Modified 1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC on HaT

[gsxr]

Has this been posted on 126board yet? It's wyzer's build documented on Ben's Whirled here.

Already up to $35k on day 1 at Hearst a Trailer. Many hundreds of glamour shots, only a few dozen photos of mechanical substance. The fuel pump photos don't inspire confidence, ditto for the lack of dust boots on the front shocks. But, it sure is purty on the outside, if you are into rolling squirrel guillotines with uber-stretched tyres:

Modified 1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC

Bid for the chance to own a Modified 1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #129,932.

bringatrailer.com

 

[dionphaneuf]

I think I'm in the minority who doesn't love the AMG white gauges and steering wheel on these. They look far too Pep Boys for me.

 

[gsxr]

I think I'm in the minority who doesn't love the AMG white gauges and steering wheel on these. They look far too Pep Boys for me.

I hate the non-airbag steering wheels. Deleting safety equipment for looks only is, IMO, stupid.

I don't mind the white gauges, although I only have them on one of my cars, and I bought it that way. In the 19 years since, I've installed white gauge faces on exactly zero cars, so there's that.


On this SEC for sale, note that the 300kph speedo faceplate requires a VDO shop to recalibrate the speedometer and odometer so both read accurately. You cannot simply stick a 300kph (186mph) face on a 160mph gauge, even with a YellowBox conversion box... you can make one or the other read properly, but not both. That requires internal modifications. Any time I see this, I'm very suspicious it wasn't done properly unless there's an invoice from the VDO shop to support the conversion.

 

[cascade]

@wyzer is over-rated. As is this car.

 

[w124fanMI]

Ok, everyone has their personal preferences. I tend not to be critical, BUT….how can you have a “blinking/flashing” DIN unit in any car, let alone one you are putting up on a vanity auction site? Perhaps buy a Conti unit or put the original Becker in for sake of completeness?

 

[gerryvz]

The comments about this car are funny -- all kinds of folks fawning all over it.

This car is - in @maw1124's parlance - chock full of VDMs.

And by the way, whenever I see the word "tribute" associated with an MB (as in "AMG tribute"), it is a cue to run as far and as fast away from it as one can. The Banzworld 126 forum used to have a bunch of guys (McLiar, cascade, and others) who built AMG tribute cars that were rolling buckets of VDMs, poorly sourced and bolted together haphazardly.

It is sad to see what constitutes, in today's MB market, a car that is attractive to buyers.

 

[dionphaneuf]

Agreed - I'm not crazy about these c126 cocaine tribute builds but that's just me. The 126 is such a gorgeous Sacco design out of the box, it looks great w some sensible upgrades (lowering, 17" wheel, perhaps some bumpers/skirts like @luckymike 's lovely car) but these people who go really far with the monochrome 199 or 040 including chrome and then also slam it lose the plot for me, especially when they don't touch the engine. At least this person has done a ton of mechanical resto work so it should be pretty turnkey for the new owner, but would be nice if the bark matched the bite.

A 1990 500SL got dropped in a yard near me recently and I'm mighty tempted to grab the M119.960 for the swap into my 86 560SEC. Would be a lot of work tho, and not clear if it would help the value of the car as it's an otherwise original 3 owner CA car w 93k mi. That said, at the end of the day I'd probably like it a lot better that way provided I complete the work so...maybe I should just send it?

 

[dionphaneuf]

I recently saw a non-6.0 AMG Japan widebody at a car show and while it is oh so sweet, it is not to my tastes - it's just too vulgar. But I trust others judgement who say they are a hoot, and man is that AMG hood badge cool. I sure was glad I left my pedestrian USDM SEC with its AERO III reps at home.

 

[maw1124]

Yeah, the more time I spend with these cars the more I'm into somewhere between stock and what HWA would do. You walk through AMG45 and you get a very clear sense for "the AMG way". And since I'm not changing engines, it's down to suspension and exhaust mods (wheels being included in suspension). If you have an AMG car already, consider staying right there -- stock. On a non AMG car, I'm pretty much only touching suspension (sway bars, maybe lowering a touch, wheels), exhaust (resonator delete, muffler) and stereo. Stock everything else and even on those I'm staying as close to stock as I can to get the car set up to go, turn and stop (and of course sound) the way I want it to.

maw

 

[luckymike]

Agreed - I'm not crazy about these c126 cocaine tribute builds but that's just me. The 126 is such a gorgeous Sacco design out of the box, it looks great w some sensible upgrades (lowering, 17" wheel, perhaps some bumpers/skirts like @luckymike 's lovely car) but these people who go really far with the monochrome 199 or 040 including chrome and then also slam it lose the plot for me, especially when they don't touch the engine. At least this person has done a ton of mechanical resto work so it should be pretty turnkey for the new owner, but would be nice if the bark matched the bite.

