Would do whatever design on this car deserves a place in paradise what. Else could he do to so i joke its. Not. Me. With my truck still going after 6000000 kilometers i spent more time caring for him my than my family i could afford to. I love to fly only one race car here because its a good car for the people only. On for a poor country boy like me. That. Mercedes calls them every day classics chorus from the latter part of the last century in germany theyre now collectors items but in north africa and latin america many are still in use as work courses helping people earn a wage. This is the Mother Church every year hundreds of thousands of car fans make the pilgrimage to stuttgart and the control center of mercedes. More than 130 years of automotive history are on display in the resale he spends museum. Among the 160 vehicles on display are legends like the 300 s. L. Prototypes that never went into production. And silver arrows that made motor racing history. The museum also boasts regular road going models from yesteryear restored to tip top condition and available for sale assuming youre ready to spend the price of a new car on a 40 year old model the stroke 8 is the germans called the new generation w one 114115 was launched in 1968. The egyptians called it can see it a piglet of all things because thats what they thought it looked like. Tariq law is a taxi driver he drives a mercedes 200. 00. Cairo on the nile the biggest city in africa on the longest river in the world. Tariq is a very special taxi driver his clothes are stylish as his car. His 59 his mercedes only 25 years younger. Hes been driving a cab for almost his entire working life. Tariq is not keen on new cars he calls them plastic cars that i just. You know in addition to ever very crazy you know sometimes i like. It i feel as. If it had been easy to have a good stop anybody catch me. Is there maybe is no copy but please name the full might. Just throw what. I like whats right. But study im more people here. Was it me dont be able to conduct in safety at legia you know just like just go to class acquire a digital one is like watch and sometimes we will certainly would like to show you she had such got the same exist. Is life. In Sharm El Sheikh and St Catharines monastery are half a days drive from cairo and like the pyramids popular tourist destinations. But the city itself is a juggernaut it has 20000000 inhabitants but hardly any see. Or tramlines public transport is minimal mean if you dont want to go by foot here you need a car or a taxi. There are over 50000 cabs in cairo. But drivers like tariq are now rare breeds because the state subsidizes new taxis that have catalytic converters. Egypt just fighting pollution a huge problem especially in cairo. The aim is to banish dirty older models. Tariq has to keep his 200 running because theres no chance he could register and another old mercedes as a taxi. For him a worrying prospect. Leave. It plus the. News. That. The banks agenda every few months for months you like to change gods love to exist. That is they just wouldnt change a good. 80 years but from time to time torak does still have to take his mercedes to the garage. After all it has about half a 1000000 kilometers on the clock. On. The trunk lid is jammed a minor problem and one thats quickly fixed was tonics 200 is one of the last in cairo but in the nile delta he says theres a city full of old mercedes models 50 years after the new generation series came out. Of the look of. Design nama metsi to spend time on the trip to. So im afraid to. Time low carb and im thousands. Yet starting a fork. Fork. Them from going to test me in front of the boxes. Maybe under that anon thats run through so much of our travel would include. Im scientist mother berms and the grahams and mother. Design mama thats a dispenser on the front which i know. So perfect your. Father. In the Mercedes Museum theres an entire area dedicated to the stroke and its successors theyre called every day heroes the bread and butter cars that once guaranteed mercedes sales. Along with the mass produced cars there are a few very special models in the exhibition. Such as this italian stroke 8 model we purposed as a hearse for some passengers final journey. The successor model was known internally as the w 123. Mercedes produced 2700000. 00 units almost half of them were exported from germany to 173. 00 countries at 1st customers would have to wait up to 3 years for delivery it was replaced by the w 124 this. Portuguese diesel powered taxi has driven 1900000 kilometers not that you know it. The w 124 has long been a collectors favorite. In the southern german town of putting the w 124 club holds its final news of the year in late summer a chance for members from the strokes heart region to meet their colleagues from the very at the club has just under a 1000 members throughout germany and those who have just won 124. 00 are in the minority in the world of course there was always a bit of snobbery involved when it comes to driving cars from a time when emissions were hardly an issue. That. We have to cruise a convertible it was a dance 6 cylinders 8 cylinders 4 cylinder diesel the whole range. I just enjoy driving and ive always loved cars. Even for me this is a wolf in sheeps clothing doesnt it alls and people wouldnt look twice if it said 200 diesel on the bag. But then you hit the gas pedal hard more cars because they got smoked. So if. Their car doesnt give much away never mind the bottle head or the missing name badge the bear numbers a 4. 2 leader v 8279 horsepower top speed 250 kilometers per hour. At 30 year old rocket. But the 124. 