Mercedes W124 LoTec. A genuinely rare Autobahn charger anyone?
Offered at the last Historic at Brooklands Auction (March 12, 2016) and with and unsold, this fabulous Mercedes W124 is now offered as a private sale for 12.000 pounds. Left Hand Drive (originally a German car) means it’s an interesting buying for every country and with the current euro / pounds exchange rate, favourable for the continental currency it’s quite interesting to look to the UK for occasions.
Can you find many Autobahns monsters from the 90ies with more than 300bhp and 79.200 certified km on the clock?
If only I didn’t already have the E30 I would give this a very serious thought.
Here the link to the private treaty sale and below the description and the photos from Historics at Brooklands website:
http://www.historics.co.uk/buying/auctions/2016-03-12/cars/ref-6-1993-mercedes-benz-320-e-lotec-turbo.aspx
In the early 1990’s, long before AMG’s involvement, a Mercedes-Benz car was made to outlive its owner with superior engineering and build quality. Turbocharger kits were offered for both the M103 and M104 engines by Turbo Technics, Mosselman, Turbobandit, MAD modify and LoTec who, at that time, were approved turbo charger tuner for the LoTec Mercedes-Benz 1000 C supercar project; details of which can be found here: http://www.topgear.com/car-news/supercar/incredible-1000bhp-one-merc-sale. Details of LoTec can be found on their website www.lotec-gmbh.de. These conversions typically raised engine output to between 300 and 800 horsepower and, during the 1990s, UK customers were able to buy new vehicles equipped with a Turbo Technics conversion directly from Mercedes-Benz dealer, Hughes of Beaconsfield, who produced a limited run of 75 conversions. Today turbocharger kits for M103-M104 engines are still available from later tuners in Europe and Asia.
This 1992 Mercedes W124 variation was first registered in early 1993 and is accompanied by a copy of the original build sheet, registered to a Mr Fritz Kellermann of Rothenburg, Germany. Shortly after purchase, Mr Kellermann commissioned LoTec to fit a turbo charger to enhance the performance along with the necessary upgrades and re-mapping which raised the performance of this 320 E to 340bhp at 0.5 bar. It was then TÜV inspected which can be seen within the original TÜV report card, also supplied. Following the engine modification, Mr Kellermann took the car to the then independently owned AMG; the AMG package included body configuration and suspension upgrades, AMG split rim alloy wheels and also flared arches to comfortably house the new modifications. The car was then TÜV inspected again and documented. Whilst these upgrades were taking place, the owner fastidiously kept up with his annual Mercedes-Benz main dealer service schedule which he continued until he sold the car to his brother, Peter Kellermann in September 1965. Peter kept the car until 2010 adding another three service stamps before selling to a Mr Jurjew who kept the car predominantly garaged. Very few miles were then covered until its recent Mercedes-Benz service in May 2015 at 78,321kms which also included fitting a new stainless steel exhaust system. The car was then sold to the new owner who had the car imported to the UK where he resided.
This car presents in fantastic order throughout and is offered with the Sportline spec. which includes air-conditioning, sunroof, electric rear blind and the manual dog-leg gearbox also found in the 190 2.5 EVOII. The comprehensive history file contains the original build sheet and TÜV papers which detail the inspections of both the LoTec and AMG enhancements together with the original stamped service booklet , a current TÜV which is valid until March 2017, UK registration and a current UK MoT test certificate valid until October 2016. This represents the chance to own a rare and well documented example of this special saloon which also benefits from over £20,000 worth of enhancements for which the owner has sought advice from Hughes of Beaconsfield. Hughes have also confirmed that they are happy to keep servicing this car alongside the Turbo Technics examples in their Mercedes-Benz dealership. A genuinely rare Autobahn charger anyone?
It was such a good buy that since I wrote this article the Mercedes has already been sold at the time I published it