A 1990 500SL got dropped in a yard near me recently and I'm mighty tempted to grab the M119.960 for the swap into my 86 560SEC. Would be a lot of work tho, and not clear if it would help the value of the car as it's an otherwise original 3 owner CA car w 93k mi. That said, at the end of the day I'd probably like it a lot better that way provided I complete the work so...maybe I should just send it?

@dionphaneuf I have an acquaintance who put an M119 into his SEC. Let me know if you want me to connect you. And thanks for the compliment on our SEC!

 

[2phast]

I would totally rock that car.

 

[sheward]

From my extremely biased design perspective It's beautiful. Rolling art. An AMG suspension would be preferred along with some slightly narrower wheels for serious use (then it would be ready for an M119 and/or 6L) but this one will likely be seen more than used. I couldn't own it. I'd never get out of that seat. I've wanted one of these SECs since I saw one. One of the all-time enduring coupe designs.

 

[bclifton]

Damn - I went through maybe the first 50 or 60 pics but they're all basically the same glamor shots (at an angle, etc) and not really showing the cars condition. I didn't have enough patience to keep going

For me personally, I love keeping things stock - at most, putting period correct AMG wheels on it. I had a 1991 560SEC and went really far with it - in retrospect, I went too far (had seats refinished with new GAHH leather, etc). I traded it in fairly cheap before the W126 coupe market exploded against a 2009 CL63 AMG which was a pretty cool car. I think the W124 is finally the perfect fit for me

Here's a link to the person who resold my car - I think they took some great pics. They did PDR and paint correction - the rest was all me

1991 Mercedes-Benz 560 Series

This week Canyon State Classics is proud to bring to market one of our favorite automobiles here at the shop. The beautiful and powerful 1991 Mercedes-Benz...

canyonstateclassics.com

Took me a minute to parse VDM (vehicle destroying mods). Wasn't sure if that's the French "Vie de Merde"

 

[Bogeyman]

Respect for that. Keeping an interior that nice in AZ is a feat.

 

[LWB250]

Respect for that. Keeping an interior that nice in AZ is a feat.

It's called "patina". Or Arizona chrome, as in "Kentucky chrome", a term for rust used when I was a kid growing up in Indiana.

Dan

 

[jhodg5ck]

I'm a little dismayed that they left behind Any of the original rubber in the fuel system... all those hoses are with 100% certainty rotting from the inside out. I see if All the Time... even the hoses that looks pretty darn good on the outside, they'll be shedding layers internally. Thanks ethanol, you're the best!

I'd ditch the air bag system as that's just not my bag, but otherwise this would be a Great basis for doing a Proper driveline swap with care and quality bits on par with the marque. I'd dig it.

jono

 

[gsxr]

Would be awesome if the new owner sent this to Blue Ridge for sorting, and Jono could share what it's like in person.

Coincidentally, the current bid is 5150. OK, fine, it's $51,500 but who is counting zeros?

 

[dionphaneuf]

Sold! $90,560! Ho-lee-crap!
Guess the recent st0nk market bull run (nearly back to high from 2 years back) is making people feel spendy?

 

[gsxr]

That's over $95k with fees, or ~$100k with tag / title / tax / transport.

I bet wyzer had a killer profit margin on that build, even after factoring in hundreds of hours of labor.

Will be interesting to see if the deal consummates.

What was shocking to me is the number of bidders above $80k. Seven of the 10 top bids were $82k or higher!

• $90,560 bid placed by RZAVR6
• $90,000 bid placed by Page
• $88,500 bid placed by Rottengrape
• $88,000 bid placed by OscG
• $86,000 bid placed by Jonk619
• $85,000 bid placed by jeffersan
• $82,000 bid placed by fastlp
• $67,000 bid placed by Denisxhari
• $63,000 bid placed by jebzter
• $58,500 bid placed by Nikosss

 

[daantjie]

Perhaps some shill bidding at play?

 

[gsxr]

Perhaps some shill bidding at play?

I didn't look through the top 10 bidders, but any bidder that is a brand new account in the past 1-2 weeks would be suspect.

 

[kegmankipp]

That’s a ton of cash for a car with a Russian made fiberglass kit, poorly recovered Recaro seats and an airbag suspension.

 

[jhodg5ck]

That’s a ton of cash for a car with a Russian made fiberglass kit, poorly recovered Recaro seats and an airbag suspension.

I like your style dude

 

[Jlaa]

After a cursory glance at the listing, I noticed that there are lots of little interior flaws in this car. Nothing huge, but all these little interior flaws are not up to my personal standard that I would expect for a $35K car, let alone a $90K car.

