Brabus Chrysler 300 C

19-11-2004

World Debut at the ESSEN-MOTOR-SHOW 2004

The new Chrysler 300 C in STARTECH Designer SuitSTARTECH refines the new four-door with elegantly shaped and aerodynamically efficient STARTECH body components. The STARTECH front spoiler is attached to the production bumper and lends the 300 C a sportier face. But that's not all: It also minimizes lift on the front axle. Another attractive feature is the integrated license-plate holder, which means the characteristic front grill of the 300 C is no longer partially covered up by the front license plate.

For an aerodynamically favorable transition between the wheelhouses the sides of the Chrysler are refined with understated side sills. Their integrated entrance lights are activated with the keyless-entry remote or by pulling on the door handles. The lights illuminate the ground on either side of the vehicle.

The STARTECH roof spoiler visually stretches the roofline of the sedan. The STARTECH rear spoiler lip on the trunk lid reduces lift on the rear axle at high speeds. The STARTECH designers further developed custom elements for the rear apron to house the two oval-shaped tailpipes of the STARTECH stainless-steel exhaust system. The sport exhaust is available in custom-tailored versions for the V6 and V8 engines of the Chrysler 300 C.

It not only produces a more powerful engine sound but also contributes to optimizing power yield. Exciting looks and more agile handling are the character traits of the STARTECH Monostar IV light-alloy wheels for the 300 C. The one-piece five-spoke rims in size 9Jx20 make perfect use of the available space under the wheel arches. For optimal tires STARTECH selected tires in size 245/40 ZR 20 in front and in size 275/35 ZR 20 on the rear axle.

Custom-calibrated to the use of sporty low-profile tires is the STARTECH lowering kit which lowers the ride height of the sedan by some 45 millimeters. The sport springs are designed to
be combined with the production shocks. They give the Chrysler 300 C a sportier ride without sacrificing ride comfort. Masterful handcraft, exclusive design and highest quality characterize the STARTECH interior.

It includes door-trim elements and armrests made from Alcantara, a completion set for the factory wood trim of dashboard and door panels, aluminum shift knob, foot pedals and chrome-plated door-lock pins, as well as exclusive floor mats with STARTECH logo.

Even more exclusive is the STARTECH fully leather interior crafted to utmost precision in the company-own upholstery shop. STARTECH exclusively uses only the finest Alcantara and Mastik leathers that are especially soft and breathable yet highly durable.

STARTECH also offers a custom-tailored multimedia package for the Chrysler 300 C. The roof
console houses a retractable monitor and an integrated DVD player.

Text and photos courtesy of BRABUS GmbH

Brabus Startech

While the STARTECH performance kit for the 8.3-liter V10 engine with normally 506 hp / 372 kW is still under development, other STARTECH modifications will be available shortly.
The STARTECH front spoiler lip gives the roadster an even more striking appearance while reducing lift on the front axle at high speeds, thus further improving directional stability.

The exciting look of the two-seater can be customized further with STARTECH Monostar V spoke wheels. These multi-piece light-alloy wheels are mounted in size 11Jx20 with 285/30 ZR 20 tires on the front axle. For optimal traction the rear is fitted with 345/25 ZR 20 high-performance tires
mounted on 13.5Jx20 STARTECH wheels. The tires were custom-developed for the STARTECH- tuned Viper by Pirelli and are available exclusively from STARTECH.

These gigantic wheels are a prerequisite for installing the STARTECH high-performance brake system, which utilizes the largest components ever used in a street-legal sports car. On the front axles the system features vented and slotted disks with a diameter of 405 millimeters and six-piston aluminum fixed calipers. The rear axle is fitted with 355-millimeter disks and six-piston calipers. This brake system makes the Dodge Viper perfectly suited for tough racing action on the track.

The STARTECH sport suspension was matched to the 20-inch tires. Bound and rebound of the suspension are adjustable and the ride height can be set to customers' individual preferences. The Viper can be lowered by up to 20 millimeters.

The STARTECH program for the new Viper is rounded out by exclusive interior options. The selection includes sporty accessories such as a gearshift-lever grip and sill plates, both with illuminated STARTECH logos. A center and middle console made from genuine carbon and aluminum foot pedals are also available as is a stylishly integrated VDO Dayton MS 4200
navigation system with tuner and CD-Player.

The STARTECH upholstery shop handcrafts exclusive interiors for the new Viper at the highest level of perfection. For more added exclusivity and especially striking looks STARTECH offers an interior made from a combination of especially soft yet highly durable Mastik and Alcantara
leathers, available in any desired color. Loving attention to detail is evident in many made-to-order options such as leather floor with waffle-design stitching.

To cover the standard soft top in its folded position STARTECH interior designers developed custom covers for the recesses in which the soft top disappears.

STARTECH rollover protectors made from stainless steel and mounted behind the seats offer classic roadster-design looks.

