1983 500sec amg build; background and purpose

This build started in 2021 with the purchase of one rather tired yet mostly original 1983 pre-merger 500SEC AMG narrow body.

I have been hunting for a birth-year vehicle, and the range of options available for this year was rather slim. I have always loved the look of the SEC and the impracticality of such a large and expensive 2dr coupe; in the 1980's if you had one of these you were the king!

Originally an ex-UK vehicle, this car was brought into the country 20yrs prior and has undergone numerous changes in its life. As a factory red vehicle with cream cloth, it was painted green and had the matching beige leather trim installed in the early 2000's, before being resprayed a rather vibrant midnight purple in the care of its previous owner.

as collected... the journey begins!

Shortly after collecting, it was evident the vehicle required a lot more work than I had originally anticipated. The driveline was tired, the paintwork was rather patchy and I couldn't shake the feeling of 'things are falling apart'. I'm all for patina, but this poor old girl needed some serious love. The first step was to remove the tint film and replace the corner lights, then a good compound and polish to see what we are working with. Release the purple...!

the first few months

The only way to get to know a car is seat time... and depending on the age, also spanner time. A couple of months in and it was soon evident I had bitten off a little more than I could chew here. As this is 2021, we are in the midst of the COVID-19 fallout, and the last thing on many people's minds was automotive toys. A little more time with the vehicle and I couldn't shake the growing feeling that this was going to need a lot of work to get it to my level; and simply replacing bits like grilles, interior parts, lights and trims wouldn't suffice.

Being a pre-merger car made things equally difficult; there's parts from a wide range of Mercedes models 'made to fit' by AMG (such as the w123 window switches!) making replacement a stab-in-the-dark at the best of times. After cutting my finger for one last time (removing lacquer off the center console) I made the decision to bite the bullet and book this vehicle with the professionals for a bare metal restoration.

the restoration

There was one company in the Obsessive Partner Network willing and able to take on the great unknown of this vehicle; Evans European. Evans have a long and storied history of working with some of the most exotic vehicles in the country, and I could think of nobody better to tackle this project.

As delivered to Evans:

I have included a few shots of the build in their care below. The main point to make is that the goalposts changed drastically mid-build when I brought on a new distributor with Obsessive, who just so happened to build widebody kits for the C126....!
The first few steps of their process would be similar to all panelbeaters, with the exception of the layers upon layers of paint to remove...! It was at this stage the first of the bog and rust was noticed.

rebuild - phase one

The doors and fenders were heavily rusted, with the lower parts of both being nigh-on-unsalvageable. Evans employed a metalworker to create as-new panels from the rusted debris that remained, resulting in a factory finish. Whilst on the hoist, the Team also repaired and rust-proofed the entire underbody.

rebuild - phase two

This is where the drastic changes in direction for the project took effect. The end goal was always to widebody this vehice; and given the sheer amount of work needed for the respray I figured it was a perfect opportunity to do so. As such, the original front guards were cut in half with the aftermarket wide flares molded on (to ensure perfect panel gaps), and the sides and rear bumpers were discarded. I have retained the front AMG bumper and modified to fit the wider guards as I simply prefer the look of it. Whilst this work was underway I busied myself with tidying up and restoring the interior as much as possible, which was in my care for the build. Anyone who had meetings at Obsessive from 2022-24 will likely recall the interior panels strewn around our boardroom in varying states of disrepair (also featuring the odd chew mark from my puppy).

The paintwork

I was very fortunate to be provided photos of the paintwork being applied in September 2024. Whilst many would deem this as 'late stages' of the project, there is a whole lot left following (and not just fitup..!).

The colour chosen is in the Aston Martin range, a colour called Onyx Black. Whilst I was set on a black of some description for this vehicle as it was period-correct and unmistakeably Mercedes, the actual choosing of the colour was quite a difficult task; made much easier by the Evans' Team providing colour swatches. There were still many back-and-forths before commital however, I'm somewhat embarassed to admit.