A British firm, Xtreem Motors, had a crazy idea: to fit a C63 AMG V8 M156 aspirated engine into a Mercedes Ponton. In the end, they fitted the body of the Mercedes Ponton to the chassis and interior of the Mercedes C63 AMG W204.
Photo: Capture Video Earl Karanja, Xtreem Motors
You probably haven’t heard much about XTreem Motors. The small British firm is based in Mitcham, a small village in South London, and is run by Ivaylo Ivanov, a Bulgarian-origin man, who emigrated to England with his parents and grew up working in his father’s garage in the early 2000s. He then opened his garage, which has become one of the largest centers for car and motorcycle maintenance in southeast London.
Mercedes C63 AMG Coupe W204 + Mercedes Ponton = Mercedes Ponton 63 AMG
The story of the Mercedes Ponton 63 AMG is an incredible one. At the height of the pandemic, when everything was almost closed, Ivaylo saw an ad from a lady selling a 2012 Mercedes C 63 AMG Coupe W204 with Performance Pack and red nappa leather interior. The lady was asking 25,000 pounds for the car but after negotiations, Ivaylo bought it for 17,000 pounds.
At the same time, Ivaylo had purchased almost for nothing a 1961 Mercedes Ponton with rusty bodywork as can be seen on the official website www.xtreemmotors.co.uk.
So Ivaylo had two cars and a lot of free time because in the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic had trapped people in their homes.
And he made a crazy decision to make one car out of the two.
To that end, Ivaylo detached the body of the Mercedes Ponton from the chassis, and his colleagues took care of the C 63 AMG Coupe W204, dismantling the body elements and leaving only the chassis, interior, floor, engine, and all the electronics. Normally, the C 63 AMG’s engine would have been fitted to the Mercedes Pointon chassis. But the Ponton’s chassis would never have been able to handle the power and torque of the C 63 AMG. The M156 6.2 liter naturally aspirated V8 engine developed 457 PS but the version Ivaylo bought was with Performance Pack and had 487 PS.
Therefore, the only solution was to adapt the Mercedes Ponton body to the Mercedes C63 AMG chassis and interior. Of course, they didn’t fit so a lot of modifications, reinforcements, and a roll cage were needed to increase rigidity. The interior is carried over from the C63 AMG with sports seats wrapped in red nappa leather, but there are no airbags. Instead, the seats have six-point racing seatbelts.
The resulting car is lighter than the original C63 AMG but still retains air conditioning. Because it has taken the C63 AMG’s interior unchanged, the driver can choose between Comfort, Sport, and Sport+ modes, and in the latter two modes, the baritonal sound of the big V8’s, aspirated V8 engine can be heard.
The car is painted all black including the radiator grille, and has black multi-spoke alloy wheels and LED headlights. The price? Priceless. If we calculate the price at which Ivaylo bought the C63 AMG and the Mercedes Pointon in an advanced state of disrepair, probably the Mercedes Ponton C63 AMG would cost no more than 30,000 USD. But the uniqueness and exclusivity raise its price 2-3 times. It’s spectacular to see a 1961 Mercedes Ponton on the street that sounds like a modern AMG with a V8 engine. This is priceless!