Text and photos courtesy of BRABUS GmbH

There are many, many companies out there who'll restore a classic vehicle for you. But as major automakers seek to offer a more rounded service for customers, many now offer their own in-house restoration services. Among those are Aston Martin Heritage, Ferrari Classiche and Mercedes-Benz Classic. Now, there's another option for the latter--BRABUS Classic. This doesn't, as you might expect, involve huge alloy wheels and mega-powerful engines, but does mean the same levels of attention paid to your classic Mercedes as you'd expect from BRABUS on much newer models.
BRABUS showed a couple of its projects at the recent Geneva Motor Show, but officially BRABUS Classic launches at the Techno Classica show in Essen, Germany. Three Mercedes-Benz 280 SL W113 'Pagoda' vehicles and a W111 280 SE 3.5 Cabriolet are showing off the maker's talents, restored to levels of "unrivalled quality and authenticity". The quality is high enough that leading vintage car expert organization Classic Data has given each an "A" grade for condition.

An R107 Mercedes 560 SL and 300 SL rolling chassis are also on display. The latter shows the lengths BRABUS will go to in the process of restoring a car, stripping it down to its last nut and bolt before inspecting and cataloging every component. Those that don't meet the company's standards are discarded, while others are restored. Bodyshells are given the latest rust-proofing treatment--as you'd expect of a brand-new vehicle--before a full respray in the car's original color.

The engine too is totally rebuilt and restored, along with the gearbox and drivetrain components. Other running gear is also restored, and the interior undergoes a full retrim, right down to reconditioning and replacement of interior wood panels. Eventually, after as many as 2,500 hours of labor, the whole car is rebuilt to painstaking standards. Some may consider it a crime to remove so much of an original car's patina, but others will see the restorations for what they are--a complete overhaul of a classic vehicle, with better-than-new standards of quality and preparation.

What it certainly isn't, is cheap. Classic car restoration is always hideously damaging to one's wallet, but BRABUS's work on the 280 SE Cabriolet alone racked up a bill of over $560,000. You could buy several new BRABUS models for that, but let's face it--none will have the class of a fully-restored Pagoda Mercedes...

Today the car world is mourning the unfortunate passing of Brabus founder and CEO Bodo Buschmann. The man responsible for some of the maddest Mercedes’ on the planet died yesterday aged 62 following a short illness, the company confirmed in a statement.

Having founded Brabus in 1977, Bodo turned his insatiable appetite for cars from hobby into a world-renowned business. He spent the last four decades modifying Mercs in a way that put tuning on the map.

He dedicated his life to adding ‘refinement’ to Mercedes-Benz’s cars. This ‘refinement’ came in different ways. Partly through more luxury and increased technology, but mostly via bludgeoning power and performance. He worked tirelessly to roll out anvil after anvil, producing enough twistys to spin planets in the wrong direction. Take for example the Brabus 900 Rocket: a luxo sled of speed with 888bhp and 1,106 lb-ft of torque capable of 230mph. A figure that slotted it straight into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Bodo’s motto of “never work for money - work for passion!” saw him labour for long hours perfecting his craft. So not only did he spruce up modern Benzes, but also the company’s back catalogue, via Brabus’s lust-worthy ‘Classic’ programme. Around 4,000 man hours go into each Classic model in order to completely rejuvenate them. So they’re new, but still old, if you know what we mean. New-old.

Constantin Buschmann, Bodo’s son who as CMO was previously responsible for Marketing and Sales on the executive board, has taken over all of his father’s responsibilities with immediate effect, to make sure Bodo’s legacy lives on.

Rest in peace, Bodo.

With the unfortunate passing of its founder, we celebrate some of the tuner’s greatest hits

Last week, we lost one of the tuning world’s finest: Bodo Buschmann. For over four decades, the enigmatic and driven CEO and founder of Brabus turned the act of shoehorning silly-big engines into Mercedes from a boutique industry into an artform, and the world’s largest independent tuning company in the process.

Mentioning some tuners induces aneurysms and an unhealthy amount of dry-heaving, but Brabus has become a classy synonym for the words “tuned Mercedes”.

As a celebration of Bodo’s work, we’ve gone through the archives and picked out some of his pottiest creations to come out of the factory in Bottrop, Western Germany.

1984 Mercedes 500 SEL

Back in the late Seventies and early Eighties, speed wasn’t synonymous with Mercedes. They were largely soft and luxurious. But Bodo Buschmann wanted to change that. So he set up shop from the back of his Dad’s Daimler garage and added what he termed ‘refinement’. This was an all-encompassing word as Bodo’s refinement came in different ways, partly through more luxury and increased technology, but mostly via bludgeoning power and performance. There was an obvious appetite for this behaviour, as people from all over the world would come over and bite Bodo’s hand off for his latest offering. Here’s the man himself in 1984 using his ‘refined’ Mercedes 500 SEL as a big-engined barstool.

1984 Mercedes 190E V8

Engine swaps are Brabus’ bread and butter. It’s old-school hot-rod philosophy at its finest; find the biggest engine you can and shove it in the smallest car. Take for example the 190E from 1984, where Bodo and his boys threw a 276bhp V8 from an S-Class down the neck of a 190 ‘baby Benz’.

