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Mercedes 190 Rieger Turbo Build

1990 190E 2.0 · Bessbrook, Northern Ireland

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I’m Mark Weir, a car collector based in Northern Ireland, and the proud new caretaker of this incredible Mercedes 190 Rieger Turbo. I recently bought the car from someone winning a raffle. As a collector, I completely fell in love with this “EVO.” A spec this unhinged and beautifully executed deserves to be preserved, driven, and celebrated, I simply refused to let a build like this disappear.

Mercedes-Benz never actually built an Evolution III, permanently halting that lineage after the iconic Evo I and Evo II. This car represents the ultimate “what if.” The body wears a full aftermarket Evolution 3 kit by Rieger, but unlike a standard kit that just bolts onto a shell, this has been meticulously molded and painted as a single, seamless piece of the body. It doesn’t sit on the car; it is the car. That level of craftsmanship is exactly why it belongs in a collection.

Filling those massive arches the way an Evo should is a set of custom Kix wheels, specially drawn for this exact chassis and shipped over from the States.

Underneath the aggressive bodywork is the part that really matters to me: this is a street car built to be driven, not just photographed once. Power is put down through a five-speed manual gearbox, custom shafts, and an ASD differential. The suspension is dialed in with US-sourced Ceika coilovers, polyurethane bushes in the rear subframe, and fresh OEM arms. Stopping power is handled by heavy-hitting E55 discs up front paired with S320 calipers.

Under the hood sits an M111 engine fortified with a turbo setup. Mapped by Pulse Motorsport, it puts down a proven 357 horsepower and nearly 400 Nm of torque on a conservative, low-boost tune. The setup utilises 650cc Bosch injectors, upgraded boost sensors, a Symphonetics downpipe, and a full custom exhaust system. The motor had just 35,000 miles on it before it was swapped in, and everything replaced during the build has less than 15,000 miles on it.

Then you open the door. You’re greeted by the classic factory cabin until you look a little closer. The interior features carbon fiber front door cards and rear cards painted to match the body. But the absolute centre piece of the interior is a pair of genuine McLaren Elva seats. McLaren only ever manufactured 149 of those hypercars, and to this day, it’s a beautiful mystery how those exact carbon buckets ended up in a Baby Benz.

It’s an absolute honor to bring this one-of-a-kind 190 over to Northern Ireland for its next chapter.

FILE / INTAKE.2026

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FILE / BUILD.LOG, CHRONOLOGICAL

Build log63 entries

2026
Jul 19, 2026

Does it get much nicer than this? #oldskool #mercedes #evo #rep #perfection

May 13, 2026

🖤🖤🖤 #merc #mercedes #classic #evo #rep

May 12, 2026

Oldskool did it best! #merc #mercedes #classic #oldskool #evo

Apr 22, 2026

Perfection #merc #mercedes #evo #rep #black

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