All Entries Tagged With: "500e"
Mercedes 300E AMG “Hammer” v. 500E
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: Mercedes-Benz 300E AMG “Hammer” and 500E
STOP the presses and hold your horses! Turning the corner of the 80s and understeering into the 90s, there was not one, but two hyper-tuned, E-Class super-saloons of power: the 300E AMG a.k.a. “The Hammer” and the 500E.
Yours had recently made the error, grievous as it was, to dare call the 500E “Hammer”. As a commenter rightly explained it’s simply not true. Here’s the difference:
>>> the difference following the jump >>>
500E Mercedes Retrospective
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay Motors ::: 500E Mercedes For Sale
EIGHTEEN days. That’s the amount of time it took to tune and turn one stock, buttoned-down W124 generation Mercedes-Benz E-Class, into the monstrous Bahn-stormer known as the 500E .
The 500E (“500E” in ‘94-’95) was a prelude of sorts.
Sold in the pre-AMG/Mercedes-Benz partnership era – 1990-1995 – there were few factory options to radicalizing your Benz’s performance. It was by what some might say divine intervention that Stuttgart commissioned rival sports car maker Porsche to construct a special, limited edition series of the popular Eintspritzung sedans.
Zuffenhausen obliged. The result was epic.
Mercedes shoe-horned the same M119, 5.0 Liter V8 motor as found in the R129 SL-Class (500SL) and the W140 S-Class (420 & 500SEL) under the bonnet; an engineering feat so tight that it forced Mercedes to relocate the battery to the trunk.
Handing the kit over to Porsche, Porsche’s engineers in turn tuned the 500E to produce 326 hp and 354 lb-ft of torque.
Performance dropped 0-60 numbers to the low sixes high fives and the quarter mile could be reached at 101 mph after 14 seconds. Electronically limited to 155 mph, untied, the Benz could reach 170 mph.
Visually, the 500E brauny but composed exterior exudes a special kind of menace.
Quite distinct from a stock W124 E, the 500’s body was lowered, fenders flared and track widened, while Mercedes fitted the SL roadster’s brakes and the S-Class’ hydropneumatic self-leveling suspension. Porsche tossed the standard recirculating ball steering for a far more assembly that registered among the most tactile handling systems Mercedes produced.
The car sold for North of $80K, featured one of the first drive-by-wire throttle systems ($1,200 to replace today, FYI) , and was stuffed with every amenity Mercedes could offer – including 2+2 coupe style Recaro bucket seating and non-defeatable ASR traction control.
In the exclusive tradition of the 450SEL 6.9, the 5ooE was built in limited numbers – 10,359 units in total. Good news for would-be buyers. Sad for the rest of us.
GarageCurrent’s Ye Olde Candy Shoppe
Garage Current’s showroom fresh 500SL Benz.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG GarageCurrent.com
WHAT’S the Japanese for “Yum” anyway?
I can’t help but want everything in Garage Current’s showroom. The Yokohama based car dealer specializes in selling previously enjoyed -* MINT * – Teutonic (mostly) grand tourers turned recent classics. Each car is presented in immaculate form with a full history for the connoisseur.
Drool with me over the following:
Grey over black 1992 500E with 5,100 km and …
Flawless interior.
Charcoal over black 1990 560SEL with …gulp… 4,700km plus…
5540cc V8.
1992 Porsche 911 in electric blue on black with 87,900 km.
Behold the metallic might of Porsche brakes!
2005 G55 AMG in white over charcoal with 31,500 km.
And COMAND-ing view.
And for good measure – 2005 Lamborghini Gallardo in shock therapy blue over…
midlife crisis blue/yellow.
Yum! Like I said, I take the whole showroom. Thanks.
