AMG 6L Wide Body Refurbisment

[SG-Motorsports]

You saw my photos of this car back in the day, Ron. This car was pristine and extremely well maintained despite being SCCA-raced. I don't view that as a detriment at all. If I'd have had the cash, and the interest in this specific type of coupe, I'd have been all over this because I knew Kirk a bit and I know how this car was cared for. I wish you could have seen the car in its heyday, and I SO wish it had been preserved in such state (though I know you'll have it back if not better).

Gerry, You and I have very different memories of Kirk and this car. He always kept the car clean and polished, but seemed to struggle with the mechanics. Several times I saw him at a track event struggling because the car had sat for several months and he didn't even take the time to flush the fuel or clean/replace the spark plugs. I personally cleaned his spark plugs a couple times just to keep it from misfiring, they would foul often, and more often than not he struggled on race weekends.

This car was also never 'raced', to my knowledge it was only ever entered in SCCA Solo1 and Solo2 events depending on the venue. For those who don't know, those classes are just glorified track day classes, where you only compete against other lap times, so never fender to fender. Of course I would never have raced this car fender to fender either as it's far too rare and beautiful...and now valuable and would have been a shame to have damaged the expensive bodywork. But it sounds kinda funny to say it was 'raced', because racing fender to fender and doing hot laps are 2 very different things. I would call it a 'competition heritage' rather than a 'race history'. Maybe that's just me...I guess it's just vocabulary.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to sound negative. I absolutely loved this car, still do. It was always awesome for me when Kirk would show up for a race weekend, because he and another guy with a 300CD were the only locals that ever showed up to run a Benz. It's a very tight-knit race community up here in the NW, so it was always nice to see something other than an RX-7, Miata, E30 or 911. I didn't know him well, but he always struck me as an eccentric guy and I was sad to hear of his passing.

I'm very excited to hear that someone bought the car from Linda finally and is going to bring it back to life. This car is beyond cool and has a very unique history, there's no doubt about that. If my pocketbook was a little thicker, I would have loved to have it in my garage. I wish you good luck with your project and can't wait to hear/see the results.

 

[gerryvz]

I only saw the car over a period of a few years in contexts were a group of 8-10 Pacific Northwest MB coupe owners would go out for a full day's drive out in the Gorge or up in the mountains. The car was in beautiful cosmetic condition (per the photos I took at the time) and always seemed to run fine. I do recall seeing several SCCA-related plaques he displayed with the car, but I don't know what specifically they were for. I'm happy to take your word per the fine details you mention above, as my experience was in a lighter and superficial context. Although I grew up in Seattle, I lived at the time (1995-2008) in Portland.

An example of one of our excursions, up to Mt. St. Helens in February of either 2003 or 2004. I don't believe that Kirk/car was on this trip:

[youtube]crtk6nQNSVA[/youtube]

 

[Ron500E]

I have the SCCA log book which should list the events it was entered in at the time. Also... there is no body damage save for a few stone chips and a "key" mark on the door. All panels are original, for example the trunk still has the VIN sticker that matches the rest of the car.
I would even go as far as to say that all it needs is a good cleaning and buffing to return it to its former cosmetic glory.
The rubber items in the engine compartment... that's another story.

Ron

 

[2phast]

I was told all the WB conversions were done in Westmont, unclear as to how many 6L were shipped to BHMA. Do you have any info on that number Rik?

The endgame is produce an accurate (as much as possible) book/article of AMG NA. I'm fortunate in that many of the employees are still around in the Chicago area. But BH and Canada information is eluding me.
For example I know all of Westmont's cars were purchased from Shepherd Mercedes in Oak Park Illinois. This of course does not include the cars that customers brought in for modifications of course.
Jean Banchet (RIP) who owned the Le Francais restaurant hosted many of the events that RB put on.

