Mercedes-Benz 190E is probably the company’s symbol for the beginning of the 90’s – a period of ups and downs that saw the German brand hit some hard times that it managed to overcome. Now, one of the remaining 190Es has undergone some serious surgical procedures and is about to start a new life. This time as a C63 AMG in disguise.
We’ve all dreamt about this. Taking our beloved old car – maybe even the one we learned how to drive with – and bringing it to the 21st century with modern equipment and modern technology. The outside of the car would not speak a word of what was going on underneath.
What is it that holds us back? To put it bluntly, money. A process like this would take huge amounts of cash that the regular working man would rather invest somewhere else. Like a new car, for example.
For instance, imagine you have an old Mercedes-Benz 190E that you love very much and you want to be able to drive it and feel like a modern car. So you need a new chassis, new engine, suspension system, a new dashboard with airbags and sat nav and all sorts of other things. Basically, you need a new car on which to plant the Mercedes-Benz 190E body.
It’s not just a matter of fitting two parts together, either. This in not Lego. The 190E body wasn’t designed to go together with any other chassis. It’s hard, expensive work. Luckily, somebody was willing to do it.
Piper Motorsport, an American outfit, is in the process of merging an old Mercedes-Benz 190E with no less than a C63 AMG. We all know what that means: 6.2 V8 engine and dream handling on a car that does say “speed”, but only 90’s speed.
For obvious reasons, Piper Motorsport is calling this project “Frankenstein” and is currently waiting for a thunderstorm to bring it to life. We hope we’ll know more about this wonderful car soon.