We all dream of finding treasure in a junkyard, Finds like this are once in a lifetime, so when I saw it was a real HWA stamped R129 SL AMG Bodykit Made in Germany, I knew I had to do whatever it takes to save it… It certainly wasn’t easy and afterwards I took it to Jason Wang at Infamous Aero to get a repair estimate. You won’t believe the price!
Saving A RARE AMG Bodykit From The Junkyard
It’s not often you’ll find an R129 in the junk yard, and even less so clad with era-correct AMG parts.
HWA. If you see those three letters at the beginning sequence of a part number, you’ve found pre-merger AMG parts. Well, that’s assuming you’re finding the parts at all. While AMG is incredibly popular now, before the 90’s, their volume was a much smaller scale. So if you did find an “HWA” part, you’ve struck gold.
Youtube channel Magnacars did exactly that, when they stumbled upon an R129 that ended up at a local salvage yard. There was a lot of hope and promise as the online listing showed a mostly complete car with what appeared to be a full body kit. Getting to the car in the yard showed the Monoblock wheels had already been snatched up, and the kit itself was not in the best shape. But the rear bumper, side skirts and trunk portion of the rear spoiler were all present.
As it turns out the car may have been from Japan based on some evidence they found on the car. This would make the AMG bodykit not any more rare or expensive, just with a few more stories it could tell. If only fiberglass could talk.
As the disassembly process began, it was clear that some of the pieces of the R129 bodykit needed help. Bumpers and side skirts had a bit of damage and the rear wing was in bad shape. But bodywork experts can really do amazing things with plastic welding, fiberglass laying, and even creating entirely new sections of a part.
It might sound like a lot of work, but Magnacars believes it is worth it. While some kits are available, they are expensive. And the HWA kit has one thing those kits do not have; originality. In the classic car world, originality has started to take the lead over perfection in terms of restorations. Unrestored cars even have their own distinct categories at times. So taking an original kit and put almost $2,000 into restoring it isn’t all that crazy. In fact, it sounds like excellent dedication.