Thanks,

Ron

There is a bit of confusion as to cars built by Westmont and cars built by BHMA. At that time, I was a re seller for BHMA and did some AMG conversions, selling of parts etc. In conversations with BHMA they always said THEY were building their cars. It was common for the sales reps to brag about which celebrity or sports player was getting what. Never did they say the cars were shipped to Westmont for conversion. All I remember is that Westmont was considered the competition and that they did poor work (according to BHMA, typical trash talking). Even after touring BHMA, you could tell they did conversions in their facility, so I had no reason to think otherwise. I was quite surprised to hear many years later that some of the conversions for BHMA were done by Westmont. If it was anyone else saying this, I would of called BS on it, but these comments were made by BHMA executives. Its very possible that the widebody cars were the ones shipped to Westmont for completion. That would explain allot.

As for the motors, they were brought in as finished crate motors and I saw several of them (shipped to BHMA from AMG). I don't have any exact information on numbers though, sorry.

 

[Ron500E]

There is a bit of confusion as to cars built by Westmont and cars built by BHMA. At that time, I was a re seller for BHMA and did some AMG conversions, selling of parts etc. In conversations with BHMA they always said THEY were building their cars. It was common for the sales reps to brag about which celebrity or sports player was getting what. Never did they say the cars were shipped to Westmont for conversion. All I remember is that Westmont was considered the competition and that they did poor work (according to BHMA, typical trash talking). Even after touring BHMA, you could tell they did conversions in their facility, so I had no reason to think otherwise. I was quite surprised to hear many years later that some of the conversions for BHMA were done by Westmont. If it was anyone else saying this, I would of called BS on it, but these comments were made by BHMA executives. Its very possible that the widebody cars were the ones shipped to Westmont for completion. That would explain allot.

As for the motors, they were brought in as finished crate motors and I saw several of them (shipped to BHMA from AMG). I don't have any exact information on numbers though, sorry.

Sort of like the "special" AMG springs. Many of them were standard springs cut with an acetylene torch. I too would not have believed it if I hadn't seem actual pics of springs being cut at Westmont. that, a rattle can of white paint and some "AMG" stickers made the springs. I have a bunch of stickers that were never used. NOS stickers !!!!

These were hot rods and whatever it took to get the job done worked if it made a sale. Some of those "special rolled fenders" were done with a wooden baseball bat, an old hot rodders trick from before most of us were born. This was told to be by RB himself.
The funny thing I'm finding out about my WB is that it's a standard NA 560 with a crate motor mixed with some Euro MB parts as well as some AMG parts. That, and some hot rod items needed to make it work.
If anyone is thinking these were precision machines like the F1 Mclaren road car for example they are sorely mistaken. The brazing on the throttle linkage looks like it was done by a sight impaired dyslectic with Parkinson's, but it worked and worked well. Which at the end of the day is all that matters.
Then there's the story about the "first" Hammer.... the one that got rebodied before its sale due to some "enthusiastic" test driving that didn't go quite as planned.
Some of the stories I have heard make Smokey's Best Damn Garage In Town seem like Mother Teresa's Guide For Better Living.

Kind Regards,

Ron

 

[gerryvz]

You could sell those NOS stickers to the Banzworld 126 crowd for EXTREME bucks, Ron.

There's no question that AMG models of the 1970s and 1980s (particularly highly custom jobs like Jono's HammerWagen and the widebodies) were largely "seat of the pants" engineering to make everything work together in harmony. In my opinion that adds to the heritage & patina of the vehicles, particularly if it's documented and preserved.

 

[2phast]

Sort of like the "special" AMG springs. Many of them were standard springs cut with an acetylene torch. I too would not have believed it if I hadn't seem actual pics of springs being cut at Westmont. that, a rattle can of white paint and some "AMG" stickers made the springs. I have a bunch of stickers that were never used. NOS stickers !!!!

These were hot rods and whatever it took to get the job done worked if it made a sale. Some of those "special rolled fenders" were done with a wooden baseball bat, an old hot rodders trick from before most of us were born. This was told to be by RB himself.
The funny thing I'm finding out about my WB is that it's a standard NA 560 with a crate motor mixed with some Euro MB parts as well as some AMG parts. That, and some hot rod items needed to make it work.
If anyone is thinking these were precision machines like the F1 Mclaren road car for example they are sorely mistaken. The brazing on the throttle linkage looks like it was done by a sight impaired dyslectic with Parkinson's, but it worked and worked well. Which at the end of the day is all that matters.
Then there's the story about the "first" Hammer.... the one that got rebodied before its sale due to some "enthusiastic" test driving that didn't go quite as planned.
Some of the stories I have heard make Smokey's Best Damn Garage In Town seem like Mother Teresa's Guide For Better Living.

