Period Performer

This 1984 W126 500 SEL went straight from the showroom floor to premergrer Affalterbach for a full-house AMG upgrade

article Allan Lydon

images David Ferguson

At the European Touring Car Championship race held at the famous Circuit Spa-Francorchamps in July 1971, an unlikely racecar appeared. The vehicle was a heavily modified large four-door Mercedes-Benz S-Class 300SEL entered by an unknown German tuning company named AMG.

The sedan raced against smaller, lighter and more conventional sports coupes seemingly better attuned to racing. And yet, the motoring and competitive world took notice when the “Rote Sau” (Red Sow), driven by Hans Heyer and Clemens Schickentanz qualified on the second row and finished the 24-hour race in second place overall and won its class.

Winning a place in history

AMG co-founders Hans-Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher (Aufrecht was born in Grossaspacht, hence the G) not only turned this early success in the company’s history into a force in motorsports, but also turned to tuning Mercedes street cars for those owners passionate about quality and yearning for improved performance. And AMG had a focused philosophy, according to Melcher: “Driving performance.”

Aufrecht and Melcher combined their talents as business visionaries and innovators and leveraged those abilities into a successful business model. Filling a unique niche, they transformed some of the world’s finest-built cars into machines that combined high standards of quality manufacturing from Mercedes-Benz with performance-tuning modifications. Aufrecht was the entrepreneurial business visionary and Melcher was the consummate engineer who created the performance modifications and innovative engine designs that customers sought.

AMG nurtured this business model into the 1980s with great success, moving operations to the small town of Affalterbach, and greatly expanding customer tuning operations. Further successes came in
the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) racing series, which cemented AMG’s performance legacy. The cars modified by AMG before the company was eventually acquired by Mercedes-Benz are special, representing the cumulative talents of the two founders. 

A special car

Two of the chassis that AMG focused on during the 1980s were the venerable W126 sedans and C126 coupes. The car presented here, a W126 500SEL, chassis No. 072604, was purchased in July 1984 from a Mercedes-Benz dealer by a wealthy resident of Monte Carlo for his son living in Miami Beach, Florida.

Before the car made its way to the United States, the father sent the car directly to Affalterbach to be modified by AMG. Although AMG had package-modification options, every car was uniquely modified to suit each individual customer; this purchaser checked a lot of boxes! The DNA of the tuner 300SEL that raced at Spa in 1971 is clearly alive in this 1984 500SEL.

AMG bored and stroked the modest 237-horsepower 5.0-liter SOHC engine to 5.4 liters. The company then added custom pistons; ported and polished the cylinder heads; installed larger valves and upgraded the stock hydraulic valve actuation by substituting solid lifters with lightened cam followers; exchanged factory camshafts for special AMG high-performance cams and added custom hand-fabricated tubular headers. A Sebring free-flowing catalytic converter unit replaced the factory exhaust.

Mechanical improvements included a 2.82:1 high-performance differential, full AMG-tuned suspension with stiffer coil springs, specially calibrated Bilstein shocks and staggered 16-inch five-spoke road wheels. The resulting machine had 310 horsepower with 350 pound-feet of torque and much-improved handling.

The SEL also received significant external and interior modifications. A full AMG body kit (front/rear bumper aprons, side skirts and trunk spoiler) graced the exterior. Interior modifications included leather Recaro Ideal C seats, extensive burl wood on the door panels, an AMG speedometer faceplate that could clock up to 300 kilometers/hour, and a wild sound system that included an ultra-rare Clarion rack stereo coupled with a heavily modified rear parcel shelf to house an array of speakers.

Chain of ownership

The work took an entire month to complete before the car was shipped to Miami. The son owned the car for only about two years before selling it in early 1987 through a local Mercedes dealer to a real-estate developer. The car remained with the second owner in South Florida until he gave the car to his own son, who lives in Chicago. In 2010, the car was listed for sale on the BenzWorld forum.

At the time, I owned a highly restored show-quality 1961 W111 220SEb coupe. Although strikingly beautiful, the W111 lacked the performance I wanted.

The W126 becomes mine

When I saw that BenzWorld for-sale post, noting the provenance and modifications, I had to have this sedan. A quick negotiation and deposit was followed by a one-way flight to Chicago to complete the purchase. What attracted me to the car was its incredibly original and unmolested condition, numbers-matching drive train, the high level of modifications done by AMG and the all-important historical provenance.

