Back in late 2003, I obtained through German eBay, a V-Max removal box for the LH-based M119 cars. This was a custom engineered box by Ingenieurbüro Wilhelm, in Saarlouis, Germany. I think I paid around $200 for this box. It came with TÜV paperwork (making it officially legal in Germany) and it is wired into the car's CAN box.
On GVZ Euro Tour 2004, the subsequent year, I visited Mr. Wilhelm at his home in Saarlouis. I spent a couple of hours with him. When he saw the V-Max box that I brought to show him, he did pretty much the same of this classic line by Obi-Wan Kenobi:
"Now that's a box I've not seen for a *long* time ... a long time"
We had an enjoyable time together, and he showed me his design studio. It turns out that he was an ex-Carlsson employee, who had gone out on his own to design (on a contract basis) various parts and modifications, mainly electronic, for Carlsson and other companies. I remember when I visited him, he was working on diesel electronics for Carlsson to make them provide more HP and torque. Carlsson was headquartered in the neighboring village of Merzig.
Anyway, this is a real blast from the past. I've never seen one of these V-Max boxes since. Definitely not in the US. Of course, it is rumored that some modified LH chips remove the V-max and don't require any other modifications to do this.
Enjoy the photos. 17 years ago, folks. LoL.
I actually mentioned the box in this post from long ago:
www.500eboard.co
On GVZ Euro Tour 2004, the subsequent year, I visited Mr. Wilhelm at his home in Saarlouis. I spent a couple of hours with him. When he saw the V-Max box that I brought to show him, he did pretty much the same of this classic line by Obi-Wan Kenobi:
We had an enjoyable time together, and he showed me his design studio. It turns out that he was an ex-Carlsson employee, who had gone out on his own to design (on a contract basis) various parts and modifications, mainly electronic, for Carlsson and other companies. I remember when I visited him, he was working on diesel electronics for Carlsson to make them provide more HP and torque. Carlsson was headquartered in the neighboring village of Merzig.
Anyway, this is a real blast from the past. I've never seen one of these V-Max boxes since. Definitely not in the US. Of course, it is rumored that some modified LH chips remove the V-max and don't require any other modifications to do this.
Enjoy the photos. 17 years ago, folks. LoL.
I actually mentioned the box in this post from long ago:
Supercharged 1993 500E | High-Performance Modifications
Hello all: Today I had the honor of being invited to the annual Oktoberfest celebration that is put on by the Texas German Autohaus (TGA), one of the largest indy MB repair shops in the Houston area. I had heard through Dr. No that one of the two co-owners of the shop, Hans Richter, has owned...
