The announcement of a Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-16 Cosworth for sale served as an “excuse” to write a few more words about what was the first homologation special based on the 190 E, and the beginning of a lineage that would culminate in the exuberant 190 E 2.5-16 EVO II.
Best known in our square for its creditable services such as taxi, the 190 E has this much more hardcore and interesting facet, justified by the need to compete. The Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-16 Cosworth was born to go to the DTM and, as we know, if a brand is willing to change a car to make it competitive to… compete, then the cars are the winners — … and us .
For the mission of injecting the necessary performance — which is to say, more horses — in a car not very given to it, Mercedes-Benz turned to the services of Cosworth — AMG was not yet part of the star brand.
THE cosworth it did not stop with half measures. Starting from the 2.0 l tetra-cylindrical block of the 190 E, the M102 , developed a new multi-valve head with two camshafts — a rarity at the time — also ensuring more rotational capacity, with the maximum ceiling set at 7000 rpm(!).
The final specs were very juicy: 185 hp at 6200 rpm and 7.5s to reach 100 km/h — very, very good considering that the car saw the light of day in 1983. Compared to the 2.0 it was based on, it was a jump of 63 hp!
The set would be completed with a revision to the suspensions and brakes, and the transmission to the rear wheels was carried out through a five-speed manual gearbox with the first gear in gear… backwards (dogleg).
Subscribe to our newsletter here
mission: compete
Introduced in 1983, it hit the market in 1984 and would enter the DTM in 1985 — surrounded by machines like the Volvo 240 (that year's champion), the huge BMW 635 CSi or the Rover Vitesse. The potential of the new star brand machine has not gone unnoticed.
In 1986 he became the pick of more teams, having reached second place in the championship — impressive considering that Volker Weidler, the driver who took him there, did not start racing until the third race of the championship.
The year 1987 would be marked by the arrival of its arch-rival BMW M3 (E30) and the resulting epic duels are already mythological.
The Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-16 Cosworth would also become famous for being the choice for the inaugural race of the new Formula 1 circuit at the Nürburgring in 1984. With a grid full of Formula 1 drivers, it would be a young Brazilian who would take it. the race won — a certain Ayrton Senna… do you know?
for sale on ebay
The Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-16 Cosworth you see in the pictures is a US unit from 1986 and is for sale on ebay. It has little more than 127 500 km , and in the passage from here (Europe) to there (USA) he lost some horses, reaching 169 hp.
According to the announcement, there is no rust and the only changes reported refer to the Continental exhaust and radio, having also received a maintenance service in 2018 which dealt with changing the distribution chain and pretensioners; new water pump, brake discs and received a new set of tires.
For those interested, the price is around the 22 thousand euros , but unfortunately is in the state of Oregon, USA.
Note: The listing of the ad ended up ending at the end of March 21st.