Yahoo News 6.2-Liter V-8, Manual 1990 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC Found on BaT
Here's a muscled-up 560SEC that Mercedes—and AMG—never made.
This restomod Mercedes coupe combines period-style visual flourish with later V-8 power and a manual transmission.
Built by a small California specialist, it's ready for a star turn in the next Miami Vice remake.
Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, before it was absorbed and assimilated into the Mercedes-Benz corporate structure, AMG was a company that built machines of a singular purpose. They were anything but lightweights: big, heavy cars that hit like a howitzer with hand-built V-8 firepower. AMG even went so far as to actually name one of its cars "the Hammer." Well, here's a big restomod coupe that embraces the spirit of the age, combining leather-lined luxury and bludgeoning force.
You can find this autobahn sledgehammer on Bring A Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos). It's a 1990 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC outfitted with a wide-body kit and powered by a 6.2-liter AMG V-8 backed by a six-speed manual transmission. Does anyone else suddenly hear Crockett's Theme from Miami Vice playing in their head? This square-jawed bruiser is just the thing to give that white Testarossa a run for its money.
The SEC was the coupe version of the Mercedes S-class, a worthy heir to the likes of the supercharged 500K of the 1930s. Originally imported to the U.S. powered by a 3.8-liter six in 1981, it eventually succumbed to the Gordon Gekko excesses of the decade, growing ever more luxurious and powerful.
At the time, if you were a wolf of Wall Street looking to flex transparent muscularity on the tarmac, you called up AMG on your shoebox-sized cell phone and ordered up the company's widebody take on the W126. Fitted with a hand-built V-8 such a car was the opposite of a road scalpel like the Porsche 911. The rarest models came with a 6.0-liter DOHC engine and a six-speed manual.
This 1990 560SEC was modified by Bespoke Orange County, a Mercedes-Benz restoration specialist that builds all kinds of carbon-fiber parts for the likes of the G-class. If a standard Gelandewagen isn't blingy enough for Rodeo Drive, you call these folks up and they make sure it draws those eyeballs.
The 560SEC widebody is a particular specialty for this outfit, and this example reportedly took three years to build. It has carbon-fiber bodywork, 17-inch three-piece alloy wheels, upgraded brakes and suspension, a handcrafted leather interior with Recaro seats, big brakes to haul down speed on the highway, and a powerful stereo to blast out the best of Jan Hammer's synthwork.
Or just drop the pillarless windows and listen to that V-8 thunder through its stainless steel exhaust. Rather than the original V-8, this is a later M156 as you might find in the likes of a 2006–2011 CL63, the true descendant of this car.
In an age where you can now find an AMG badge on a car with four-cylinder hybrid power, or an EV that looks like a bar of soap, this old-school throwback combines nostalgia and performance. This sledgehammer of a Mercedes coupe channels the spirit of AMGs from back in the day.
The auction ends on November 4.
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