Cyberpunk 190E LE

The Mercedes 190E had been my dream car since I was a kid. There was just something about that boxy shape, the proportions and that unmistakable 80s/90s Mercedes look that stuck with me. So years later, when I decided I wanted to build my own homage to Cyberpunk, there was only ever one car I wanted to do it with.

A 190E.

Eventually I found this 1993 190E LE… although “dream car” perhaps wasn’t the best description of the condition it was in at the time. It was rough, tired, needed plenty of work and had reached the point where it needed someone stubborn enough to give it another chance.

Being an LE also makes what I’ve done to it slightly sacrilegious depending on which 190E owner you ask. At this point it’s probably the definition of a Marmite build: you’ll either love it or absolutely hate what I’ve done to it. I’m perfectly happy with that.

The idea has never been to make the original car unrecognisable. I still love the shape that made me want a 190E in the first place. Instead, I’ve tried to build something that feels like a 190E that somehow survived into a slightly dystopian future… wider stance, deep dish wheels, bolt on arches, darker bodywork, louvers and cyberpunk inspired details, with plenty more still planned.

The other complication is that this isn’t a garage queen or a weekend project. It’s my daily driver. Everything I’ve done has had to be balanced against the fact that I actually need the thing back on the road. That has made the build slower and occasionally much more frustrating, especially when a simple job turns into three more jobs and suddenly the car I need tomorrow is still in pieces.

There have been breakdowns, leaks, parts that didn’t fit and plenty of moments where the sensible option would probably have been to stop throwing money at an old Mercedes.

But this was the car I wanted as a kid. Now I finally own one, I get to drive it every day, and I’ve turned it into something unmistakably mine.

It might upset a few purists along the way.

But I’m nowhere near finished yet!!