Unusual Brabus
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Brabus W126C, Nissan 300ZX, Toyota MR2
Unusual Brabus
Last October I purchased an unusual car, a "Brabus W126C"—a 1982 Mercedes 500 SEC that had apparently been retooledand marketed by Brabus.
The Mercedes was in pretty sad shape—the interior was a messand full of trash and despite the seller’s insistence that this was a specialcar—bought and imported from England—but there was very little evidence tosupport that claim (no paperwork or even an owner’s manual). Evidently, whenthe original owner died, his son—not a car enthusiast—inherited the Brabus.
To determine if the car was worth the effort to restore, Idid quite a bit of research to determine if it was in fact, a Brabus product.
Brabus couldn’t help me with the VIN number. Dirk Möller,BRABUS Tuning Head of Tuning Sales explained that Brabus had lost their recordson their early cars due to a computer crash. Turning to the internet I managedto find a 1985 Motor article on a car they referred to as a Brabus 500SEC (“IfLooks Could Kill”) which looked like my car including the equipment. I alsofound a number of Brabus brochures showing more details (I bought a couple offeBay) and several online photos. The car was alternately referred to as aBrabus 500 SEC or a Brabus W126C.
From what I read, Brabus started with a stock Mercedes 500 SEC,and for £8576reworked the engine to produce more power, lowered the suspension, added variousspoilers, 16” Rial wheels, some interior bits and a Paxton supercharger. Also,the cars had been modified by Walter Treser’s Central Garage in Cobham Surreyand sold by Thomson & Taylor (Brooklands) ltd—now out of business.
I now had evidence that these cars existed, but was thevehicle I bought one of them?
My Mercedes does have a BRABUS autosport 200mph speedometer.While it wears stock Mercedes 14” aluminum wheels, the spare is a 16” Riallattice-type. The car has an old wooden shift knob and there are holes underthe bumpers and rocker panels where missing aerodynamic components would attach.My 500 SEC’s suspension is definitely lower than stock and a small radardetector has been sewn into a leather—not vinyl—sun-visor. There is even a headtemperature gauge in the center of the dashboard.
However, if my car had ever had a supercharger it’s gone now.There’s a stock Mercedes air cleaner over the throttle body—though it has thehandwritten, bright yellow letters of a wrecking yard—a replacement for something.
In the Motor magazine article David Vivian wrote that the Brabus500 SEC he drove proved to be “disastrouslyunreliable, burning out spark plugs,bursting the radiator and throwing off engine belts”.
Maybe my car’s Paxton unit had been ditched for Californiasmog or reliability issues. Maybe the Rials had been discarded for wheelscheaper to find tires for. Maybe the spoilers had been tossed after too manyencounters with curbs.
I've since cleaned the car up quite a bit and bought acomplete set of Rials to replace the missing ones. I found a couple of sideskirts but no front and rear spoiler yet. I still haven't located a replacementsupercharger though.
Still, I haven’t seen these cars discussed in the forums or advertisedfor sale. Does anyone else own one? Has anyone else seen a Brabus W126C or haveany memories of them? They seem like pretty impressive beasts, it’s surprising there’snothing about them in the Mercedes enthusiast magazines. Could they have been sotroublesome that none survived?
The Mercedes was in pretty sad shape—the interior was a messand full of trash and despite the seller’s insistence that this was a specialcar—bought and imported from England—but there was very little evidence tosupport that claim (no paperwork or even an owner’s manual). Evidently, whenthe original owner died, his son—not a car enthusiast—inherited the Brabus.
To determine if the car was worth the effort to restore, Idid quite a bit of research to determine if it was in fact, a Brabus product.
Brabus couldn’t help me with the VIN number. Dirk Möller,BRABUS Tuning Head of Tuning Sales explained that Brabus had lost their recordson their early cars due to a computer crash. Turning to the internet I managedto find a 1985 Motor article on a car they referred to as a Brabus 500SEC (“IfLooks Could Kill”) which looked like my car including the equipment. I alsofound a number of Brabus brochures showing more details (I bought a couple offeBay) and several online photos. The car was alternately referred to as aBrabus 500 SEC or a Brabus W126C.
From what I read, Brabus started with a stock Mercedes 500 SEC,and for £8576reworked the engine to produce more power, lowered the suspension, added variousspoilers, 16” Rial wheels, some interior bits and a Paxton supercharger. Also,the cars had been modified by Walter Treser’s Central Garage in Cobham Surreyand sold by Thomson & Taylor (Brooklands) ltd—now out of business.
I now had evidence that these cars existed, but was thevehicle I bought one of them?
My Mercedes does have a BRABUS autosport 200mph speedometer.While it wears stock Mercedes 14” aluminum wheels, the spare is a 16” Riallattice-type. The car has an old wooden shift knob and there are holes underthe bumpers and rocker panels where missing aerodynamic components would attach.My 500 SEC’s suspension is definitely lower than stock and a small radardetector has been sewn into a leather—not vinyl—sun-visor. There is even a headtemperature gauge in the center of the dashboard.
However, if my car had ever had a supercharger it’s gone now.There’s a stock Mercedes air cleaner over the throttle body—though it has thehandwritten, bright yellow letters of a wrecking yard—a replacement for something.
In the Motor magazine article David Vivian wrote that the Brabus500 SEC he drove proved to be “disastrouslyunreliable, burning out spark plugs,bursting the radiator and throwing off engine belts”.
Maybe my car’s Paxton unit had been ditched for Californiasmog or reliability issues. Maybe the Rials had been discarded for wheelscheaper to find tires for. Maybe the spoilers had been tossed after too manyencounters with curbs.
I've since cleaned the car up quite a bit and bought acomplete set of Rials to replace the missing ones. I found a couple of sideskirts but no front and rear spoiler yet. I still haven't located a replacementsupercharger though.
Still, I haven’t seen these cars discussed in the forums or advertisedfor sale. Does anyone else own one? Has anyone else seen a Brabus W126C or haveany memories of them? They seem like pretty impressive beasts, it’s surprising there’snothing about them in the Mercedes enthusiast magazines. Could they have been sotroublesome that none survived?
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 48
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From: Woodinville, WA
1989 560 SEC -Supercharged
If the only item on the car that say's "Brabus" is the face of the speedometer and no other Brabus stickers, parts etc. then you most likely just have an old SEC which maybe the cluster has been replaced. Car looks like tired, well used and doesn't show any past pride of ownership. Without documentation the car is an old beater SEC. Even if it was a nice example, Brabus SEC's never were a hit in the tuner car market. You can dream and imagine what you have is special but it is what it is.
