Mercedes SEC wide bodies conversions were very popular in the 1980s. Who doesn't know the wide-bodied S-classes by Koenig-Specials from Munich? Very famous and not too hard to find these days. They are for sale all the time on Ebay and elsewhere. For people that are looking for something even wider and more extreme the Gemballa W126 SEC wide-body sure was an option. It was the widest 500SEC available in the 1980s and it probably still is.

Exterior

Converting the standard 500SEC to wide body spec was done a bit different from the way Koenig-Specials used to do theirs. You see, Koenig-Specials did all their body kits from fibreglass, Gemballa didn't: all flared wheel arches are hand made from metal sheet and have been skillfully crafted to make this car really look stunning and flawless. One of the main reasons for Gemballa to use metal instead of plastics for the conversion was the difference in appearance of the paint that could be noticable after a few years due to temperature changes. Also, because the wide body really merges with the car's original wings, the paint might crack due to different shrinking and expanding of the materials, especially at the border line between the two. To overcome this Gemballa always made his wide bodies using metal, not only with this SEC but also with other cars like the Gemballa Cyrrus, Avalanche and Mirage Porsche 911 conversions.

Not all the new parts were made from metal though. The front and rear bumpers were made of that common material fibreglass.

Because the Gemballa 500SEC wide body is really wide normal wheels would look completely ridiculous. Gemballa have fitted huge rims with even bigger tires draped arround them.

Interior

No Gemballa car goes without a spectacular interior, simply because the company was actually named "Gemballa Automobilinterieur" (Gemballa Car Interiors) in the beginning. No exception with this car. Gemballa has fitted Recaro C-seats, not just in the front but also a pair to replace the rear seats. To do so they had to build a special console where the seats fit in nicely.

The pricetag? Just the wide body conversion alone used to cost arround 100.000 DM in 1985. The whole car including all the interior options would cost 350.000 DM.

Photos tell more than a thousend words...

Text: copyright Bram Corts 2009