Super strange but super cool: Mercedes 450 SL Ringtool.

"Fred (FreddsterExprs)" (freddsterexprs) 02/22/2014 at 06:20 • Filed to: Ringtool, Mercedes, SLC, SL, Raeder, Ring, VLN

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What you are looking at is a heavily modified C107 Mercedes 450 SL . The original car is known to be a perfect luxury cruiser, a two door S-class with slightly sportier handling abilities. Well, thanks to Raeder Motorsport and a well funded private customer, the SL became a proper ring tool.

Optically, the huge overfenders that neatly transform into a front skirt are the biggest modification. The top has been lowered by 8cm to reduce drag, and at the rear a proper GT wing balances the car's aero out.

See the sidepipes? Of course, the engine of the 70s Benz couldn't stay in such a ambitious project. Raeder was involved in developing a V8 Superstar Mercedes - similar to the Australian V8 Supercar series - so installing a 5.7l NA V8 was a quick and "logical" decision. Power figures? Well in the 500hp range and 700NM of torque. Enough to pull a train.

There isn't much info on the car's chassis and suspension, but I heard that the rear axle is a modified Lamborghini piece. Mind you, the guys of Raeder Motorsport know a thing or two about suspension, as they were the first ones to create a TT-RS race car - a car that dominated its class and even took the first FWD overall win in VLN.

And boy does the car work. When it surprisingly showed up in the Nürburgring Paddock for the 2010 VLN test days, nobody knew what to make of it. After a few laps it did lap the Ring as quick as a BMW Z4 GT3 - one of the quickest cars in the business.

Yes dear Oppo, I know what you are thinking. You can't wait to see it in action during the Nürburgring 24h, fighting with the works SLS, Z4s and 911s. A boxy 70s shape in clean silver built for a gearhead taking on the big boys, holding up the flag for creativity and passion instead of pure marketing and performance.

Sadly the car isn't eligible to race. It was a fun project and therefore designed with no specific set of rules in mind. It doesn't fit any class and that what makes it so great. A class-less but classy outlaw. Think of the Ferrari FXX program, but with V8s and a tad of irony.

Picture credit: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , robert kah

Roberto G. > Fred (FreddsterExprs) 02/22/2014 at 06:56

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Beautiful.

Fred (FreddsterExprs) > Roberto G. 02/22/2014 at 07:59

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Indeed.

syaieya > Fred (FreddsterExprs) 02/22/2014 at 10:54

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Close but no cigar on the base car.

The 2 door you're thinking of is the SEC class which is a 126 base.

The C107 SLC is the hardtop version of the R107 SL.

Still, a very cool car, someone took one rallying back in the day.

Fred (FreddsterExprs) > syaieya 02/22/2014 at 10:59

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Your picture got kinja'd.

I am pretty sure it is based on the C107 , C126 would be the S-Class Coupe.
And the main inspiration was taken from the 450 SLC AMG:

syaieya > Fred (FreddsterExprs) 02/22/2014 at 11:11

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Oh, I'm sorry you may have had a small typo then, because you said it was a C107 450 SL based on the 2 door S class.

But the C107 is the SLC and the 2 door S class is the SEC.

Still very cool though.

Fred (FreddsterExprs) > syaieya 02/22/2014 at 11:35

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Ah, now I get it. I meant that the SL was a 2 door S-Class with sportier handling in the sense that it was a over the top luxury car and engineered to perfect comfort, but I totally forgot that there was the S-class Coupe too.

Nice picture, did you know that Norbert Haug, former Mercedes Motorsport Boss, used to do driftshowruns in a modified SLC during DTM weekends? I saw it a few times and it was damn awesome.