Kind Regards,

Ron

That's in line with other comments I have heard about Westmont. Based on the few cars I have seen, the workmanship was less than stellar.

 

[HOFF]

Fascinating reading as history of these limited custom AMG WB builds are better known - even adds more appeal versus a factory line production AMG in later years.
Great hearing from the horses mouth about the so called racing history of Kirk's WB versus the real story of dusting it off for the odd club meet to give it a run and blow some cobwebs out and see what times he could run for a bit of fun. Far from the stories spread it was serious track car that got "hammered" Haha.
Makes it even more appealing to the story of its history - I wonder if it had a habit of leaking a bit of oil on those days at the track as these engines are renowned for.

 

[2phast]

Fascinating reading as history of these limited custom AMG WB builds are better known - even adds more appeal versus a factory line production AMG in later years.
Great hearing from the horses mouth about the so called racing history of Kirk's WB versus the real story of dusting it off for the odd club meet to give it a run and blow some cobwebs out and see what times he could run for a bit of fun. Far from the stories spread it was serious track car that got "hammered" Haha.
Makes it even more appealing to the story of its history - I wonder if it had a habit of leaking a bit of oil on those days at the track as these engines are renowned for.

Yes it was a serious track car and Kirk ran it hard. Not sure what your reading here that says otherwise. Some of us were there at the track events running with him, so we know. Kirk was ten-tenths every time he got behind the wheel. The rest of us (myself included) were at best, seven-tenth's.

 

[Ron500E]

Yes it was a serious track car and Kirk ran it hard. Not sure what your reading here that says otherwise. Some of us were there at the track events running with him, so we know. Kirk was ten-tenths every time he got behind the wheel. The rest of us (myself included) were at best, seven-tenth's.

Before he died, as opposed to after I guess, he started putting it back into street trim. He didn't get around to the suspension.
I put a few hundred miles on it before setting it aside for refurbishment. I can confirm that the suspension was set up for track use.
I ran over a penny, it was facing head up.....
The nice thing is, I get to pull off everything and start new. There's value (both for me and the MB parts dept) in doing every single piece at once rather than fixing what needs to be done.
Starting with just the castings and/or forgings and replacing everything else.
I'll start in earnest once the head gasket on the Coupe is done. Hopefully in a week or two.

Kind Regards,
Ron

 

[HOFF]

Ok sorry - it got a good workout - Great pic i had saved

 

[Ron500E]

Ok sorry - it got a good workout - Great pic i had saved

Well I'll be damn.
Thanks for posting.

Ron

 

[Larwik]

Sorry to interrupt, but speaking of AMG WB 6L coupes....Many "moons" ago...I noticed a "For Sale" ad from the Chicago-area(I believe)with the attached pictures...I saved them in a hurry(w/o references and owner info!) and carried-on with work and life in general....I have looked for this car(or something similar) ever since...Does anyone recognize it?...and know its where-abouts?...also if it is a "Real" car?...Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place...Thanks'.../ Lars...

P.S...I do own a -93/500E so figured it's ok to ask you guys....

 

[jhodg5ck]

Its one of Kyles cars in VA. He brings them in from around the world through Canada. The bulk of which roll from the UAE.
Real, I'd venture to say yes...esp with a DOHC 117 installed...

That one sold not too long ago IIRC but he's had a few that loom Very similar.

Jono

 

[8899]

Some good reading here:

http://artisanexcite.blogspot.com/2015/05/w126-blackbastard-resurrection-pt1.html
http://artisanexcite.blogspot.com/2015/06/w126-blackbastard-brakes.html

 

[ClassicCarsAllDay]

any updates??

 

[hAMGurger]

@all,

It appears that Ron has sold the car to Curated.

Modern, Vintage, Classic Cars & Supercars For Sale | Curated©

Having procured over 600 European Supercars produced in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.

wearecurated.com

 

[jhodg5ck]

Yup, and it's sold again already.

 

[hAMGurger]

@jhodg5ck that's what I like to hear!

Hope it stays in the US