00 also has its weaknesses says a russian is an issue with our device anyone looking at these cars to avoid one with visible russia because that will be an endless money pit. Rust isnt an issue with these cars here nor is jealousy. Comes your view sometimes suffered from your husbands hobby with. Come on not as such hes always been a petrol head. But its also his job. I also like to drive fast or at least i used to there was hobbies than this is keep your mother healthy said this is. Because i own 1120 fours they sold one recently theyve basically packed it in on all fronts after half a 1000000 kilometers their phone was ringing off the hook. So they were all people from lebanon and jordan who take apart these cars and take them back home because importing complete vehicles into these countries is no longer possible. Complete foxworth avoiding to sell indonesia since these cars are still on the road theyre not they need the parts and here in germany there arent many left so when a car is sold for parts its the man does he. Just because a. Lot of people etc is always on the lookout for spare parts larby was born in morocco and has been living. Card for 40 years he drives a 986 w 124 wagon. You can still get new parts for my car and you can also get parts on ebay or from a scrap yard but cars not so well that you cant get spare parts anymore. As he sure but he sometimes comes up with the goods as he said usually sells whole cars used models in the low cost segments that are easy to repair many of them end up here interestingly through other countries but exporting to lot of these native morocco is becoming difficult. They must not be older than 5 years old and this car is very old no chance of it entering morocco. Many countries have similar import restrictions environmental factors are increasingly important but used car dealers are resourceful. A trader might show up lets say from egypt 20 plus vehicles takes them apart puts them in a shipping container transport them to egypt then puts them together again and sells them as normal cars. Or they welded well used yes. Thats one solution what is imported is not a whole used car but 2 halves considered spare parts larby is planning a trip to casablanca in his native morocco by car 3000 kilometers as the crow flies from start cart. One last check before the trip as the neighbors look on. Larvae as a trained car mechanic and worked for decades in a mercedes contracts no ranch house where he knows the 124 inside out you know just how old is it no i dont buy city one i was. Even so the cars flawless you can come with me in morocco theres enough space. So you know i think it would be all for commerce as a bit too much of a surprise for page law based neighbor. Looks like if your thought is so ill show you some pictures of morocco. Just to look at the whole car park is just w 123 taxi and see that theyre really starting with those who say. Well this is because of and thats casablanca downtown this used to be or you see only 123 is everywhere no matter where you looks. A. Bit of it but morocco just gets more beautiful every time i go there. Its my home after all so i must. Casablanca and industrial and commercial metropolis on the atlantic home to form 1000000 people and moroccos largest city. And its marvelous hometown. He grew up in the day absolute time neighborhood. He comes to visit once a year sometimes he comes alone sometimes with his wife and 2 sons marvie retired a few weeks ago in the future he plans to come to morocco not just for a few days but for a few months each year for. Local blokes who want to rocco is still my home but since my roots are here germany is my 2nd home to where i earn my living. So both morocco and germany have become my home and i cannot live without either of them but. One critic. Will choice this. Thats why every year he drives from one country to the other and back again with his mercedes which looks perfectly at home in morocco whereas in germany it almost seems like a relic from times past. Metsi to spin squad position even for going to. Be you know youd be limited to discuss a swipe fee just the right 1. 00 that. Her visit to feel no use to sue feet above the boots if you. Want to not need to feel that some of it and it was originally permissible. Now some believe that your photo shoots from the 1st in the old movie you both heard in the movie has. Been fairly busy we feel beautiful to. Be at home. Getting a gun to my. Back in casablanca the w 124 like the one larby drives is considered almost a new car here not least due to the price. The cityscape is dominated by the preceeding 123. Its nickname in morocco is the white shark. Theyre mostly used as call taxi which are generally booked for longer trips. They work according to the principle of shared taxi. Driver starts when the car is full. Most call taxi are mercedes 240 diesels. That issue did that this is the. Modern competitors are catching up vans made by red nose low priced romanian brand dacha are picking up the pace here. But the passengers swear by mercedes and the mercedes taxi driver some wait here for customers to moroccan style relaxing with a glass of coffee or a. Bag of that document maine is 59 years old and has been a taxi driver for almost half his life he drives daily from casablanca to eldara his native village about an hour away he travels 4 to 500 kilometers every day and his taxi seats up to 6 passengers 4 in the back 2 in the front. Of the truck that also drives a diesel the fuel is cheaper than gasoline or moroccos and ahmed white shark uses around 8 leaders per 100 kilometers thats hardly any worse than a new car. About. Those of. Us who do what you i looked at some new colors but i didnt like them. Compared to mercedes reliability is downright ridiculous. In the mercedes you can drive even 2 or 3000 kilometers without worrying about whether youll break down in the desert or somewhere. Of that. Youll always get where youre going. Although you were the ball. Hard to believe if you take a closer look at ahmeds car it is after all 36 years old. And it does not know how many kilometers its clicked the a dawn letter is broken. But nothing. Like. Enough. Cant we see him on the lookout for spare parts. The replacements but all matter perhaps larby can help his parts warehouse has nearly everything especially for the 240 diesel the most common model here but every year it gets harder to find used parts 10 years from now larby says there wont be anymore. He can still get a lot of parts from europe from cars that have been in accidents or were scrapped every 3 to 4 months he receives a delivery by ship the last one came a month ago and has almost been completely sold on. Unfortunately this white mudguard which could use comes from the wrong car the successor model. And then theres a problem with ahmeds 123 its leaking water but its not a cracked tows its something much worse the thermostat housing is corroded the surface all eaten away whats needed is a new part but that cost several 100. 00 drams or he can try the garage across the street. What follows is an introduction to moroccan improvise ation involving advanced aluminum welding the welding wire comes from an old alternator housing and its all done freehand. After a few minutes the corroded hose connectors are welded. They grind off the excess material. Thank you thank you. Now they only need to put together a seal and the thermostat housing can be reinstalled. The entire repair takes half an hour and costs around 6. 