A Havily Modified Six-Cylinder From the E-Class, A Stripped Interior With Two Recaro Seats, A Roll Cage, and Semi-Slick Tires. It’s 1989, and with the Mercedes 190 E 3.6S Leichtbau, Brabus isn’t just throwing down the gauntlet at Porsche, but boldly flipping the middle finger.
For Many Car Enthusiasts, Tuning Has a Bad Reputation. However, The Phenomenon Has Been around for so long that it has its own classics. A Good Example Can Be Found in Bottrop, Where Brabus Has Been Successully Enhancing And Speeding Up Mercedes-Benz Cars Since 1977. Especialy in the Early Years, Around 1980, Tuners Were Very generous with Colds Like spoilers. Nothing was too Crazy, exaggeration was the norm. Just The Renowned amg was known for good taste and refinement, but look where they are now. There’s tuning and there’s tuning, and this isn’t about a set of overy large wheels, matching spoilers, and a flashy wrap. The Bright Red Classic Brabus We Encounter here in Bottrop Seems to Belong in that category due to items seemingly Wrong Appearance, But The 190 E 3.6S Leichtbau Is of a Completely Different Order. Brabus Has Earned the Status of Car Manufacturer for a Reason.
Radical Conversion Practices
It owes that status to radical conversion practices with self-developed and manufactured parts. The Engine is Central, and the Engineers Don’t Hesitation to take it Directly from Mercedes-Benz or Even Amg And Banish It To The Parts Warehouse. In Bottrop, in The Heart of the Ruhr area, they are very skilled at installing the largest Possible Engines in Models Where Das Haus Doesn’t Think They Belong. Powerhouses That Can Measure Up To The Lamborghinis And Paganis Of This World in Terms of Power. Extreme Brabus Cars Are the Rocket and Bullit, Based on the CLS and C-Class Respectively. Mercedes (read: AMG) Provides thesis models with a maximum of A HIJKLY V8, Brabus Casually Throws in an 800 HP V12 Biturbo and Breaks Guinness World Records with Top Speeds or over 360 km/h.
190 E 3.6s Leichtbau is a trendsetter
The 190 E 3.6s Leichtbau Safely Be Called a Trendsetter, AS Brabus’ First with a King-Size Engine. It starts with the 190 E 3.6, where a standard 190 e with a 2.6-liter six-cylinder (M 103.940) Suddenly had to swallow a 3-liter six-cylinder (M 103.980) from the e-class. Through a newly developed crankshaft and the necessary grinding and polishing work, bore and stroke increased from 88.5 x 80.25 to 92 x 90 millimeters. That wasn’t enough, so with new pistons, a sports exhaust, a freer breathing air filter, and countless other interventions, the 3.6s was created, deliversing a power of 272 hp and 365 nm or torque. With Today’s HorsePower Race, Such Figures are Almost Commonplace in the Mid-Range, But Realize That in 1989 The 3.6s Delivered as much Torque as the 420 se with its its 4.2-liter Eight-cylinder and Almost as muchs as the MERCED V8-Liter v8-Literb
No Air Conditioning, Rear Seat, And Damping Material
Standard, the 3.6s had a Lowered Chassis, 16-inch Wheels, a front spoiler, and a fashion spoiler on the trunk member. Hoping for Extra Exposure, Brabus Removed ‘Unnecessary’ Weight. Things Like Air Conditioning, The Standard Front Seats, The Rear Seat, Damping Material, and Trunk Lining Disappeared. In Their Place Came Two Light Recaro Seats with Harness Seatbelts, A Roll Cage, and Three Gauges in the Center Console.
The Leichtbau May be intended as a Lightweight version of the already Impressive 190 E 3.6s, but in reality, it was more of a heavyweight that could face all competitors. To emerge from the battle with head hero High and Leave the other with a Bloody Nose. On the Outside, the Compact Brabus Leaves No Room for Doubt, With Its Bright Red Body, the Color-Matched Grille that Forms A Single Unit With The Hood, And All The Chrome Details that are finished in High-Gloss Black. Where the regular 3.6s still looks somewhat subtle, understatement is far from the leightbau.
Street
Shortly after the introduction in 1989, which was accompanied by a lot of media attention, The Street Racer on these pages seemed to disappear from the face of the earth. It would take two decades for him to travelar. That is thanks to the pr and marketing director of Brabus, Sven Gramm. Duration a delicious German lunch, he tells the Story Beind His Unique W201. “Of the 3.6 and later 3.6s, only variants with a luxurious interior were ordered. Nobody was interested in that bright red, lightweight show car. At the request of a customer, it was later equipped with a full interior, and with that, there was the origin. Copy: Build It Myself. “
Gramm Performed Countless Hours of Hard Manual Labor and Did Not Hesitation to Ask Colleagues for Advice and Help. After Ten Months of Working in the Evenings and Weekends, The 190 E 3.6s Leichtbau was Reborn. “We have rebuilded the car down to the smallest detail, and Everything that was no longer aviale was made here in the factory or we had it made elsewhere.” Just before we get in, Gramm Shows The Extensive Specification List, with the Appraised Value of No Less Than € 70,000 at the Very Bottom.
Brabus-alllee
We Quietly Roll Down the Brabus-Alle to the E34 Driveway Towards Oberhausen. What is striking is that damping and suspension are QUITE Comfortable, Despite the Appearance and Interior Suggestation Otherwise. Also striking is The Sticky Rolling Noise of the Tires, but it is not disturbing. Once on the Driveway, the Throttle Goes Down and 365 Nm of Torque Provides an Abrupt Acceleration. No moment of restraint as with turbo engines or high-revinging racing blocks, but a wonderful linear acceleration direct from 2,000 rpm. The Further The Tachometer Swings Towards The Red Area at 6,500, The Wilder The 190 Accelerates. In Third Gear, The Urge to Acceleration, Undiminished and the Shallow S-Curve That the Driveway Forms Ensures is that the chassis shows its True Character. The Tires Provide Considerably More Grip Than You would Expect From A Car of This Age. There are also semi-slicks from yokohama that are homologated for street use.