1988 3.6 S Lightweight

Being an understanding individual, Bodo was aware that there’s more than one school of thought in making a car go faster. Yes, simply shoving a monster engine under the bonnet is one way, but Brabus was also au fait with the notion of light-weighting. And when these two things come together you get great things.

Things like the 3.6 S Lightweight. See, in 1988 Brabus came up with its sniper rifle against the popular 323i. Where Mercedes dropped a 2.6-litre engine in it, AMG went for a 3.4 but Brabus went all in and lobbed in a 3.6.

With 268bhp and 269lb ft of torque, the 12-valve 3.6 S was positively rapido for the time; 62 mph was served up from a standstill in 6.3 seconds and on to 162 mph (with the shorter sprint rear diff) or a 177mph top speed with the taller one.

1996 Brabus E V12

When a V8 is too small, Brabus reaches for its stash of Mercedes V12s. Then goes to town on them to make crazy power and incredible torque by boring them out while beefing them up.

The 1996 Brabus V12 was the first car to start a run of world-record cars. A Merc SL’s 12-cylinder was enlarged to 7.3-litres, producing a hefty 582bhp and 570 lb ft of torque. This coaxed the E V12 to a top speed of 206 mph, and the title of “Fastest Four-Door Sedan in the World” in the Guinness Book of Records while also blasting the likes of the Lamborghini Diablo and Dodge Viper out of the water.

1998 Brabus M V12

Barely two years after getting his name stamped in the Guinness Book of World Records, Bodo wanted more. First off he took an E wagon and hit 199 mph for the world’s fastest wagon. Then, using another hefty 12-cylinder, he fired an M-Class to 162 mph to claim the record for the fastest SUV in the world. Right around the time the public was trying to get their head around this new concept of a ‘Sports Utility Vehicle.’

Brabus Smart

Just like how Mercedes saw AMG’s work and got all pally with them, Daimler has done the same with Brabus and Smart. Largely through Bodo’s family ties. But it all began back in 1999, where they boosted the city car to a monstrous 88bhp. Eighty-eight!

Brabus Black Baron

The Black Baron might be the best car name ever. Imagine being able to say, “I drive a Black Baron.”

It was a V12 E-Class with plastic bits over the rear wheels that, we believe, are called ‘spats’.

Underneath all the spatish mayhem, is an E-Class with 788bhp. Thanks to that sort of power, it can touch 230mph and keep going until it carves its own orbit through space. Only ten of these monsters were produced, priced at £530,000

Brabus vans

Brabus doesn’t just deal in unsettling amounts of torque, but also luxury. Over the years, it’s taken Merc’s commercial vehicles and turned them into mobile Bond villain lairs. Or the ultimate crèche for a teenager with attention deficit disorder.

Inside, they’re decked out with leather-covered, ergonomically adapted and air-conditioned seats. Normally within easy reach of the bar and refreshments centre. There’s also full connectivity so you can order in pizza to your van, before settling into a night of 3D gaming or films on a 32-inch LCD TV. The electronics are controlled by an iPad, and the whole thing is soundproofed so you can turn your rolling slumber party up to 11. Plus, if you have a tendency to be shot at, you can also get them armoured.

Brabus G63 6x6

From the subtlety of the early Seventies to the madness of the present day, we give you the Brabus G63 6x6. The car it’s based on has a 5.5-litre 536bhp twin-turbo V8, with 560lb ft of torque. This, plainly, was not enough, so Brabus fitted two bigger turbochargers, upgraded the ECU, wrapped gold around the intakes to keep them cool, and popped on a new, rumblier exhaust. This boosts output by 154bhp and 130lb ft to 690bhp, and 708lb ft. So roughly a 1.2-litre Golf’s worth. That means the three-and-a-bit tonne 6x6 now gets to 62mph in 4.4 seconds.

Brabus Classic

Nowadays, it’s not just gazillion horsepower Mega-Mercs that Brabus deal in. There’s the sister company, Startech, that modifies other manufacturers like Land Rover Defenders and pimped out Rangies. But there’s also the arm of Brabus that painstakingly restores vintage cars from the Stuttgart brand with three-pointed stars on the front.

We’re told around 4,000 man hours are required to completely revamp the old cars, giving them more reliable engines and electric and gorgeous interiors and paint jobs.

As you’d imagine, it starts with a complete teardown of the original car, right down to the last nut and bolt. All parts are then inspected and catalogued, and worn parts are thrown in the bin.

The paint is stripped from the shell, which in turn is reconditioned with corrosion protection, and then repainted using the original colour. While this is going on, the engine technicians completely strip down the unit, grind the cylinders and overhaul the cylinder head. The automatic gearbox, driveshaft and diff are also given the once-over. Suspension and brakes are brand new, though.

Brabus experts then recondition the interior, using the same colour materials as the ones in series production. Even the cockpit wood inlays are reworked, and then everything is bolted back together again and given a two-year warranty.

They’re gorgeous. Simply gorgeous.