VATH has a worldwide reputation as one of the best Mercedes tuners. Now it seems they’ve developed an interest in restoration, and on the evidence of this car you see here, they’re pretty good at it too. It’s a 1968 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3, an absolute jewel of a car that now thanks to VATH Motorentechnik looks fresh as new. They have restored parts of the body and the interior, as well as the whole of the engine and the axles.

VATH’s restoration services covers almost every part of the car like complete engines, parts of engines, fuel injection systems, transmissions, differentials, drive shafts, exhaust systems and control equipment. They also cover a wide range of model, some of them including 300SL, 190SL, Heckflosse, Pagode, SL W107, and so on. Mercedes themselves have a Classic department for restoration and providing parts, but VATH is a good alternative.

The engine treatment is pretty extensive and includes disassembly, cleaning and inspection of all parts from the cylinder heads, to the pistons, to the crank. They also replace some of the components with newer ones if they make the whole thing work better. In the case of this SEL, the pistons and the connecting rod bush were modified, while the crank and the flywheel were replaced with lighter replicas.

This particular W109 SEL 300 powered by the legendary 6.3 liter M100 V8-engine (developing 250 PS and 510 Nm of torque) is pretty fast even by today’s standards. It goes from 0 to 100 km/h in about 6.5 seconds and has a top speed 220 km/h.

Thanks to restoration jobs like this you can enjoy the amazing looks of your classic car, without any of the mechanical drawbacks usually associated with classic car motoring. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth it.