Today is the day, finally gettng into fitting the bodykit on my 1998 Mercedes Benz C43 AMG. THe bodykit itself is inspired by the md 90s DTM AMG racecar buty bult for street cars!
Building a Street Legal Widebody DTM Racecar from my C43 AMG
Inspired by DTM racers from the ’90s, this 1998 Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG project is going wide and getting a trick suspension setup.
It goes without saying that most long-time Mercedes-Benz fans remember its DTM racing efforts from the ’80s and ’90s, given the fact that the German automaker fielded one of the coolest cars participating in that particular series. Mercedes-Benz also happens to be the most successful manufacturer in DTM’s 40+ year history, having racked up 14 team titles and 16 championships in that timeframe. Thus, it’s no surprise to see more than one person out there who wants to mimic the iconic DTM look – which is precisely what’s happening with this 1998 Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG.
In this video from the YouTube channel Jalopy Jeff, we get to see that process unfold, as our host installs a 1990s-style widebody kit on his road-going Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG from that same era, along with its new suspension setup. This particular suspension kit was custom made for the car, and is a divorced setup, meaning that it has separate coils and shocks that sit next to each other, along with the control arms.
Additionally, the coils and shocks can be adjusted independently of each other, enabling our host to lower the as much as 3-4 inches. Then there’s the UMB DTM-style widebody kit, which is quite comprehensive in its own right – there are upward of 20 pieces here, which will ultimately made the Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG two inches wider on each side. As one might imagine, this type of kit requires a decent amount of effort to install, however.
In fact, quite a lot of the car must be disassembled, and the rear fenders have to be cut to accommodate the DTM-style bodywork. Luckily, Jeff has plenty of help to make all this happen, and the crew has the entire front end removed from the car before we know it. While that’s going on, a separate crew is working on installing the suspension, along with some new, larger brakes, to boot.
Trouble is, this car is quite old at this point, so our team encounters a few problems along the way – generally, in the form of worn out or damaged parts that needed to be replaced, including a side mirror that was accidentally broken. The body kit also turned out to be more difficult and involved than they expected, but they pushed through, regardless.
Those delays prevented them from finishing this cool project in the span of a couple of days as hoped, but it’s already looking quite amazing, and we imagine that the finished product will be worth enduring a few headaches along the way.
