Peter Thelin
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2015
- Messages
- 4
- Car
- 500 SEC Brabus
Last October I posted a thread about an unusual car I had just purchased; a Brabus W126C—a 1982 500 SEC that had apparently been retooled and marketed by Brabus.
The Mercedes was in pretty sad shape—the interior was a mess and full of trash and despite the seller’s insistence that this was a special car—bought and imported from England—but there was very little evidence to support that claim (no paperwork or even an owner’s manual). Evidently, when the original owner died, his son—not a car enthusiast—inherited the Brabus.
To determine if the car was worth the effort to restore, I did 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 records on their early cars due to a computer crash. Turning to the internet I managed to find a 1985 Motor article on a car they referred to as a Brabus 500SEC (“If Looks Could Kill”) which looked like my car including the equipment. I also found a number of Brabus brochures showing more details (I bought a couple off eBay) and several online photos. The car was alternately referred to as a Brabus 500 SEC or a Brabus W126C.
From what I read, Brabus started with a stock Mercedes 500 SEC, and for £8576 reworked the engine to produce more power, lowered the suspension, added various spoilers, 16” Rial wheels, some interior bits and a Paxton supercharger. Also, the cars had been modified by Walter Treser’s Central Garage in Cobham Surrey and sold by Thomson & Taylor (Brooklands) ltd—now out of business.
I now had evidence that these cars existed, but was the vehicle 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” Rial lattice-type. The car has an old wooden shift knob and there are holes under the bumpers and rocker panels where missing aerodynamic components would attach. My 500 SEC’s suspension is definitely lower than stock and a small radar detector has been sewn into a leather—not vinyl—sun-visor. There is even a head temperature 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 the handwritten, bright yellow letters of a wrecking yard—a replacement for something.
In the Motor magazine article David Vivian wrote that the Brabus 500 SEC he drove proved to be “disastrously unreliable, burning out spark plugs, bursting the radiator and throwing off engine belts”.
Maybe my car’s Paxton unit had been ditched for California smog or reliability issues. Maybe the Rials had been discarded for wheels cheaper to find tires for. Maybe the spoilers had been tossed after too many encounters with curbs.
I've since cleaned the car up quite a bit and bought a complete set of Rials to replace the missing ones. I found a couple of side skirts but no front and rear spoiler yet. I still haven't located a replacement supercharger though.
Still, I haven’t seen these cars discussed in the forums or advertised for sale. Does anyone else own one? Has anyone else seen a Brabus W126C or have any memories of them? They seem like pretty impressive beasts, it’s surprising there’s nothing about them in the Mercedes enthusiast magazines. Could they have been so troublesome that none survived?
The Mercedes was in pretty sad shape—the interior was a mess and full of trash and despite the seller’s insistence that this was a special car—bought and imported from England—but there was very little evidence to support that claim (no paperwork or even an owner’s manual). Evidently, when the original owner died, his son—not a car enthusiast—inherited the Brabus.
To determine if the car was worth the effort to restore, I did 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 records on their early cars due to a computer crash. Turning to the internet I managed to find a 1985 Motor article on a car they referred to as a Brabus 500SEC (“If Looks Could Kill”) which looked like my car including the equipment. I also found a number of Brabus brochures showing more details (I bought a couple off eBay) and several online photos. The car was alternately referred to as a Brabus 500 SEC or a Brabus W126C.
From what I read, Brabus started with a stock Mercedes 500 SEC, and for £8576 reworked the engine to produce more power, lowered the suspension, added various spoilers, 16” Rial wheels, some interior bits and a Paxton supercharger. Also, the cars had been modified by Walter Treser’s Central Garage in Cobham Surrey and sold by Thomson & Taylor (Brooklands) ltd—now out of business.
I now had evidence that these cars existed, but was the vehicle 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” Rial lattice-type. The car has an old wooden shift knob and there are holes under the bumpers and rocker panels where missing aerodynamic components would attach. My 500 SEC’s suspension is definitely lower than stock and a small radar detector has been sewn into a leather—not vinyl—sun-visor. There is even a head temperature 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 the handwritten, bright yellow letters of a wrecking yard—a replacement for something.
In the Motor magazine article David Vivian wrote that the Brabus 500 SEC he drove proved to be “disastrously unreliable, burning out spark plugs, bursting the radiator and throwing off engine belts”.
Maybe my car’s Paxton unit had been ditched for California smog or reliability issues. Maybe the Rials had been discarded for wheels cheaper to find tires for. Maybe the spoilers had been tossed after too many encounters with curbs.
I've since cleaned the car up quite a bit and bought a complete set of Rials to replace the missing ones. I found a couple of side skirts but no front and rear spoiler yet. I still haven't located a replacement supercharger though.
Still, I haven’t seen these cars discussed in the forums or advertised for sale. Does anyone else own one? Has anyone else seen a Brabus W126C or have any memories of them? They seem like pretty impressive beasts, it’s surprising there’s nothing about them in the Mercedes enthusiast magazines. Could they have been so troublesome that none survived?
