Japan Used Mercedes 190 Series for Sale

In the early 1980s, Mercedes Motors decided to make its new small saloon. The Mercedes 190 Series, with its low-drag body and sophisticated multi-link rear suspension, would be the ideal base for a rally car to outfox the BDA-powered Ford Escorts and the Talbot Lotus Sunbeams that dominated rallying at the time.

To give the Mercedes 190E Series enough poke, Mercedes employed Cosworth to develop new parts for one of its cast-iron-block 4-cylinder engine. The engineering firm designed a new head and all the necessary equipment to go with it, to create a twin-cam 16-valve competition engine. As per the rules of the time, a homologated road-going version would also need to be built to allow the rally car to be eligible to compete.