The Schulz 190E City It is not only the Volkswagen Golf GTI that Mercedes never dared to build, but also the one that never wanted it made. A Rare avis that it would anticipate the arrival of the C-Class Sportcoupe by more than twenty years and that if it were not for its high price and controversial design, well could have become hot hatch definitive of the 90 with its six cylinders of 160 CV and rear propulsion.
Let’s remember that In 1982 Mercedes expanded its offer for the lower part with the arrival of the 190, known internally as W201. A D-segment sedan to compete mainly with the BMW 3 Series and which, due to its reduced dimensions compared to its range brothers, earned the nickname of baby benz.
The 190 City had all the ingredients to be a hot hatch definitive
It is said that at that time the Stuttgart executives considered the idea of launching a compact with the mechanical base of the 190a great idea considering that alternatives such as the Volkswagen Golf and Alfa Romeo 33 were at ease, but it was left discarded so as not to tarnish the prestige of a brand associated with large luxury sedans that had already made a great concession with the 190.
Thus, in the early 1990s, Eberhard Schulz of Schulz Tuningwho already had some experience modifying BMW and Mercedes models, as well as having spent time at Porsche, presented the 190 E City, also known as the 190 Compact, and according to some, with the intention of “selling” the project to of the star
As can be seen, it is a compact directly derived from the baby benz, the result of removing the rear of the sedan at the height of the C-pillar and inserting the rear of a W124 estate (T124). This clearly affects its proportions, with a long hood and an extremely short rear overhang, reminiscent of those proportions of the first BMW compacts, since both share the longitudinal front engine architecture (up to six cylinders) and rear drive.
To round off the set, Schulz chose the most powerful mechanical base of the earthly ones, that is, a six-cylinder in-line with 2.6 liters of displacement and 160 CV of power, which placed it noticeably above the 139 hp Golf II GTI 16 Vand although that figure was later surpassed by other versions of the Wolfsburg model, it would remain the only one with rear-wheel drive until the arrival of the E36 Compact in 1994 with permission from the extinct BMW 02 Series with bodywork. hatchback called Touring.
Nevertheless, there is something that does not appear in the images of the 190 City that accompany these lines, and it is the star of Mercedes, since it is said that the Germans expressly prohibited the use of their symbol in a model that was not worthy of it in court. Who knows if that is the real reason, but what is clear is that Mercedes was wrong at that time in not launching that compact, a lesson that it learned and corrected first with the C-Class Sportcoupe derived from the C-Class, and then in the A-Class with a compact body, yes, already losing traction to the rear axle.
Font: CarsCoops
