Category Archives: Tuning

When a 1971 Mercedes 600 Swallows a 2024 AMG—and Somehow Lives

In the world of restomods, subtlety usually goes to die. But what the Californian tuning house S-Klub LA has pulled off with its latest creation, Final Boss, isn’t just unsubtle—it’s audacious in the way only a moonshot engineering project can be. Take a stately Mercedes-Benz 600 (W100), the rolling throne once favored by dictators and tycoons, and surgically graft it onto the bleeding-edge underpinnings of a Mercedes-AMG S63 E Performance. What you get is a car that looks like it escaped from a fever dream but drives like a modern super-sedan on steroids.

This isn’t your garden-variety “drop in a crate motor and call it a day” restomod. S-Klub LA founder Ed Sarkisyan didn’t just modernize the W100—he effectively reincarnated it. After buying a factory-fresh S63 for north of $200,000 and putting about 6,200 kilometers on it, Sarkisyan and his team tore it down for parts. Meanwhile, a long-forgotten 1971 Mercedes 600 shell, discovered rotting in a Texas warehouse, was painstakingly resurrected. The twist? The old body didn’t have to be forced to accept new bones—the wheelbase of the classic W100 and today’s long-wheelbase S-Class (V223) is eerily close. So the team ditched the seventies chassis entirely and dropped the restored 600 body onto the complete modern S63 platform.

What lies beneath that regal, boxy silhouette is pure 21st-century insanity. The Final Boss packs the S63’s 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 paired with an electric motor, good for more than 800 horsepower and a truly obscene 1,424 Nm of torque. That’s hypercar output in something that, at a glance, looks like it should be chauffeuring a Cold War-era head of state. And it’s not just the powertrain that made the jump. The adaptive suspension, massive AMG brakes, and the full electronic nervous system came along for the ride, including the MBUX infotainment suite, massage seats, and a full menu of driver-assistance tech.

Crack open the door and the time warp becomes complete. Where you’d expect polished wood, chrome toggles, and the smell of vintage leather, you instead find a fully digital AMG cockpit, crammed into the relatively narrow greenhouse of a 1970s limousine. It’s as if someone hid a modern S-Class inside a museum piece—and then gave it launch control.

Outside, subtlety was clearly not on the design brief. To match the S63’s wide track, the 600’s bodywork has been aggressively flared. The headlights are a particularly wild bit of nerdy craftsmanship: the original W100 housings were 3D-scanned, digitally re-engineered, and then adapted to swallow the AMG’s modern LED units, complete with functional air intakes. The deep green paint is offset by exposed carbon fiber on the roof, mirrors, and aero trim, giving the old-money silhouette a distinctly new-money edge.

And then there’s the internet, doing what the internet does best. While many enthusiasts are in awe of the sheer engineering effort—calling it “next-level” and “a work of art”—others are clutching their pearls over the styling, especially out back. The massive, JDM-style fixed rear wing and the oversized Mercedes star in the grille have become lightning rods for criticism, turning the Final Boss into a rolling comment-section war.

But that, in a way, is the whole point. The original Mercedes-Benz 600 was never meant to be tasteful—it was meant to be the biggest, baddest luxury car on the planet. S-Klub LA’s Final Boss simply updates that mission for an era of 800-horsepower hybrids and carbon fiber. Love it or hate it, this is what happens when a classic icon meets modern excess head-on—and refuses to blink.

Source: S-KLUB LA via YouTube

AC Schnitzer Turns the BMW i5 Into a Stealthy Electric M5

By now, the G60-generation BMW 5 Series has settled into its role as Munich’s tech-heavy, executive express, and its all-electric i5 sibling has proven that electrons don’t have to mean anonymity. Still, if you’re the kind of owner who wants your EV to look less like a boardroom shuttle and more like it’s late for a Nürburgring lap, AC Schnitzer has been quietly cooking up exactly what you need.

The longtime BMW tuning house has rolled out a full suite of visual and chassis upgrades for the i5, applying the same hardware it previously offered for the gas-powered G60/G61 models. The result is a sedan that looks like a toned-down M5—muscular without crossing into boy-racer territory.

The transformation starts at the nose. A new front splitter sharpens the i5’s face and visually lowers the car, and it’s matched with more assertive side skirts and not one but two rear-spoiler options. Touring models get their own tailored wing, because even your electric family hauler deserves a little aerodynamic swagger. All of these pieces are designed to work with BMW’s M Sport package, which already gives the i5 a more aggressive set of bumpers from the factory.