There are many vintage Mercedes-Benz automobiles that owners claim to be original AMG cars; most of these vehicles have various AMG bits added on during the years. Authentic AMG machines are those with surviving AMG paperwork from Germany or a licensed installer, such as AMG North America, Strattons in the UK or AMG Japan. Engine modifications elevate authentic AMG cars to the highest level. This W126 not only came with a copy of the original AMG “Rechnung” (invoice) complete with the car’s VIN number and listing of all modifications, but also copies of the U.S. Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency’s import letters from 1984, the bill of sale from the second owner’s purchase and the owner’s manuals, including the warranty booklet that had the original France-issued temporary tourist license plate hand-written into the booklet. That license plate still graces the car’s front bumper today – 5405 TT 75.

Fettling the 500SEL

Most of the mechanical restoration was done the first year I owned the car, but a restoration never really ends; there is always something to improve, work on or rebuild. Fortunately, the original DB172 Anthracite Grey Metallic paint remains in incredible condition, readily responding to careful hand detailing and very little work has been needed on the black interior.   

Although I do a lot of the work on the car, I am lucky to have talented people to help maintain its mechanical integrity: Blue Ridge MB in Atlanta; my brother Tim in Orlando, Florida; Mercedes-Benz of Buckhead (Atlanta); and the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center. Every mechanical area of the car is new or rebuilt using only genuine Mercedes/AMG parts – including engine, transmission, driveshaft, differential, suspension, brakes, cooling and HVAC.

Part of the fun in restoring a car is the search for the no-longer-available or impossible-to-find parts needed for authenticity or correctness. My SEL was missing the rust-prone AMG Sebring center resonator and rear muffler when I acquired the car. Limited original supply also leads to extreme scarcity. Many hours of scouring global forums and auction sites were invested to find and purchase rare “Holy-Grail” parts. As these vintage AMG vehicles have become more visible at car shows and auctions, the difficult-to-find parts have become even more difficult to find – and significantly more expensive.

No trailer queen

This special car is not just a show car; I drive it often – and hard. The pictures shown here were taken at Road Atlanta (a special “Thank You” to the fine staff, who allowed the photo shoot). This is not just a nod to the 1971 Rote Sau; I have tracked the SEL at the Road Atlanta course during a high-performance drivers’ education weekend. The Road Atlanta track outline on the side window is earned! I take the car on winding mountain drives in North Georgia with fellow AMG Private Lounge members; this large sedan can keep up with its younger brethren just fine. Despite its size and weight, the car handles extremely well. The original engine underwent an exacting rebuild and now sports modern forged pistons with a slightly higher displacement and higher compression ratio. The engine is raw and edgy and loves to live in the higher-rpm range. The car maintains the legendary W126 build quality, but the driving experience is far removed from a stock W126 sedan.

On the show circuit, the SEL has been featured at notable concours support shows, including Amelia Island, Hilton Head and Pinehurst; the car won second in class at StarFest 2012.

With 2017 marking the 50th anniversary of AMG, the 500SEL will be shipped to Monterey in August for display on the field at 2017’s Legends of the Autobahn Concours d’Elegance. Including many other premerger AMGs, the show will celebrate the AMG brand all the way back to that first Mercedes-Benz car tuned for racing by two young Germans in 1967.

Specifications

Mercedes-Benz W126 500SEL AMG Sedan

ENGINE: M117 5,419cc V-8, Bore 98.5mm x Stroke 88.9mm, CIS fuel injection

HORSEPOWER: 310 at 5,250 rpm   TORQUE: 350lb-ft at 4,000 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 4-speed automatic   DIFFERENTIAL: 2.82 limited slip

CURB WEIGHT: 3,649  lb  

PERFORMANCE: Zero-62 mph 6.7 sec  

TOP SPEED: 155 mph

With a heritage of luxury and performance, the 500SEL is at home both in the valet line and on the track.

ABOVE: Modifications at Affalterbach included the V-8 bored and stroked to 5.4 liters making over 300 horsepower, custom AMG wheels over tuned shocks and springs, and a Sebring exhaust system. RIGHT: More than three decades after it was tuned by AMG, the 500SEL hustles through a turn at Road Atlanta.

ABOVE: At the same time that AMG modified this 500SEL’s drive train in 1984, the vehicle also received extensive interior and exterior upgrades. Alterations included leather Recaro Ideal C seats, extensive burl wood on the door panels, AMG speedometer and an ultra-rare Clarion rack stereo. RIGHT: A full AMG body kit consisting of front/rear bumper aprons, side skirts and trunk spoiler graces the car’s exterior.

As the proud current owner, I can’t say enough about the heritage and performance of this early AMG.