I'm curious, just how rare are 300E-24 Sportlines in USA (104 engine)?

Also, value-for-money/performance comparred to 300E (103 engine)?

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
1991 300E-24 Sportline, Metalic Charcoal
Premium Unleaded Ultra 98 octane
275.000 km[IMG]

The model designation 300E-24 has never been sold in the US. I have seen some of them marked that way in Europe. A similar car was sold here as a 300E and then later as the E320. The first year that they put the 104 engine in the 124 for the US market, it was still badged 300E. Some of them were sold with the sportline package. I think this is the same car, but a different designation.

G'day,

Zedx,

You should have asked this on on the forum in Oz and I could have answered it for you there.

As Larry correctly states, the 300E-24 was never sold in North America. The first W124 sedan they got with the M104 (24-valve) engine was in 1993 and had the 3.2-litre (HFM injected). Over there it was still simply badged 300E (since it was the replacement for the 300E with the 3-litre 12-valve M103) whereas in most of the rest of the world (as was the case here) it was badged 320E. With the final update to the W124 these became the E320. There was also a version with the 2.8 litre M104 and these were badged 300E-2.8 (there and here) but in some countries were badged 280E.

Getting back to your 300E-24, it has the first version of the M104 (3-litre 24-valve with KE-Jetronic injection) and was sold alongside the 300E (3-litre 12-valve M103) and was available here from late 1989. In North America they only got the early M104 in the 300CE (was badged 300CE-24 here) and the 300SL (may have been badged 300SL-24 as it was elsewhere). There was also a 300TE-24 in some markets but it was not available here (nor I believe in the US).

As for rarity, it is Sportline badge that makes yours fairly rare. Sportlines were only available in the W124 and W201 series and only from about 1989 to about 1994. They were relatively rare in most markets except perhaps Europe and the UK where they were fairly popular and even seen in the 124 wagons.

With regards to the M103 versus M104 (KE) versus M104 (HFM) that is a whole other story. Each has its advantages and disadvantages and this post is probably too long already. You could do a search of this forum where I know it has been discussed numerous times and you may also like to read my articles about the W124 on our Mercedes-Benz Club (NSW) forum http://www.mbcnsw.org.au/forum/ where I know you are already a member.

Greg

__________________
107.023: 350SLC, 3-speed auto, icon gold, parchment MBtex (sold 2012 after 29 years ownership).
107.026: 500SLC, 4-speed auto, thistle green, green velour.
124.090: 300TE, 4-speed auto, arctic white, cream-beige MBtex.
201.028: 190E 2.3 Sportline, 5-speed manual, arctic white, blue leather.
201.028: 190E 2.3, 4-speed auto, blue-black, grey MBtex.
201.034: 190E 2.3-16, 5-speed manual, blue-black, black leather.