-Mr. "Interior Work = Finish Carpentry" jlaa

Shrunken dash / air vent fitment


Beginnings of cracked dash


Ill fitting glovebox


Beginnings of dreaded dot disease on LCD


Headlight switch orientation issue (needs replacement b/c plastic detents have deteriorated)


Green memory button issue:



Beat up seat switches:


Ill fitting new leather:


Beat up plastic hinge plates:


Antenna button needs new stickers / replacement


Wood venner console bowing


The real challenge I think is that for every "fine carpentry" flaw you see in the pictures, there are 4 more flaws that you don't see. Further, if one extends that to the rest of the car -- how many mechanical issues were left unsorted because they are not easily observed (like @jhodg5ck 's observation about original rubber fuel hoses.)

Visually a super nice car --- it does require lots and lots AND LOTS of little "fine detail sorting" though. I could see spending a year or four sorting everything out while driving it.

 

[gerryvz]

Do you have another login under the moniker @cascade or something ?!?

 

[Draginev]

View attachment 179915

I really love the SEC and SEL models, aswell as the W116 that my grandfather owns. But I do not understand however the stance mentality. It doesn't look comfortable to ride and on a speed bump it going to rip off something. Also of how stiff the suspension will be is going to be harsh to cause spinal injury maybe.

 

[TerryA]

@Draginev,
The car has an air ride adjustable height suspension. A lot of the pics show it dropped to its lowest level. Watch the driving video in the Bat Auction as he drives it around Beverly Hills. In the video it looks to be pretty close to stock height. At one point in the video he parks on the side of the road and drops the suspension to the ground.

PS; I’ve never ridden in a car with air ride so I have no idea how it rides.

 

[Draginev]

@Draginev,
The car has an air ride adjustable height suspension. A lot of the pics show it dropped to its lowest level. Watch the driving video in the Bat Auction as he drives it around Beverly Hills. In the video it looks to be pretty close to stock height. At one point in the video he parks on the side of the road and drops the suspension to the ground.

PS; I’ve never ridden in a car with air ride so I have no idea how it rides.

Thanks for explanation Terry! I forgot there was a air suspension control for this. But still I do not find it appealing to lower the car and the wheels is tucking in like a turtle so called stanced. That's just me

 

[dionphaneuf]

These are all great points @Jlaa. The builder did a solid job updating most mechanicals, but sadly the market doesn’t seem to always award that level of excellence.

FWIW my car has nearly all of those issues that either came like that from the factory or all 126s seem to have - tiny dash crack, warped console wood, and that glove box fittment which appears factory and drives me insane! The issues on the seats demand fixing though, lame.

I had a real moment of extra scope creep last night deep in my m117 degrease project. I’m basically done the drives side which houses the ac comp, ps, and sls pump/distrib (latter two on the front). Total mess from oil leaks and greatly tidied up the area around the engine mount. The ac comp is held to the motor w a bracket, And I realized that the area behind the ac comp bracket was oily too. So this would be cleaning the area behind the bracket behind the compressor that no one would see. It was like level 3 ‘paint the back of the fence’. I ended up leaving it (20 min degrease session had become 1.5 hours) but I’m debating going back….

 

[AMG5PT4]

I'm thrilled with the result of this sale. Keeps my legit Gen I Affalterbach WB in the tall cotton (when the resto is done).

 

[gerryvz]

Someone just tipped me off that there is a new Banzworld "widebody" SEC build that has commenced.

Another day, another AMG 126 "tribute"......

My SEC Widebody Build!

www.benzworld.org

 

[gsxr]

Guess some people think they can spend $20k and build a car to sell/flip for six figures...

 

[Jlaa]

Someone just tipped me off that there is a new Banzworld "widebody" SEC build that has commenced.

Another day, another AMG 126 "tribute"......

My SEC Widebody Build!

www.benzworld.org

Those “Kenda” brand tires look wild. Wonder how badly the ride is compromised with those. I am probably just getting older, but I really appreciate the ride/handling tradeoffs of stock Mercedes cars…. I have been tooling around in my w210 E320 with new Sachs shocks and stock-sized, properly-less-than-15lbs-roadforced, properly-non-smartweight-balanced 17“ Continental Extreme Contact DWS06+ tires from the E430 and it is such a lovely ride.

 

[TimL]

@Jlaa the tire profile looks like a mix between the Yokohama Advan Neova and the Bridgestone RE71R. I had both tires on my beater and my 036 in the past and comfort is non existent with either of these but then that was never the point of such tires. Grip is massive but the noise gets old after a while