Can't blame them, that was back when Mercedes made the best (mass produced) cars around and it was the peak of the "gogo 80's" era. Toyota wanted a piece of that sweet, new money, yuppie action. In terms of ride quality and quietness, those old LS cars beat the by-then aging W126 design quite handily. They are pretty nice cars to drive nowadays too. At least they're proper RWD, V8 powered vehicles.

Nowadays it is Hyundai that is doing the copying with their Genesis and the upcoming Equus, only it isn't as blatant since most luxury cars look pretty similar.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi