Broad Arrow Auctions will offer 40 Mercedes-Benzes from the Patina Collective this August, bringing together one of the most eclectic collections of AMG, Brabus and tuner-built Stuttgart machinery offered at auction in recent years. Spanning the 1970s to the 1990s, the sale offers a fascinating snapshot of a period when independent tuning houses enjoyed extraordinary freedom to reinterpret Mercedes-Benz products.
Leading the collection is a 1993 Mercedes-Benz 500 E AMG 6.0, one of the most desirable products of AMG’s pre-merger era and offered with an estimate of $150,000-180,000. As if the 500 E wasn’t already remarkable enough – developed in conjunction with Porsche and assembled through a complex production process that saw each car shuttle between Mercedes-Benz and Porsche’s Zuffenhausen facility – this example was subsequently entrusted to AMG. Its 5.0-litre M119 V8 was enlarged to 6.0 litres, boosting output from 320bhp to around 381bhp, and this example is accompanied by original AMG order forms and conversion documentation. Its original owner paid more than 230,000DM for the privilege – supercar money in the early 1990s.
If AMG represented the discreet end of the spectrum, Koenig Specials occupied the opposite extreme. The sale includes what is believed to be one of the earliest Mercedes-Benz 450 SLCs to receive the full Koenig-Specials treatment, estimated at $45,000-55,000. Finished in an unapologetically period silver-and-red wave livery, it wears every hallmark of Willy König’s flamboyant styling language, from vast wheelarch extensions and deep spoilers to Testarossa-inspired side strakes. Preserved rather than restored and showing more than 135,000 miles, it remains a wonderfully authentic survivor from the height of Germany’s tuner boom.
Another standout comes from Bottrop rather than Affalterbach, with one of approximately 45 R129s converted by Brabus to 6.0-litre specification, the 1990 Mercedes-Benz 500 SL Brabus 6.0 carries an estimate of $60,000-65,000. Producing around 402bhp from its enlarged M119 V8 and fitted with distinctive Monoblock II wheels, it transformed the refined SL into a genuine autobahn missile while retaining all of the grand touring qualities that made the R129 such a success.
Perhaps the most obscure car in the sale is a 1984 Mercedes-Benz 190 E modified by Schulz-Getzke. Thought to be one of only four examples built and estimated at $45,000-55,000, it wears the specialist firm’s distinctive widebody conversion, complete with SEC-style grille, BBS wheels and a substantial rear spoiler. Originally delivered in Munich before spending much of its life in Norway, it represents a period when companies such as Schulz-Getzke operated almost as coachbuilders, transforming Mercedes-Benz’s compact saloon into something altogether more dramatic.
Another highlight is the 1986 ABC Exclusive Widebody is expected to make $55,000-60,000. Fitted with the Bonn firm’s dramatic body conversion, complete with Gotti wheels, Recaro seats and numerous bespoke touches, it comes from a period when independent tuning houses competed to create the most extravagant interpretation of Stuttgart’s flagship coupé.
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