Miguel Sánchez
MERCEDES BRABUS 190E 3.6S PHOTOS: FAST-CLASSICS
If in Germany there is a competition really loved by the public, it is the German Touring Car Championship. There, street cars are transformed into real bullets that end up bearing a casual resemblance to the one you can buy at the dealer. A whole test bed in which cars as remembered as the one have been lit Alfa Romeo V6 TI or Mercedes 2.5-16 DTM.
An entire adrenaline circus that fueled the sporting dreams of the country, which, along with the US, is perhaps the greatest exponent of a motoring hobby that loves modifying its cars. Fact that it looks great with many Mercedes; and it is that, from Mechatronik modifications on classics as stately as the 280 SE to the rabid AMG preparations hand in hand with the star brand ... The truth is that the Teutons know how to take their standard cars further.
Proof of this is the incredible 190E that he has recently presented the preparer Brabus. And yes, we say well: “recently”. And it is that, although you may have already seen this same evolution before ... You have not seen it in this state: neither more nor less than the original - and radical - approach that Brabus devised for 190E in 1988 and which has now been happily recovered for this unit.
BRABUS MERCEDES 190E 3.6S: TOO RADICAL
At the end of the 80s Mercedes had already fully consolidated the 190E, the one that many nicknamed "baby benz”For being the smallest in the range but which, thanks to its sporting evolutions, conquered in its own right a position of honor among fans of the brand. Among the fans ... and between the curves of the German Touring Car Championship: there The 190E stood out from 1990 to 1993 to the point of becoming one of the championship legends.
In 1992 Mercedes achieved its first double in this competition, managing to position Klaus Ludwig as champion that year while winning the constructors' title thanks to his 190E 2.5-16 DTM. Quite a feat that further consecrated this model already much loved among speed enthusiasts. In fact, radical interpretations of the model by some German preparers had already been produced in previous years.
The first was in 1987, when AMG launched its remembered 190 AMG 3.2 capable of delivering 245CV. The model was only in production for a year, but there was no problem since in 1989 the Brabus company took over by presenting its 190E 3.6S.
A true beast of circuits approved to circulate on the street, where Brabus threw the rest when it came to managing to increase the engine displacement by almost one liter to 3.6, reduce weight by removing everything that can be removed and installing four 286 mm brake discs to be able to brake the 268CV of power capable of taking the car to more than 254 km / h.
Quite a toy out of the feverish imaginary of the DTM stuck to the ground thanks to Yokohama tires mounted on 16-inch wheels that are powered by a 5-speed manual gearbox.
Given these radical benefits ... The Brabus people wanted to go a step further by making it not only radical, but look like it. To do this, they changed the seats for a competition Recaro, incorporated aerodynamic improvements that changed the appearance of the body, removed the rear seats and eliminated the air conditioning for weight reasons.
And here… The problem arrived. And is that even the Spartans and sporty Brabus customers were willing to ride the 190E 3.6S at the risk of being made a soup with the mixture of powerful mechanics and high summer temperatures. This being the case, they were asking the house one by one to reincorporate the air conditioning and, since they were… The rear seats; because in short, taking the children to school in this car can be fun.
ALMOST 20 YEARS LATER THE ORIGINAL IDEA IS RECREATED
As we have seen, the car was still just as attractive and radical but ... Anyway, the most purists screeched the use of an air conditioning that added too much weight to the set. One of these admirers of 190 in its most spartan sense is sven gramm, neither more nor less than the Brabus communication manager.
He commissioned the company to create a unit that responded exactly to the original proposals, thus giving birth -almost 20 years later- a vehicle with the same radicality that was had in mind back in 1989. All a virguería made from a 190E 2.6 that has acted as a donor and that, in a process of 10 months, it has become this Brabus 3.6S with an aluminum roll cage, carbon fiber wheels, two seats and… Not a trace of air conditioning.
The vehicle was registered last 2017 in the United Kingdom, and just a year later it is already looking for a new owner. The company Fast-Classics is offering it for about 150.000 euros and 16.000 kilometers on the meter and this makes us consider the following, Has Sven Gramm sweated so much during those 16.000 miles on a car like this to want to sell it in a few months?
