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Category: Tuner Tuesday

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Tuner Tuesday: 1972 Mercedes-Benz 350SLC Zender

Tuner Tuesday: 1972 Mercedes-Benz 350SLC Zender

Published April 12, 2016 by Carter

The C107 is to me a very strange car, yet I’m often compelled to look at them. They’re certainly not the prettiest or best proportioned Mercedes-Benz product and the attempt to make a Grand Touring coupe out of a roadster was perhaps a bit too ambitious. Yet sometimes I see one and am captivated by the look; long, low and with a tremendous amount of presence, the C107 demands attention even if it’s not the best looker. This is especially true of the European versions, which had the trifecta of being more powerful, a little bit lighter and were all-around better looking. Throw in some period wheels and a body kit from a respected tuner and the results can be great as shown by this first model year Euro example:

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Tuner Tuesday – El Benzamino: 1988 Mercedes-Benz 420SEL Pickup

Tuner Tuesday – El Benzamino: 1988 Mercedes-Benz 420SEL Pickup

Published April 5, 2016 by Carter

Every once in a while I see something that’s so horribly wrong it’s somehow right, and when it comes to 1980s German tuning there was plenty to go wrong. But while some wrong is predictable (I’m looking at you, Keonig Testarossa strakes on everything), sometimes the very wrong is unpredictable. Take today’s unassuming 1988 Mercedes-Benz 420SEL. I’d like to think when it was conceived and born, no one in Germany would have thought “Do du what we can do with this know?” and then sketch out a 2-door pickup truck. No, that takes American know-how and strategery. And if you were going to do it, why not do it poorly? As in, take a mid-range model (so not cheap, but also not as powerful as it could be!), make a very awkward transition to the bed which, by the way, doesn’t have a tailgate, adorn said unusable bed with plenty of diamond plate and then throw in some extra taillights for good measure? And then make it two-tone and fit some later model AMG wheels. Yet, again, somehow this goes so full-on horrible that it becomes kitschy. This is dogs playing poker art for cars:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 Mercedes-Benz 420SEL Pickup on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday – Hammertime: 1992 Mercedes-Benz 300CE AMG 6.0 Widebody

Tuner Tuesday – Hammertime: 1992 Mercedes-Benz 300CE AMG 6.0 Widebody

Published March 29, 2016 by Carter

There are the pretenders, and then there’s the Daddy. Or, in this case, there’s the Hammer. No other widened car in the 1980s was able to capture the imagination and hearts of so many enthusiasts as the W124 Coupes, and there were plenty to choose from. From DP’s shovel-nosed 911s to the straked Koenig creations, most of them were cool in an outrageous way but never pretty. AMG broke with that tradition, creating elegant lines that accentuated the design rather than underscoring the tacked-on nature of period modifications. The integration of the slick widened panels, perfectly matching wheels and upgraded interiors was met under the hood by another buck in 1980s tradition. As tuners like Dinan, Ruf, Alpina, Callaway, Abt and others all experimented with increasing power through turbocharging, AMG went old school with a monster motor. Rated at somewhere around 380 horsepower, the M117/9 four cam V8 provided the motivation to match the looks of the bespoiled W124. On top of all of this, you got Mercedes-Benz legendary bomb-proof build quality. The result was one of the best all around packages any modified car has ever come to market with:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1992 Mercedes-Benz 300CE AMG 6.0 Widebody on Autoleitner

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Tuner Tuesday: 2007 AC Schnitzer ACS4 Sport Coupe

Tuner Tuesday: 2007 AC Schnitzer ACS4 Sport Coupe

Published March 29, 2016 by Carter

Two weeks ago I took a look at a rare AC Schnitzer ACS3 Silhouette 3.0, the car that predicted the E36 M3 in many ways. Schnitzer has always been a bit left field compared to the more popular Alpina, but their products are generally very tasteful and seem to be sought with equal aplomb as their arguably more famous competitors. In many ways, the same things can be said of the E86 Z4 M Coupe. It’s got all the right components to make a stellar package, but seems to be generally overlooked as a potential classic at this point. Perhaps it’s because it’s too new, or the styling is polarizing? News flash: the styling on the Z3 was pretty polarizing not that long ago, too. Just like the end of the run Z3 M Coupes, the better driving Z4 M Coupes are stylish, different, and absolutely great to drive. Couple the two of these offbeats up and you should have a great combo, right? Well…..

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2007 AS Schnitzer ACS4 Sport Coupe on Boston Craigslist

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Tuner Tuesday: Porsche 968 Cabriolet Supercharged

Tuner Tuesday: Porsche 968 Cabriolet Supercharged

Published March 22, 2016 by Paul

I’ve always been somewhat intrigued by the Porsche 968 Cabriolet. Before SUVs and sedans graced Porsche’s lineup, this was a bit of an outlier, a car more suited for cruising than its hardtop sibling, yet packing the same potent large displacement inline-4 under the hood. Someone decided to turn this formula up to 11 with this example we see here for sale in California. This 968 Cabriolet packs a supercharger, with an output of over 300 horsepower. Mated to the preferred 6-speed manual gearbox, this can make for some seriously fun al fresco motoring.

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