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My mildly modified 560SEC

10K views 38 replies 16 participants last post by  Jake007 
#1 ·
Hi Guys,

After posting a couple of pics of my 560 SEC recently a few of you have reached out and suggested that I start a new thread to post a few more pics and give a little bit more detail about the car.

Its a 1987 560 SEC (ECE)which was originally delivered under a 402 delivery code in German to Jackie Oliver from the UK on 30 April 1987. As it turn out this is the same Jackie Oliver who was a Formula 1 driver and also drove a GT40 to victory at Le Mans in 1969 and later went on to own Team Arrow an F-1 team in the UK around the same time he owned the SEC.

It appears he owned the car until 1992 where the car made its way through several owners before landing in Aberdeen, Scotland where is was purchased by Graham McGregor, the owner prior to me. In 1998 Graeme shipped to Perth Western Australia (where he had relocated) and owned the vehicle until April 2007 when I bought it.

I originally bought it as I was looking for a Porsche 928s to build as club/track car (back in my Porsche days) and stumbled across the car, drove it and fell in love with it. But so did my wife, who took it of me a drove it as daily car for around 4 years. Luckily it never became a stripped out track car.

In 2012 I took it off the road for a 3 month 'quick tidy up', repaint, retrim the seats etc, which turned into a 4 year project, involving extensive rust eradication, numerous minor body mods, full retrim interior, suspension rebuild. It was painted 3 times until I was happy, which also included suing the first painter in court for doing a balls-up of a job.

All of the disassembly, body work and reassembly was completed at my double garage at home with the help of my eldest son who is an amazingly talented panel beater (who specialises in resto and custom work).

The SLS has been removed and replaced with Eibach Springs, Bilstein Shocks and sits on 19 x 8.5 & 19 x 9.5 BBS LM reps.

The Paint is a custom mix of a 2014 Mercedes Brilliant Silver (with the medium metallic replaced with course metallic).

Anyways, feel free to fire back with some questions if you have them and happy to list any of the mods if anyone wants info.
 

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#2 ·
Heres a couple of pics to show what the Uk weather did to some of the sheet metal and some general project pics

Ps I didn't know just how bad some of the rust was until we pulled it down!
 

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#6 ·
Dean's coupe is show car quality and stunning in the flesh
The interior was a complete custom rebuild with new leather stitched together by a pro upholsterer who does show cars.
Dean even had the bumper chrome re-done to make that flawless and the door/window alloy trims stripped of anodising and polished up the a mirror finish.

We are both catching up tomorrow morning (Sunday) for Classic Cars & Coffee Meet ans are expecting another big turnout of +300 cars
 
#7 ·
So much rust!! If this wasn't a Jackie Oliver car, would you have rescued it? Great job! Beautiful result!!

I have a normal SLS rear on my 560SEC and it works fine. What's the advantage of going to the non-SLS rear suspension? I do have the non-SLS H&Rs and new Bilsteins sitting in the garage so...should I put them in??
 
#12 ·
Dean's lowering springs were still not low enough for the stance he wanted in the rear so he cut them to get that low
He has a K-mac camber kit fitted to correct the over camber in the rear when you go that low otherwise if you don't you will chop the tires out on the inside
 
#10 ·
"We're taking it back to bare metal before the respray."

"Scratch that, we're taking it down to no-metal and building her back up."


The end result looks great.
 
#19 ·
Didn't realize that rear window panel was still available. I have been advised that if there is rust by the rear window, run do not walk away from the car. Good to know that isn't true!!

I still have the SLS on my car and one thing I've learned is that the stock hydraulic fluid is AWG-32. I have some AWG-46 that I want to put in my car since it's a heavier (more viscous) fluid and I rebuild the pumps. that should stiffen it up a bit as the hydraulic fluid works as the shock fluid.

Agree that these are Great Cars!!
 
#22 ·
You mean the nice chrome lock surround?

Very nicely done. :thumbsup:
 
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#27 ·
Thanks - I prepped all of the timber paneling (made 1 full set out of parts from 3 cars), sanded, primed and painted gloss black then had the carbon hydro-graphics done by a local shop here in Perth. They have since gone out of business unfortunately.

Did you notice the extra panel between the ashtray and coil tray? This was made from a section of the timber facia from a spare glove box.
 
#29 ·
I spot a manual transmission. :eek

Tell us more. :grin
 
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#37 ·
Dean, I noticed your door speakers. I've seen several custom jobs on the internet (for some reason not on BenzWorld until yours). I've been tempted to do something similar with my stock '87 doors, but have a '90 interior replacement. While I'll use the updated seats, the doorcards I assumed I would use because they have speakers built in, unlike my '87. But, I've heard it said that it probably sounds better for the speakers to be located where yours are, and they look good, too. I just figured I'd try to keep closer to OEM looks, but when your were installed did they fit it in a way that the backside is covered in the map pocket where it would ordinarily be seen? Just curious if you tried different scenarios before going with the current setup.
 
#38 ·
Hi Drew,

I made some MDF pods to sit inside the map pocket, trimmed them in vinyl and they're screwed to the back of the door card. This allows for a a reasonably large magnet 5 1/4 MB Quart mid range driver to fit.

Sorry for the terrible pics the I just ducked out to the garage and took a few photos for you and it was difficult to get any light in the car.
 

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