The Mercedes 300 CE-24 Cabriolet of the 124 series – precisely the A124, while the sedan from which it derives is called W124 – turns 30, as it was presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1991, seven years after the notchback version. Its arrival on the market filled a void created in 1971, when the W111 / W112 that combined the four seats with open-air driving went out of production. In 1993 the name of the 300 CE-24 Cabriolet changed to E-Class Cabriolet, following the new nomenclature of the Stuttgart company, inaugurated a few months earlier with the C-Class. The project was developed together with Porsche, with whom Mercedes had already collaborated for the 500 E which produced 326 hp and was the ancestor of today’s AMGs. Returning to the convertible, technically it derived from the coupé version, from which it differed in about a thousand components, modified to meet the stringent requirements in terms of passive safety and comfort despite the absence of the roof.
The weight difference between the two was about 230 kg, to the disadvantage of the open version, which in fact, with the same engine, lost a second in the sprint from 0 to 100 km / h. The A and B-pillars were reinforced, along with the side frame side members, and several other reinforcements were added at key points. To reduce vibrations, four spring elements were installed in as many key points of the bodywork: on the dome of the left front suspension pillar, in the roof frame and in the rear trunk wells. An innovative roll bar (also patented) with linear operation was installed behind the rear seats; in the event of a rollover, two metal plates integrated in the rear head restraints are raised automatically in 0.3 seconds.
The soft top and its folding system – manual as standard, electric as an option and then standard since 1993 – added 43 kg and removed 80 liters from the luggage compartment. The rear window was made of glass, increasing overall ride comfort that was unmatched by four-seater convertibles. Initially under the hood of the 300 CE-24 Cabriolet there was only the 3-liter straight-six engine with 220 hp. Production began at the Sindelfingen plant in March 1992 and already in 1993 there was the first restyling with the change of name and the addition of three other versions. There was the 136hp E 200 Cabriolet for export to Greece, Italy and Portugal and then there was the 150hp E 220 Cabriolet, the 220hp E 320 Cabriolet and the 272hp E 36 AMG Cabriolet. The production ended in July 1997 after 33,952 pieces produced, of which 18,572 with a six-cylinder engine. Today the prices of a three-liter fluctuate around 20,000 euros.
