Cosplay As A ’90s DTM Driver With This Mercedes C-Class

Before you read the rest of this article, do yourself a favour and stick ‘’90s DTM’ into the YouTube search bar, and remind yourself how much cooler motorsport seemed in the 1990s. Done? Good, it’s nice to have you back. Now that you’ve whet your appetite, take a look at this Mercedes C-Class DTM replica that’s for sale.

Yes, sadly it is just a replica, and it’s not even based on one of the hopped-up AMG versions of the W202 C-Class. It’s actually a relatively humble C280, powered by a 2.8-litre, 190bhp straight-six. And this one’s an automatic.

That’s not really the point, though, because it’s been dressed to almost exactly resemble the C-Class that raced in the DTM – and its short-lived, pan-European successor, the International Touring Car Championship – between 1994 and 1996.

These cars were built to the equally flash-in-the-pan Class 1 Touring Car regulations, which allowed manufacturers much more freedom to deviate from the basic road cars than the Group A rules they replaced. Only three manufacturers stepped up to the mantle – Merc with the C-Class (and the year before it, the 190E), Alfa Romeo with the 155, and Opel with the Calibra.

Despite the regulations only lasting four seasons, the cars they spawned are, without a doubt, some of the coolest production-based racers of all time, helped along by the spectacular two-wheeling, door-banging racing they produced.

This particular car has been dressed up in the D2 Mannesmann livery run by the factory AMG-Mercedes team and piloted by Bernd Schneider, Klaus Ludwig and Ellen Lohr in the 1994 DTM season. Ludwig would go on to win the Drivers’ Championship that year.

A livery is one thing, but as you can see, this C-Class is also bedecked with an incredibly faithful recreation of the swollen, winged bodywork worn by the racing car, right down to the split-rim centre-lock wheels.

The inside is a bit less racy – a lot, in fact; it’s just the standard C-Class interior. But if you’re actually planning on driving this on the road, you probably don’t want one-piece bucket seats, harnesses and a roll cage to bash your head on (although there is a half cage in the back). It means it also still retains all the luxury a moderately-specced mid-90s compact exec saloon had to offer, including cruise control, dual-zone air conditioning, and a cassette player. Even Klaus Ludwig didn’t have one of those.

It’s up for auction with Collecting Cars in Germany, where it’s said all the body modifications bar the rear wing are road-approved – and it’ll come with a smaller one that is if you want to drive it around. It’s covered around 135,500 miles, and with two days to go on the auction, bidding is currently at €10,000 (approx. £8,500). Whatever it gets to, it’s going to be a much cheaper way of living out your ’90s DTM fantasies than waiting around for one of the real things to pop up at auction.

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