Art by its very nature is an independent expression of light and colour, and in the case of this 1986 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth, an expression of sound and motion too.
This is the Mercedes-Drenz, an art-car collaboration between Melbourne street artist DREZ and Creative Director (and the car’s owner) Subha Naidu – @nycars on Instagram.
Featuring ‘Chromatic Oscillation’, a full spectrum of symmetrical colour bands along the length of the car, the 190E retains a standard Mercedes-Benz grille, all its badging, the contrasting bumpers and trim components, and features European-spec headlamp wipers and a set of 16-inch Ronal Aero R50 wheels.
Under the bonnet lies the Cosworth-designed 2.3-litre 16-valve engine, with 136kW and 236Nm output. The car has a full leather interior and is road-legal to drive on Victorian club-permit registration.
A one-of-a-kind 190 that rivals some of the best and most striking art-car projects from around the world, the ‘Drenz was a project born from the chance discovery and subsequent ‘saving’ of the iconic Cosworth-tuned Mercedes.
“It was found abandoned in the bush just outside of Melbourne, glass broken and a tree growing out of it, and was home to around 20 species of spider, mostly deadly”, said Subha.
“The car was rescued around two years ago, and we set about getting it running. We sourced all the hard-to-find Cosworth parts and eventually got it going. However, after being abandoned for more than seven years, the exterior was too far gone.”
As something of a 190E paint expert myself, I know how much the duco and exterior components can deteriorate when you try to look after them, let alone leave a car untouched for years. Subha’s Cosworth was originally the same Blauschwarz (Blue-Black) colour as my own 190E Sportline.
Bottom line, a standard respray wasn’t going to cut it.
Subha partnered with DREZ to give the 190E a paint job like no other and to be clear, this is all paint, not a vinyl wrap.
As an artist, DREZ employs the use of geometry and colour to create multi-dimensional shapes on murals, buildings and other structures.
Inspired by the art cars produced by BMW from 1975, the idea was to use DREZ’s style of graduated and repeated lines to create a sense of movement, and as Subha notes, “it also creates an aesthetic that’s perfect for the ’80s box-flare design of the Merc.
The geometric colour bands on the 190E were hand-painted by DREZ using acrylic colour by brush, over a 20-day period.
Once the painting was completed, the car was finished with an acrylic clear coat.
For DREZ, “the most challenging part would have been keeping the lines straight across the curves of the car”, as, despite the W201 Mercedes-Benz using a relatively angular and squared-off design, there are still plenty of surface changes to contend with.
The Cosworth features a body kit that adds fender flares, wider spats and multi-piece components along the side skirts and rear spoiler.
While it may have been easier to paint as a shell, DREZ and Subha kept the car intact during the project, and simply sanded and masked the original paint, adding a white undercoat before the bright acrylic was applied.
Beyond the bumpers and lower spoilers, which have been kept in their factory black, the only panel not touched are the black strips below the headlamps which house the wiper arms.
Now complete, and particularly striking when photographed next to one of DREZ’s large-format urban murals in Melbourne’s Spring St, what next?
“If there was any car that I could get my hands on to paint it would have to be a 70s Lancia Stratos HF Zero, those vehicles are incredibly futuristic for their time”, says DREZ. To see the ‘Mercedes-Drenz’ in the metal, the car will make its official debut at the Black Label Invitational car show in Melbourne on Sunday, February 28.
Subha’s 190E is not the first Australian ‘art car’ either.
Two of the BMW Art Car projects have featured local artists, with Indigenous painter Michael Jagamara Nelson and ’80s icon Ken Done both lending their skills to separate BMW E30 M3 Group A cars in 1989.
Australian multimedia artist Pro Hart painted historical scenes onto his Rolls Royce Silver Shadow in 1999, with the car still on display at the Pro Hart Gallery in Broken Hill.
In 2010, US publication MotorTrend commissioned indigenous artists to paint on the bonnet of their Squeeze Green Ford Fiesta as part of an Australian road trip, but the work was only on the one panel rather than the whole car.
And more recently, Darwin-based artist Nigel Sense created an art project on a Porsche Taycan.
Keyword: Australian artist DREZ creates one-off Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth art car