AC Schnitzer also offers striped side decals for anyone who thinks subtlety is overrated, but the real show-stealers are the wheels. Three different designs are available, in finishes and sizes ranging from 19 to 21 inches. The photo car wears 21-inch AC3 FlowForming five-twin-spoke alloys, filling out the arches nicely and pairing up with red brake calipers for a splash of visual drama. It’s the kind of detail that makes pedestrians do a double take—and then realize it’s not an M5 after all.

To make sure the stance matches the looks, AC Schnitzer fits shorter coil springs that drop the i5 by 20 to 25 millimeters, along with spacers that widen the track by 20 mm. The effect is simple and effective: the i5 sits lower, looks wider, and appears far more planted than the buttoned-up stock car.

The donor vehicle here is the i5 M60 xDrive, the baddest electric 5 Series BMW sells. With two motors delivering a combined 601 horsepower and 820 Nm of torque, it’s already plenty quick in factory trim. AC Schnitzer isn’t touching the powertrain for now—electrons are apparently off-limits—but if history is any guide, the upcoming combustion-powered M5 won’t be so lucky.

Pricing, as always with German tuners, is à la carte. The front splitter will set you back €1,290, the side sills €840, and the roof spoiler €490, with an additional €540 if you opt for the more subtle rear lip. Wheels are the biggest ticket item, running up to €5,390 depending on size and finish. Add €486 for spacers and €581 for the lowering springs, and you can build an i5 that looks every bit as menacing as its M-badged cousin—without waiting for BMW to do it themselves.

For enthusiasts who want their electric executive sedan to project more Autobahn attitude and less airport-hotel anonymity, AC Schnitzer’s i5 package might be the perfect plug-in personality upgrade.

Source: AC Schnitzer

Koenigsegg Jesko by Mansory

If you thought Koenigsegg’s Jesko Attack was already pushing the outer limits of what a road-legal hypercar should be, Mansory would like a word. The German tuner—best known for its unapologetically extravagant takes on ultra-luxury machinery—has decided that even a 1,600-horsepower Swedish missile deserves more carbon fiber, more aero, and more attitude.

The Jesko, after all, is no ordinary hypercar. With production capped at just 125 units split between the track-focused Attack and the slippery, high-speed Absolut, it’s already rarer than most seven-figure exotics. But one owner apparently looked at their Attack and thought, Nice… but not insane enough. Enter Mansory with a full-carbon aerodynamic package that transforms Koenigsegg’s engineering masterpiece into something that looks like it escaped straight from a GT racing paddock.

Seventeen Ways to Say “More Downforce”

Mansory’s overhaul is comprehensive—almost obsessive. The tuner replaces or adds no fewer than 17 separate carbon-fiber aero components, all designed to increase downforce, airflow management, and visual drama.

Up front, the Jesko gets a reworked hood with carbon vents, flanked by new side flaps and a pair of race-inspired front wings that give the nose a far more aggressive stance. Two new “boomerang” elements and vertical aero blades add both turbulence control and the kind of visual chaos Mansory customers tend to love.

Around the back, the madness continues. Mansory fits new endplates and aero add-ons to the already gigantic rear wing, along with rear side flaps and an entirely new center diffuser section to better extract air from beneath the car. A full-carbon “racing” brake light—essentially a Formula 1-style rain light—adds a motorsport touch, while carbon “rear eyebrows” finish off the visual theatrics.

And because even the Jesko’s cooling system can always use more help, Mansory adds a roof-mounted air scoop to push extra airflow into Koenigsegg’s monstrous 5.1-liter twin-turbo V8, which already produces up to 1,600 horsepower on E85 fuel.

Peak Excess Meets Peak Engineering

The result is a Jesko that looks even more like a land-based fighter jet than the already outrageous original. Where Koenigsegg’s design philosophy leans toward purposeful minimalism, Mansory’s version turns every aerodynamic surface into a visual statement. It’s louder, sharper, and undeniably more aggressive—exactly what you’d expect when one hypercar perfectionist meets another.

Does the Jesko actually need this much extra aero? Probably not. But in the rarefied world of multimillion-dollar hypercars, “need” has never been the point. What Mansory offers here is individuality—an already ultra-exclusive machine made even more unrepeatable.

And if you’re the type of owner who felt the standard Jesko Attack wasn’t quite outrageous enough, congratulations: Mansory just built your dream car.

Source: Mansory