's they have on the road. And the mechanicals are simply used up. A taxi carrying a single passenger is rare, except maybe for airport cabs picking up foreign tourists. More typically, the cars will be packed with people, and they'll travel immense distances on crappy desert roads like that. Here's a story I wrote about a fueling stop in Morocco:

Refueling

That reminds me of the period in 2007 that I drove a Paystar hauling gravel in Iraq. Overloaded? Hells yes! I drove an extremely well-built truck hauling way too much of a load over "roads" that would qualify as trails in the US. We managed to crack a Holland 5th wheel straight down the middle. My own truck had a bit over 40,000 miles, and the welds on the frame were letting go. On US roads with DOT and OSHA oversight, this truck would have probably been good for 500,000 miles or more. Under Iraqi conditions, it probably went to DRMO with less than 50,000.

[t walgamuth]

When I was in Morroco in 1973 they had a lot of big Chryslers....mid fifties running around as taxies with little four cylinder engines. I used to see them running cross country with eight passengers or so crammed in.

[Mxfrank]

I loved every minute of my time in Morocco, but not the place to look for cars. If you want to import a car from a place where it may have recieved lots of TLC in a past life, try Argentina:

Autos Antiguos Mercedes Benz

[efm-7]

My main concern is that's a lot of w123s that parts MGFs will lose business on, and thus discontinuation of w123 parts - we might have even less options for parts after all this.

[mespe]

So the government wants the taxi drivers to get minivans that seat 7. guess what, there will be 10 passengers in each of those minivans.
Now which is safer a benz with 7 people in it, or a minivan with 10?

[pawoSD]

The modern cars they are trying to get them to replace their W123's with will never last remotely as long, and will cost much more to maintain. Should be interesting if their plan even works. Despite the big "perk" $$ for turning in a W123, the costs beyond that would be much higher. I bet it won't make much a of an impact...people will just keep their W123's anyways.

[TheDon]

Oh man I need that non zebrano trim and all of the manual transmissions, and glass, and nuts and bolts

[dkr]

One of the reports cited they would be building the local economy and helping the environment.

There's a considerable amount of local economy being built by keeping these cars on the road -- such as mechanics, parts, rebuilding, etc. And as for the environment, how will it help to buy a ****box with worse fuel economy that's just going to die when the warranty runs out?

Dkr.

[ROLLGUY]

Originally Posted by pawoSD

The modern cars they are trying to get them to replace their W123's with will never last remotely as long, and will cost much more to maintain. Should be interesting if their plan even works. Despite the big "perk" $$ for turning in a W123, the costs beyond that would be much higher. I bet it won't make much a of an impact...people will just keep their W123's anyways.

Sounds exactly what the "Cash For Clunkers" did for our country. So many vehicles just wasted, and it only made the remaining supply of used parts cost us more. I guess that "helps" the economy?

[strelnik]

Originally Posted by Mxfrank

I loved every minute of my time in Morocco, but not the place to look for cars. If you want to import a car from a place where it may have recieved lots of TLC in a past life, try Argentina:

Autos Antiguos Mercedes Benz

Did you see the prices for those cars?
8,000 for a W115 220D? Really? 120K on it?

I'm taking my W123 down there and retire

[t walgamuth]

When I was there in Morroco in 1973 we were traveling in a black 61 220b that I bought in Brussels. it ran pretty well but had one cylinder which would oil the plug and foul after not enough miles. The seats were in great condition but the body was pretty rusty, enough that when it rained the rear foot wells would fill up.

One day we were driving along a street in (was it?) Marakech and I spotted the nose of another black fintail in an open garage. It looked nice so I pulled over to check it out.

It was a diplomatic car as it had flag holders on the front. I did not see how many miles it had but it was immaculate, like new there in the desert air.

I just sighed as I got into my rusty fintail and drove on.

[Shortsguy1]

Originally Posted by strelnik

Did you see the prices for those cars?
8,000 for a W115 220D? Really? 120K on it?

I'm taking my W123 down there and retire

I actually couldn't find that specific car you mentioned. But they have both a w115 station wagon and a w115 pickup truck, both of which are pretty awesome if you ask me. I wonder what the acceptable payload is for a 220d pickup?