240D's different body style??
 

so today i went to class and parked next to another beautiful 240D the guy had the same idea i did, with stripping the nasty paint on the hubs and polishing them.

any whooo.
so i was looking at the back ends and his was defenently an ameri version and mines a EURO, but the back ends look different, mine is higher then his. actully when i compair, my rear end looks more like a rear end of a w124 or w126?? the next body style after the w123, when the 190's came out, not sure the correct W### number.

is this because maybe the other 240D is an eailer model?? and mine is a later model? it very wierd, the cruves look a tad different to. maybe im just blind.:stupid: :stupid:

The 240D's of 76 and before are the W115 chassis, you have a W123

yea i know, but mine looks more like the next body style in the back, sorry its hard to explain. what i guess im trying to say is it looks more like the back end of a 190D than the 240D i was parked to today. what im saying is was there a body style change from i believe 1978 when the W123's came out until around 83 when the 240D's were not being made anymore?

From 84+ the 240D was replaced with the (W201) 190D 2.2, 2.5, and 2.5T.

That's for the North American market at least. The 240D was manufactured until 1985 for other markets.

although very similar in many ways yes, the 123 does sit higher in back than the 115. and yes it kindof is leaning in the direction of the next generation if you sit them all side by side and look at the styling.

tom w

but what im trying to say, was there any difference in the 240D styleing on the W123 body style from when it was first produced until the last year it was profuced? b/c this other 240D looked different from mine, but only slighly. maybe it was the big bumper or somthing. just wanted to know

Pictures?

nope, I don't think so

I think the later 240's had chrome strips under the taillights, alloy wheels, and different climate control knobs.

the sheet metal didnt change. the euro bumpers completely change the way they look though. i dont think the chrome under the taillights was used on 240s. only 300s i think.

tom w

Actually people there is a difference.
The body panel although interchangeable are actually a tad different as well as the materials between what i would call the 1st and 2nd edition W123.

When the W123 came out in Europe at the end of 1975 (and not 1976 or 77 as many will be answering)the rear end was actually a very slightly modified W114/115 tail. That runs untils 1981 when the 300D started receiving the turbos, and the climate controls mods (which are the only two really obvious signs of the switch in the USA). In euro models the "edition" change is more obvious because in 1981 a boat load of options were added as well as most interior were updated. A lot of color options were also dropped at that time. Rust proofing was also changed that year.

I know for sure that the body panels are not the same because a friend of mine in France tried to switch the inside fender panels from a 1979 200 (carburetor gasser) to a 1980 240D and found significantly different attachment points in the underpinnings and different door panelling folding.
Rear quarters were also stamped in a very subtle different way, which make the cars have a different feel. He speculated that the model or even the design was not really changed but the tooling must have been modified.

That couple of years correspond also to the switch from the long timer W116 to the upgraded W126 which may explain the upgrade in materials.

that is interesting.

do you have pictures that show the differences?

tom w