MerCEDES-BENZ 190 SL | 1962
We know, it sounds romantic: but we did find this Mercedes 190 SL in an abandoned garage near Antwerp, Belgium. Take a quick look at the pictures below, and you will learn in what condition it was at the time. It has come a long way since than … Its bodywork has been completely restored and has now a gorgeous silver colour. Oh yes, and did we mention it’s meant to be electric? We are now well underway to deliver a performant and gorgeous battery-powered car. In this article, we would like to give you an overview of all the work that has been done and will be done of the next weeks.
Drivetrain
Obviously, everything underneath the car has been entirely revised as well. Wheel bearings, shock absorbers, steering, rear and front wheel brakes, rear and front axle: everything has been replaced or repaired.
Interior and hood
The leather upholstery, the door panels, the dashboard, the soft top, everything will be as new. We’ve chosen to integrate a beautiful Cognac colored interior crafted from high quality leather. The soft top has returned to its original splendor. The buyer of our car will also have the option to purchase a hard top.
Mercedes 190SL - Connecting piece between gearbox and engine
Bodywork
The body had been repaired and repainted back in 2016 but given the level of refinement and attention to detail we would like to achieve for this project, we decided to start over. There’s no room for imperfections when it comes to deliver a project such as this.
So back to the paint shop to take most of the paint off again, polish and repaint it. It already looks even better than it did.
All chrome work has already been completely redone and these little jewel-like parts will be the last ones to be mounted on the car. We’re looking forward to that day!
Development and design
As we decided to keep the gearbox and gearshift to stay as close to the original car as possible, we had to develop a connecting piece between the gearbox and the electric engine. We also decided to adapt the flywheel to reduce its weight. The connecting piece, which has been developed in collaboration with Voxdale, has been mounted seamlessly to the gearbox, allowing us to start working on the electric integration.
Electric integration
This is obviously the most exciting part of the whole project. The first part is to test the entire electric setup out of the car: we will connect batteries, electric engine, BMS (battery management system) and cables to make sure everything works seamlessly before integrating it in the Mercedes.
We’ve also started to develop the battery casings, as we have decided where they will be fitted in the car: the six Tesla units will be evenly distributed in the car (3 in the front and 3 at the rear) to optimize the roadholding. The BMS and the will be integrated in a High Voltage junction box.
We will integrate the charging plug of the EV under the existing fuel filler cap. The on-board charger will be a two-phased charger (2 x 3,3 kW) allowing the car to charge 6,6 kW/h at an AC outlet. We’ve foreseen an autonomy of 200 km.
Once everything has been tested, it is time to integrate everything in the car. This is the moment where we can finally finish the car and fit the interior and all the cosmetic details.
We anticipate the car to be ready this spring! So if you wish to stay in the loop, leave us your e-mail address here.
