1987 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth, Vancouver

Some time ago I went on a tour of a newly opened Mercedes-Benz dealership with the British Columbia section of the Mercedes Benz Club of America (MBCA). In the back lot the dealership has their D-Sales (Demo) inventory and we wandered through.

The cars in D-Sales were largely parked bumper to bumper and almost door to door. Parked in the middle was a 190E with a spoiler in DB199 paint. Recognizing it for what it was, i went to see if it had a manual transmission… and it did! That’s pretty much when I knew I had to have it.

That was in 1998. 28 years ago.

Originally sold in Boston, MA, this car was traded in to a Boston dealership by the original owner and it was subsequently imported into Canada by the Sales Manager of this new dealership.

I am the second owner of this car and I have had it for more than twice as long as its original owner.

I’ve competed in many autocross events with this car and it has represented itself well despite its age. The suspension modifications and tuning have sharpened its performance edge, but it still retains the civility to be able to take the car out for a night on the town.

It is lowered on Eibach springs and Bilstein front struts but retains the OEM rear SLS. Then engine remains stock but the exhaust has been upgraded with the full Strömung stainless system from headers to exhaust tips.

It runs on 225/45-16 Toyo R1Rs mounted on forged OEM 16×7 ET 27 Fuchs Toliman rims (aka CLK Lightweights), and uses Silver Projects camber plates to maximize neg camber at the front.

The front brakes are Brembo Aluminum 4-piston calipers as spec’d on the early R129 500SL, early W124.036 500E, and 2.5-15 Evolution 2.

For now, it retains the OEM 16V body kit but I have a set of Evolution 2 spec camshafts that I intend to build a motor around and, when that happens, the car will get an Evo1 body kit.