It came to be a beloved modern classic – including at WIKING. How fortunate it was that Fritz Peltzer developed a fondness for it right after the then brand new series launched in the seventies. While the predecessor series had already been available in the passenger vehicle selection, the W123 immediately came off as more refined than its forerunner when it was unveiled as a 1:87-scale model. Anyone taking a seat in the real-world original is sure to be amazed as to how straight the 240 D allows them to sit. Even the rear bench seat does not force the passengers to make any concessions. Perhaps it was precisely the then criticized similarity to its predecessor that made the W123 so successful following its reveal in the spring of 1976. In the months that followed, the Mercedes-Benz owners seemingly rushed to the dealers in order to place their orders as quickly as possible. The waiting time for the customer temporarily surged to over two years. As a matter of fact, factory employees were able to sell their nearly new cars above the list price for new vehicles - even if they had racked up more than 10,000 kilometres. Observers at the time reported scenes where wholesale buyers waited - money cases in hand - in front of the company gate after the end of the shift to take over the vehicles and then dash off after rapidly loading the vehicles onto a ready-to-go platform truck. Mercedes-Benz gave their customers a choice between several diesel engines, such as the 200 D, the 240 D, and the 300 D. While the 220 D was available only for a short time, the 300 TD later rolled into the selection as Europe’s first turbodiesel model. The model WIKING logically selected to turn into a miniature is the 240 D, as it came to be the best-selling W123, selling 454,780 units of the 2,696,915 units overall.

Body gentian blue, chassis silver. Interior with integrated steering wheel and long shelf in beige. Body design enhanced with ornamental strips, silver Mercedes-Benz star and “240 D” model designation on the rear. Front indicators and tail lights painted by hand.