W124 beards - is this an OBC?

[Hammerhead]

On a recent trip to Mercedes Welt, Stuttgart, I happened upon one of their retail classic W124s and having a nosey through the glass, noticed this computer/OBC/check systems thingy. I've never seen one in a UK car before. Does anyone of the W124 beardship know anything about it/its functions?

[Doofus]

Yes. Range, MPG and so on. I've only ever seen them on LHD cars, with German writing, so I don't know if they were ever on UK models.

[r129sl]

Not offered in the UK market, I expect because it is all metric. Operated by a little keypad between the window switches. A similar device was available on 126 and 129 chassis (on the 129 the display is found in the sunglasses compartment). Again, LHD only.

Edit, the rev counter moves to the multi-gauge display and the analogue clock is replaced by the fuel gauge; a digital clock within the speedo takes its place. The economy-meter is lost. This can all just about be seen in your picture but see here. I think it was called a kombi-instrument.



Here are the controls:

Edited by r129sl on Monday 20th February 18:35

[Hammerhead]

Excellent stuff, r129sl. Very informative. I quite like the rev counters position & size in that cluster, though the OBC looks, well, clunky next to the other simple but effective dials. The UK cluster looks better overall.