Hochleistungsbremsanlage
Once on the highway, we can move to the left lane in one movement and when shifting to fourth gear we are already well above 200 km/h. Traffic Density Requires Calm and Because of An Intentive Overtaking Action in Front of Us, We get acquainted with the Hochleistungsbremsanlage with 286 mm discs. The stopping power is astouning and that is also partly due to the huge grip of the yokohas. The Disadvantage is that you have to do your best to get 7.500 kilometers with a set, Gramm Admits. The Braking Power and the Pleasant Chassis Sacrifice So Much Confidence That We Floor It Several Times. The Acceleration at 230 km/h is Impressive Enough Not to Doubt the Top Speed of 270 km/h. We are happy to give a tuner – sorry, manufacturer – with a handful of world speed records to its name the benefit of the doubt.
Read Rear Axle Temperature
After a few kilometers on the highway, Gramm Points to the Three Meters in the Center Console. “Here you can read the oil temperature of the gearbox, engine and rear axle. The coolers for the engine and transmission are in front of the water cooler and the one for the rear axle is under the rear spoiler. The meters of the rear axle and gearbox only start to deflect when you drive hard for a long time, but I have never Seen the Warning Lights Come on.
Cooling Differential
Arriving at the photo location in Düsseldorf, we open the hood to Admire the showpiece. In The Compact Engine Compartment, The Het Verly Six-in-Line With Its Bright Red Cylinder Head, Almost Clamped Between The Bulkhead and The Radiator With The Two Oil Coolers On Top is. In the trunk we see the cooling for the rear differential. The Heat Exchanger on the Trunk Member is connected via Braided Metal Hoses to Both An Oil Pump on the Bottom of the Spare Wheel Box and the Differential in the Rear Axle. The Pump Switches On Via A Thermostat When the Temperature In The Rear Axle Exceeds 120 Degrees to Keep the Differential Cool Even At Prolonged High Speeds.
Polyester Attachments
It is precisely thesis details that make that brabus so special, because to the layman it could just as well be a lowered mercedes with polyester attachments. The Weight of 1.304 Kilos and the Sturdy Six-Cylinder Make the Leichtbau an Opponent That Cannot Be Trifled With Even Now. On the Sparely Populated Country Roads Around Düsseldorf, The Speeds Quickly Reach Values That Are Better Left Unmentioned. It Becomes clear that this unique creation in the Late 80s flirted with the limit of what was credible. Not only an AMG-Mercedes or a BMW M-Model, but also a Porsche 911 was no match for this tinkering. Despite the Sports Air Filter and the Light-Alloy Sports Exhaust, The Noise Level in The Leichtbau Is Bearable, With A Sporty Undertone. At Higher Revs, The Engine Sounds Nicely Rumbling As Only A Six-In-Line Can, While Relaxed Cruising the High Torque at Low Revs And The Long Final Drive Provide An Acceptable Noise Level. Yet there is always enough reserve to accelerate without downshifting if desired.
Drives away from Evo I But II on the circuit probable a whole challenge
Duration the ride, the conversation inevitably turns to what many see as the ultimate 190: The 190 E 2.5-16 Evolution II. “I have bone able to regularly compare this leightbau with an evo i from an acquaintance and I drive away from that without problems. An evo II is hardly faster than the i, so it also has no chance,” Gramm Smiles. “Don’t forget that there is only a 2.5-liter four-cylinder in it with 204 or 235 hp. They are far short of this six-cylinder,” he continues with an affectionate pat on the dashboard. “I would like an evo II, but with an original dtm engine that runs at 9,000 rpm. That is of course unattainable, so this is by far the fastest alternative.” On the circuit, The Brabus Will Have A Hard Time With Random Evo, But Purely On Acceleration and Speed, The Evo II Will undoubtedly come out of the fight with a Bloody Nose. This is in Accordance with the Philosophy of Brabus: the brand does not participate in any form of motorsport. Individuality and Extremely Large Engines, preferably in relatively small cars, are the most importing aspects on which the manufacturer has focused for four decades. And with Success, because even AMG Has No Answer to the Most Extreme Creations That Leave Bottrop. Or, as gramm puts it: “Where amg stops, we only start.”
Major rival amg
In The Late 1980S, AMG, Considerly More Freedom Than It Does Today, Because, Like Brabus, IT Operated Independently Without Any Significant Responsible Towards The Then Daimler-Benz. That explains excesses Such as the 280 in 5.0 (W123) and 300 CE 6.0 (W124), with the Letter Going Through Life in the US With the Appropriate Nickname Hammer. AMG also developed a variant of the m 103.980 for the 190 e and in 1986 came with a 3.2-liter That Delivered 234 HP. From 1991 This Engine Could Be ordered via Mercedes Dealers in the AMG 190 E 3.2, Making this the First Official Collaboration Between AMG and Mercedes-Benz in the Development and Sale of Street Cars. The Later M 104 With 24 Valves and 280 HP is Known from the Various W124 Variants (E 36 AMG) and as Specialy the W202, which was sacrificed as C 36 AMG: The First Series Production Model from Amg and Mercedes-Benz. Between the 3.6 and the 3.2, at the end of the 80s there was still the m 104 with a capacity of 3.4 liters and this engine was also Mainly Used for the W124. The Power: 272 HP, Just like the twelve-Valve Brabus 3.6s.