We now live in a world with not one, but two Mercedes-Benz 190E restomods. The company HWA has been working on its take on the idea for a while. Now, the Italian firm Vespera has unveiled the Iride Evo 5 as a modernized take on the legendary German sport sedan. This one replaces the original Cosworth-tuned four-cylinder with a turbocharged inline-six.
Old Is New Again With The Evo 5
Vespera Automobili Mercedes-Benz 190E RestomodVespera Automobili
The Vespera Iride Evo 5 takes inspiration from the Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II – a homologation special from 1990 for creating an even more competitive machine in Germany’s DTM racing series at the time. There’s a major change under the hood, though. The original 2.5-liter four-cylinder is gone, and the old-school M103 3.0-liter inline-six originally from 1986 is in its place. The unit gains a turbocharger and forged internals.
This setup makes a projected 765 horsepower and 671 pound-feet of torque. The power runs to the rear wheels through a close-ratio six-speed manual gearbox with a mechanical limited-slip differential. The goals are for the Iride Evo 5 to hit 62 miles per hour in 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 186 miles per hour. The company is targeting the car to weigh 3,197 pounds.
A Very Green Machine
Vespera Automobili Mercedes-Benz 190E RestomodVespera Automobili
Aesthetically, the Evo 5 makes the 190E Evo II look far more aggressive, arguably to a cartoonish degree. Many of the body panels will be carbon fiber. In front, there’s a long splitter that sticks out from the bottom of the bumper. The hood gains a set of louvers on the passenger side. The wide fenders carry over from the original car. At the rear, Vespera adds a curved extension to the top of the wing and installs an angled spoiler on the trunk lid. A pair of circular exhaust outlets come out of the driver’s side in a cut-out in the bumper.
Vespera replaces the original headlights with full LED units. The sport sedan rides on bronze-colored OZ Rally Racing wheels. The company is also upgrading the chassis and braking package but isn’t disclosing the tweaks yet. Presumably, modern dampers and stopping components would be among the revisions.
The company is not yet showing the Evo 5’s interior. The original cabin didn’t look as aggressive as the exterior. Most notably, there are front seats with more prominent bolsters for keeping occupants in place during spirited drives.
Vespera Automobili Mercedes-Benz 190E RestomodVespera Automobili
Vespera isn’t yet publicly disclosing the Iride Evo 5’s price. Mercedes made only 502 examples of the original 190E Evo II, with current values around $300,000. It’s not clear whether the Italian restomod creator is using the authentic units as a starting point or taking the much more common, regular grades of the 190E as donor vehicles.
The Other 190E Restomod
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The Vespera Iride Evo 5 isn’t the only option for wealthy folks who want a 190E restomod. HWA is building its Evo with a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 making 450 hp that hooks up to a manual gearbox. There’s also an Evo R track version that pushes the output to 552 hp. The company has already begun delivering these restomods to customers.
HWA’s project also comes with a certain amount of immediate legitimacy because the company’s founder is Hans Werner Aufrecht. He is the “A” in AMG, meaning this is a person who knows his way around turning Mercedes models.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Vespera Automobili Mercedes-Benz 190E RestomodVespera Automobili
The restomod scene is getting crowded. The 190E is hardly the most famous performance machine of its era, but there are two companies that see a market to appeal to those wealthy fans.
There are plenty of other Mercedes models from the late 1980s and early ’90s that could benefit from a restomod program. The W126 models, which were the contemporary equivalents to the S-Class sedan and coupe, seem like an ideal starting place. Similarly, the SL-Class from this era seems like a perfect donor.
Source: Vespera Automobili
