Alex Kersten, host of the AutoAlex YouTube channel, recently flew from the UK to the U.S. to take a road trip in a very old, very tired Mercedes G-Class. The trip was meant to go from Las Vegas to Houston, Texas, which isn’t the easiest trip in a truck that looks like it’s been left in the desert sun for two decades. While there, he and his friends joined up with Chris Willett of Sin City BMW, who brought along an E23 7 Series project car. And it’s one helluva project car.
This E23 7 Series was actually made from two E23 7 Series’. Willett was told about these two cars by someone who was selling a property that had two abandoned 7ers, so they seller needed them gone. Willett took delivery of them and between both, he was able to salvage enough parts to build one complete car. In addition to salvaging parts from both cars, he and his team did a ton of work, replacing basically everything under the hood, including a head gasket, and even added air conditioning. According to Willett, it blows 43-degree air.
Only the mechanical bits are new, though. The body and interior are old and they look it. Since Willett claimed it wasn’t worth painting, they went for an East African safari car look by keeping the patina and adding big non-matching fender flares. It also rides on chunky all-terrain tires, has a roof rack, and sports rally lights up front. The juxtaposition of rally gear on a luxury sedan is just fantastic.
Inside, it’s a mess. The headliner is gone and you can see the bare metal, tons of old glue that used to hold fabric on, and the skeletonized sunroof mechanism, which is manual, as are the windows. While the front seats are lined with lambswool covers, the back seats look like they’re upholstered in leftover spaghetti. They’re pretty gross looking, if I’m being honest. But it adds to the car’s hilarious character.
What’s most impressive is how well it seems to run. While Willett admitted to having some troubles with keeping it running, it seemed fantastic while it worked. Its comfy suspension and big tires meant it could ride over gravel at high speed and feel plush. And it had no problem sliding through corners or doing J-turns on dirt roads. The idea of having a luxury car with a five-speed manual that you can beat on like that is so appealing to me. Would I want one as my daily? Of course not. But having a car like this in the stable would be really, really fun. Maybe fix the back seat upholstery, though, Chris.
