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

NEW CARS

FIAT Topolino Gets a Shot of Vitamin C—and a Bigger Brain

Some cars try to change the world with megawatts, torque figures, and Nürburgring lap times. The FIAT Topolino takes the opposite approach: it changes cities by being charming, tiny, and completely unbothered by automotive machismo. And for 2025, FIAT has made its electric quadricycle even more lovable, splashing it in a sunny new Corallo paint and giving it a modernized digital cockpit that finally feels worthy of the times.

Think of it less as a car and more as a rolling espresso shot—small, bright, and guaranteed to perk up your day.

Corallo: Because Cities Deserve More Color

FIAT has always treated color as part of its brand DNA, and Corallo fits that philosophy like a tailored Italian jacket. Warm, optimistic, and sun-kissed, it gives the Topolino a visual punch that makes even the dullest concrete canyon feel a little more Mediterranean. Where the existing Verde Vita looks fresh and eco-cool, Corallo brings emotion—like parking a slice of Amalfi Coast between two gray hatchbacks.

The strategy is simple and clever: one model, two personalities. Pick green for zen. Pick coral for joy.

A Digital Upgrade Where It Counts

Inside, FIAT has addressed the one place where the Topolino previously felt a bit toy-like: its screen. The new digital cluster grows from a tiny 3.5 inches to a much more usable 5.7 inches, with an overall display area of 8.3 inches. More importantly, the graphics have been cleaned up and simplified, making it easier to read at a glance and far more inviting.

This is exactly what urban EVs need—clarity without complexity. No gimmicks, no clutter, just the information you want when you want it.

Still the King of the Quadricycle Jungle

None of this would matter if the Topolino wasn’t already winning—and it very much is. In 2025, it locked down the number-one spot in Europe’s quadricycle market with a staggering 20-percent share. That’s not hype; that’s domination.

The reasons are obvious the moment you try to live with one. At just 2.53 meters long, the Topolino slides into parking spaces most cars wouldn’t even attempt. Its 45-km/h top speed and 75-km range from a 5.4-kWh battery sound modest, but in dense European cities, they’re perfectly judged. It’s quick enough, small enough, and cheap enough to make daily mobility feel effortless rather than stressful.

Plug it in at home, skip the fuel stations, and glide straight into traffic-restricted city centers that conventional cars can only dream of.

Small on the Outside, Surprisingly Cheerful Inside

FIAT also knows how to work the magic of smart packaging. The staggered seating and expansive glass surfaces give the Topolino a cabin that feels open, bright, and almost playful. It’s not luxury—but it doesn’t pretend to be. Instead, it offers something better: a sense that driving through a crowded city doesn’t have to be miserable.

A Love Letter to Urban Mobility

Launching the Corallo Topolino just before Valentine’s Day feels more intentional than gimmicky. This is a vehicle designed to be fallen for, not obsessed over. It’s not trying to be the future of all transportation—just the best possible companion for life inside a city.

With its new color and smarter digital face, the Topolino doubles down on what it already does best: turning everyday urban travel into something that looks good, feels good, and—dare we say it—makes you smile.

Source: Fiat

News

Tesla Strips the Model Y to Save It

Tesla has quietly re-shuffled the deck on its most important car, and the result is a Model Y that promises more range for less money—provided you’re willing to live without a few of the creature comforts that once defined the brand’s minimalist-meets-premium vibe.

The company has introduced a Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive version of its newly pared-back Model Y, ditching the “Standard” label in the process. In the UK, it starts at £44,990, which is £3000 more than the base rear-drive version but a crucial £4000 cheaper than the model it effectively replaces. Step up to Premium trim and you’re looking at £48,990, still a notable undercut of the outgoing Long Range Model Y.

That pricing drop isn’t just a spreadsheet exercise—it places Tesla’s German-built crossover squarely in the firing line of Europe’s EV establishment, notably the Skoda Enyaq and Audi Q4 E-tron. In other words, Tesla is no longer pricing itself like the disruptor; it’s playing the mainstream game now.

Range Up, Cost Down

The headline number is 383 miles of WLTP range from the Long Range RWD, which is just four miles less than the previous version despite using what’s understood to be the same 82-kWh battery pack. Tesla, as ever, won’t confirm that figure, but the implication is clear: efficiency gains have done the heavy lifting.

The standard Rear-Wheel Drive model isn’t left out either. It now claims 314 miles, a three-mile bump Tesla attributes to the car’s lighter curb weight—lightened, in no small part, by the aggressive cost-cutting elsewhere.

Where Tesla Found the Savings

To hit that new, lower price point, Tesla has taken a scalpel to the Model Y’s spec sheet. Out go the full-width front and rear light bars, replaced by simpler split units. The panoramic glass roof is gone. The clever frequency-selective dampers give way to basic passive suspension.

Inside, the faux-leather upholstery is swapped for cloth, the center console is smaller, and the sound system drops from nine speakers to seven. Rear passengers lose their touchscreen, and Tesla’s wonderfully dramatic Bioweapon Defense Mode for the air filtration system is no longer part of the deal.

Even the steering wheel loses its power adjustment, now set manually, and the physical key fob is gone—you’ll unlock your Model Y entirely through the Tesla smartphone app. Minimalism, meet margin protection.

Still Trying to Look Premium

Interestingly, while the base Model Y in markets like the US rides on 18-inch wheels, the UK car gets 19-inch Crossflow alloys. Tesla says it’s about protecting residual values, but let’s be honest—it’s also about making sure the entry-level Model Y doesn’t look quite so entry-level on the driveway.

What’s Next?

Tesla has already applied this same stripped-back strategy to the Model 3, and a Long Range version of that car is widely expected to follow. If this pricing logic holds, it could become one of the most compelling electric sedans on the European market—especially as rivals struggle to keep costs in check.

For now, the new Model Y Long Range RWD sends a clear message: Tesla is done chasing luxury margins and is doubling down on what made it powerful in the first place—range, performance, and aggressive pricing, even if that means sacrificing a few of the bells and whistles along the way.

And in today’s EV battleground, that might just be the smartest move yet.

Source: Tesla

Cars and catalogues