Icon's Jonathan Ward Builds a Fast Bastard out of a 1971 Mercedes-Benz 300SEL
Yeah, Jonathan Ward gets plenty of ink, video views, and time with Jay Leno. Why? Because his shop, Icon, keeps producing nasty things like this: a 1971 Mercedes-Benz 300SEL powered by a GM LS9 supercharged 6.2-liter V-8. The LS9 is the engine installed in the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and is rated at 638 horsepower in the GM Performance Parts catalog as a crated unit. The engine is backed by a massaged GM 4L85E four-speed automatic transmission.
Here’s a clip of this warped transatlantic conglomeration through a nearby tunnel and along a few roads. It doesn’t sound much like an old Mercedes.
Ward has produced this thing as part of his “Derelict” line of customs that retains the weathered appearance of older vehicles while stuffing them full of modern performance pieces and adding the luxury plucks that goes with their $450,000 (to start) price tags.
Even though the W108 and W109 series of large Mercedes sedans (built between 1965 and 1972) are renowned as the base for the epic 300SEL 6.3, it’s not a structure with the strength to handle this much thump. After all, the 6.3’s M100 big 6.3-liter V-8 was only rated at 247 horsepower when the car went on sale for 1968. So the LS9 has it beat by almost 400 horsey powers.
Icon 4×4
So, as Icon does with many Derelicts, it has been fitted with a custom ladder frame produced by Art Morrison Enterprises in Fife, Washington, that is fitted with an all-independent suspension system, rack-and-pinion steering, massive Brembo brakes, and loads of expensive stainless steel fittings. The new frame meant re-engineering the entire structure of the vehicle, originally built as a unibody, including a new floor.
Perhaps the tastiest element of the car’s appearance is the one-piece billet aluminum wheels fitted with tires that squeeze under the fenders almost erotically. Yeah, that’s right, erotically.
Icon 4×4
Ward is known for his obsessive attention to intricate details, and the 300SEL is filled with them. New wood trim, some sort of super stealthy mega-sound system, heated this, ventilated that, it’s all carefully here and carefully hidden.
How fast is this thing? Let’s go to Jonathan Ward’s shop in verdant Chatsworth, California, and find out. Soon.
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