212swe

Fiend this on garaget Swedish car site its really cool project to bad its not more picture but how cool

https://www.garaget.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=281430

kajtek1

That's way more than taillight change

Ferris_E550

I always liked the look on the E class with 4 round headlights. Maybe mercedes will go back to that design in the future.

DubVBenz

My mechanic explained that the W212 is basically a minor evolution of the W211 chassis... I guess this supports that.

DFWdude

And the W213 is a minor evolution of the W212 chassis? I suppose all are minor evolutions of the W210 (or earlier). So easy to make cavalier comparisons, but making a transformation from one to the other is quite another kettle of fish... probably so expensive to beg the question why?

These cars are not investments. A 2003 W211 is not worth more than $1000-$2000 in any condition. Trying to change one into a newer model will easily cost 5X more. And at the end of the day, you no longer have a W212, or even a W211, but some morphodite (that nobody will covet).

Sorry to "over-react" to this idea. It just makes ZERO sense to me.

kajtek1

Such projects are possible only on countries where labor value compared to MB pricing is very low.
I have seen them in my native Poland, where mechanics still work for $10/hr. Hard to compare to American economy with $150/hr labor.
The only project of such scope in US was fitting Supra engine in W210, but the car owner was body shop owner and did complete car restoration, what he estimate cost him $18k . More of such projects are know in American RV section, but the results are not always good looking.
That's why such projects are called "labor of love".

TeeEl

This. Sometimes market value of a car means nothing when compared to its value to an individual. (Especially if they're able to do their own work, or get work done for a nominal cost.)