Today's car of the day is Welly's 1984 Mercedes-Benz 190E.
The Mercedes-Benz W201 was a sports sedan/compact executive car manufactured by Mercedes-Benz from 1982–1993, positioned below the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and S-Class — and marketed under variants of the Mercedes 190 nameplate.
The W201 featured a patented rear 5-link suspension, subsequently used in E and C class models, front and rear anti-roll bars, anti-dive and anti-squat geometry — as well as available airbags, ABS brakes and seatbelt pretensioners.
The W201 enjoyed strong sales in Europe but fared poorly in the United States. Series production ended April 13, 1993 after the manufacture of approximately 1.8 million examples. The 190 and its variants were succeeded in the compact executive car segment by the C-Class, a newly created nameplate.
For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Mercedes-Benz 190E
Another recent RAOK from bangerkid45 (thanks Jon!) this Mercedes-Benz is probably inspired by someone else's casting, as most Wellys of the era were. Unfortunately, I'm not sure exactly what the inspiration for this model was. I was thinking the Corgi, but that casting's far too wide and chunky to have inspired this one. I don't know of a Tomica Mercedes of this generation, so I'm open to suggestions.
Back in the late 1970s, Mercedes competed in rallying with the big V8-powered Coupés of the R107 Series, mainly the light-weight Mercedes 450 SLC 5.0. Mercedes wished to take the 190 E rallying, and asked British race car engineering company Cosworth to develop an engine with 320 bhp (239 kW) for the rally car. This project was known as project "WAA" by Cosworth". During this time, the Audi Quattro with its all wheel drive and turbocharger was launched, making the 2.3-16v appear over-matched. With a continued desire to compete in high-profile motor sport with the 190, and also now an engine to do it with, Mercedes turned to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) (German Touring Car Championship) motor sport series instead. Cars racing in this championship, however, had to be based on a roadgoing model. Mercedes therefore had to put into series production a 190 fitted with a detuned version of the Cosworth engine. This high performance model was known as the 190 E 2.3-16, and debuted at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September 1983, after its reputation had already been established. Three cars, only slightly cosmetically altered, had set three world records in August at the Nardo testing facility in Italy, recording a combined average speed of 154.06 mph (247.94 km/h) over the 50,000 km endurance test, and establishing twelve international endurance records. The Mercedes 190-E Cosworth was also featured on the second episode in season fifteen of the extremely popular car show Top Gear.
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