00 euros. Omelets mercedes is good to go. In morocco a lot of people live with all their savings and make a living off them but if the authorities have their way that wont be the case for much longer by other countries iraq who is fighting air pollution the state pays taxi drivers half of the Purchase Price if they buy a new car even so most cannot afford to replace their vehicles and cannot get a bank loan for assman a new car is out of the question. Ill be the last one to get rid of. The truth no way am i treating it. Thats because the car provides his income and his familys. Off med can afford an apartment in one of the better neighborhoods of casablanca he lives here with his wife and daughter and his mother in law and her nephew. The son lives in new york where he too works as a taxi driver but its not easy akhmed pays the quibble into 2 months earnings just for the job training for his daughter ayesha she wants to become a Flight Attendant a job where you have to know people are met says nothing happens in morocco without the right connections. I am. Sure. Life is expensive and difficult for taxi drivers. Nothing is provided for you here health care or unemployment pensions. These are all things that we have to cover ourselves. Already told very little. Morocco is a country in transition agriculture phosphate mining and tourism are the pillars of the economy as is illegal hasheesh farming. Morocco is a monarchy the king is as popular as he is powerful he holds sway over the economy. Even so unemployment is high one quarter of the population cannot read or write. Security and stability take precedence over freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate. Document could have been a Government Employee for life as a police man but after 2 years he decided it was not his true calling. It was. I saw too much inequality but no democracy too many things i didnt like. To force thats why i turned to the profession but its fascinated me since i was a boy driving a taxi but all the symbolism. Was of doing his dream job for 25 years now always in the same car just this simple for me this old mercedes is my faithful companion the one who is if i really admire you i would like to stay with her totally out of it theres. The good to be a mosque one of the iconic landmarks of morocco. The red city morale. Close pearl of the south more than a 1000 years old and one of the 4 royal cities mark ash. The city is surrounded by a wall 19 kilometers long it once offered protection against bandits who threaten to take merchants goods or their lives it was a perilous time which explains the name of the city. Those are tickets made up of 2 arabic words more kush go fast what is the area around america was very dangerous and the caravans had to pass through it quickly you put the old city ramparts in the towers provided security for the caravans not one of the couple as did the ins catering to caravans not because they all had big gates and more cush go fast but to the name america shushan that is what i couldnt stomach. Hakeem left c. R. Knows the city like the back of his hand not least the souk the bazaar and mara cash with its 10000 traders hakim is a tourist guide he speaks english german and french the 2nd official language of morocco the biggest contingent of tourists here come from france followed by spain and germany practically everything on offer here is aimed at visitors from abroad but hakim says 99 percent of the products in the sukkah are produced in morocco many right here in the us are. Traditional handicrafts instead of cheap copies from abroad this benefits local producers and ensures traditional techniques of work. And shit are not lost. Talking the tourist guide is 45 years old actually it happens to have a doctorate in science he studied into selldorf but instead of researching he shows tourists his city. The same bus you want thats what its always been a passion of mine for me i like to show my country to people because i have seen that many people from europe like germany do not have the right image of our land and those english didnt reach thinking here do buttons with us on the. Thats why he also offers tours of parts of the old town where tourists rarely venture the marquez of the moroccans just around the corner from the shiny facades of the modern tower blocks. Hakims main message is that morocco is a liberal country including in religious matters he calls it islam lite. Fundamentalist islam he says is not very popular here. All this bakery does is take the customers mix the day with them selves the baker just pushes it into the oven. Mara cash is hot even in october temperatures reach 35 degrees celsius so almost no one has their own oven. I. But prosperous tourists sometimes encounter the poverty here. A friend of hakim sells paper tissues she is 14 years old although school is compulsory in the rocco she has never attended because she has to help support her family. Her dream job. To the doctor. Mara cash a city of contrasts in manifold ways. This was all done under the start is whats special about this city is that the modern and the ancient lived side by side you can see traditional wife and modern life together living through them and you might find a really old door from the 14th or 15th century and next to it is an i phone 7 or 800 or the i phone. Its a similar scenario with taxi new alongside the old. One forest power verses 150. 00 you also have mercedes models of all ages alongside their modern rivals. And as everywhere rule number one is 1st come 1st served usually. Just give us that idea there are always disputes here but after that everythings fine again be. Because people intervene and they help the others to reconcile the next day is a new page. In mara cash taxes have to wait outside the old town due to the narrow streets and alleyways and the citys most famous where jim a elf not a good nest a World Heritage site is in any case off limits. Its where youll find the jugglers snake charmers musicians artists fortune tellers the sellers of miracle cures and street traders. One meaning of. Is assembly of the dead as it was once the venue of executions. In april 20th in the square saw a new tragic loss of life when a terrorist attack killed 17 people. Today the