An Epochal Classic Mercedes-Benz Is Getting the Restomod It’s Always Deserved

As a diehard enthusiast and owner of multiple classic Mercedes-Benzes, I tend to gravitate towards originality. Why mess with some of the finest and most exquisitely engineered automobiles that continue withstanding the test of time and use, even today?

Experiencing an unmodified classic Benz, like the legendary W126 S-Class, is part of its original charm and allure. That’s because they simply don’t build them like they used to. Their reputation for over-engineered excellence precedes the company since it started making cars again postwar.

But RENNtech, one of MB’s signature aftermarket tuning firms for almost four decades, might’ve just changed my opinion on maintaining originality. Meet the Sledgehammer.

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Tipping its hat to a pre-merger AMG legend

RENNTech

Named in the spirit of and to pay tribute to the iconic W124-based AMG Hammer, the Sledgehammer is the Florida-based tuning firm’s latest concept and idea of resto-modding a W126 SEC.

Colloquially called the “C126,” the original SEC is Mercedes’ flagship coupe and the two-door variant of the S-class from the ’80s. Shaped by one of its most distinguished designers — the one and only, late Bruno Sacco — it sold in America as either the 380SEC, 500SEC, or most desirably, the 560SEC in its final years, between 1981 and 1991.

Mercedes-Benz

Except, the Sledgehammer isn’t your typical nut-and-bolt restoration. Like the OG AMG Hammer, RENNTech’s project takes said coupe, retrofits one of Benz’s largest and most iconic engines and wraps it all in a subtle, but handsome widebody kit that’s neither as brash nor as vulgar as something from the period.

Complete with added aerodynamic effects and wicked lightweight forged wheels, the result, at least by the renderings, looks nothing short of spectacular.

Mercedes-Benz

It is a work in progress. So RENNTech is saving the interior work for custom orders at the behest of its buyers.

But the real magic is saved for the engine compartment, where the factory V8 would normally live. Especially since Mercedes didn’t introduce its first-ever V12-powered coupe from the factory until the succeeding W140 generation.

Building the ’80s V12 coupe that Mercedes never made

RENNTech

More than just a bodykit, the Sledgehammer’s restomod goes well past its sheetmetal. To make it really special, RENNTech will be replacing the original V8 with a V12.

But not just any V12. Rather, it’s Mercedes’ first-ever production 12-cylinder, the M120 from the 1990s.

It debuted in the R129 600SL/SL600 and the W140 600SEL/S600 in the early 1990s. The M120 also remains as one of the largest production engines ever fitted to a mass-produced Mercedes from the factory.

RENNTech

Except, the one going into each of the 12 limited-production Sledgehammers isn’t the standard 6.0-liter. Instead, each M120 V12 will be reworked in-house to 7.5-liters, making it the largest displacement variant ever.

It’s even larger than the AMG-modified 7.3-liter M120 used in the wicked Pagani Zonda supercar. And the motorsports-bred M297 in the CLK GTR.

RENNTech

The result: 660 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque, dwarfing the original and most powerful factory-fitted V8. For comparison, the top Euro-spec 560SEC’s 5.6-liter M117 V8 maxed out at 295 hp and 336 lb-ft.

RENNTech didn’t say when the 12 examples will be built, nor did it mention how much it’ll be asking for each one. But the company anticipates completion sometime in 2027. Needless to say, I can’t wait to see one in the metal.

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