Styling garage

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Styling garage trading company
legal form GmbH
founding 1979
resolution 1986/2007
Reason for dissolution insolvency
Seat Pinneberg and Schenefeld , Germany
management Christian Hahn
Number of employees 100
Branch Automobile manufacturer

The Styling Garage (also known as SGS ) was a North German vehicle manufacturer and in the early 1980s was considered one of the most successful body refiners of Mercedes-Benz and BMW vehicles worldwide. The company was known above all for its sensational double door , convertible and limousine conversions.

Company history

SGS Arrow C1 Gullwing - Mercedes-Benz 500 SEC (W126)

The founders of the Styling Garage were the brothers Ralf and Mathias Engel. After Mathias Engel left the company, Chris Hahn, a trained marine engineer and four-time master craftsman, joined the company and took over the company in 1980.

The SGS, which was based in Pinneberg , was initially a repair shop for automobiles in Hamburg. In 1981 Hahn began to extend Mercedes-Benz limousines on behalf of individual customers. After the appearance of the Styling Garage at the Frankfurt IAA in 1982, international customers became aware of the company, who in the following years ordered a total of several hundred individually modified vehicles from SGS. The wealthy buyers were mainly from Japan, the USA and the Arab region.

The most famous order came from Abu Dhabi . On the occasion of his wedding in 1983, Sheik Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan ordered a fleet of 36 Mercedes-Benz limousines from SGS. These included six S-Classes from the 126 series, each painted in a different rainbow color. The entire interior was also kept in the same color as the vehicle. There were also two matching painted Kalashnikovs in each trunk. In addition, he had all chrome parts of a 500 SL Coupé finished with a layer of 24-carat gold. The cars are now in the Emirates National Auto Museum .

The styling garage grew quickly. In 1984 and 1985 Hahn employed up to 100 people in his company, which had meanwhile moved into larger production halls in the community of Schenefeld . In order to be able to service the increased volume of orders, external subcontractors were occasionally commissioned with bodywork conversions, including Wille Karosseriebau KG in Seevetal in Lower Saxony and Thiele Karosseriefabrik KG in Bremen.

The international customers of the SGS included the Sultan of Brunei and King Fahd ibn Abd al-Aziz Al Saud , Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, as well as Siegfried and Roy, Sylvester Stallone and Pope John Paul II and many more.

In 1986 the oil price slump and the deliberate devaluation of the dollar as a result of the so-called Plaza Agreement made car exports unprofitable and ultimately led the Styling Garage to bankruptcy. Other renowned entrepreneurs in the industry such as B. Rainer Buchmann ("bb") from Frankfurt, Erich Bitter (Bitter-Automobile) or Gemballa had to close.

As early as 1987 Chris Hahn founded a new company under the name of Styling Garage Spezial-Karosserien GmbH under the parent company Design + Technik GmbH . The company developed into a development office for various other tuning companies and manufacturers such as B. VW , Peugeot , Toyota , Honda , AC Cars , Alfa Romeo and Karmann . It was not until 2007 that the last activities of the company, now located in Saxony, were discontinued.

In 2018 Chris Hahn founded another company in Rellingen under the name SGS Styling Garage Service UG . The small company has specialized in the restoration of Mercedes-Benz S-Classes from the 80s ( W 126 / W 124 ) and former vehicles from the styling garage. At the customer's request, new projects are occasionally developed and built.

Model range

SGS Marbella Cabriolet - Mercedes-Benz 500 SEC (C126)
600-SGS-Royal and regular Mercedes-Benz (W126) in comparison

SGS was not a tuning company in the classic sense. During the conversions, the company limited itself to modifying the chassis, chassis, body and interior. No technical changes were made to the engine or transmission. Thanks to the original technology, the modified cars remained relatively service-friendly and could be easily serviced by contractual partners.

  • The Styling Garage offered exclusive versions of the entire Mercedes-Benz range, but it was best known for the 1000 SGS . These were special custom-made products based on the Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL ( W 126 ). The name goes back to a buyer who claimed their modified 500 SEL was " at least twice as good as the 500 SEL that served as the base ". After Daimler-Benz threatened a lawsuit, the name was changed to 1000 SGS. The styling garage offered a wide range of body modifications and modified interiors. When ordering a 1000 SGS, the buyer could put together his car from various options. There were no limits to the individual customer requirements.
  • In 1982, the styling garage hit the headlines when it developed a double-door version of the Mercedes-Benz 500 SEC called SGS Gullwing . In order to enable the heavy wing doors and to support the roof accordingly, profound changes had to be made to the body. The complex measures made it possible to drive with the doors open. In 1985, the price of the conversion was roughly equivalent to the cost of the car itself. Equipped with all the extras, the acquisition cost of an SGS Gullwing was 200,000 D-Marks (approx. 102,000 euros). A total of 57 gullwing of this type were built. In addition to the Middle East, several cars were also sold in the USA, including comedian Eddie Murphy . There are three known examples in Germany today.
  • After two years of development and construction, the Styling Garage presented the 600-SGS-Royal at the 1985 Geneva Motor Show . The basis was the Mercedes-Benz sedan W126 , which was not only lengthened by 60 cm, but also proportionally increased by 25 cm in width and 5 cm in height. Overall, the 600-SGS-Royal came to a length of 5.60 meters and a width of 2.07 meters. The front and rear windows had to be specially re-cast and the radiator grille had to be forged by hand. The interior fittings included a refrigerator with bar, a television with video recorder and a second air conditioning system in the rear. The styling garage offered different designs in different lengths. Depending on customer requirements, the SGS-Royal was available as a four-door, six-door or mid-door with four to six seats. The car was also available with armored glass. A total of six copies were built, of which the Sultan of Brunei bought three.
  • In addition to the SGS-Royal, the Styling Garage presented the SGS Arrow C1 in Geneva in 1985 , a gullwing inspired by the Mercedes-Benz C111 . Based on the W126 SGS Gullwing, the Arrow C1 received a muzzle of the Mercedes-Benz C111 that was reproduced from original shapes, folding headlights and a new rear. The underlying Mercedes 500 SEC was barely recognizable. Fewer than 10 copies of the SGS Arrow C1 were built, at least one without wing doors.
  • In addition to wing door conversions, the styling garage is famous for its convertible conversions. The company developed the SGS Marbella , a convertible version of the Mercedes 500 SEC of the C126 series . The SGS Marbella has been built over 300 times and exported worldwide. In addition to the conversions based on the C126, SGS also developed convertible versions of the Ferrari Testarossa (SGS Saint Tropez) and the BMW 850i (SGS Monte Carlo). The Revell company brought out model kits of the SGS Monte Carlo and the SEC Mabella Cabrio in 1:24 scale.
  • The SGS convertible Biarritz celebrated its premiere in 1985 at the IAA in Frankfurt. At a time when there was still no corresponding coupé in the Mercedes-Benz series, the Styling Garage had developed a two-door convertible with an electro-hydraulically operated soft top based on the four-door Mercedes W 124 . It was not until 1987 that Mercedes-Benz brought its own coupé onto the market with the C 124. In 1991, the factory A124 Cabriolet followed, whose roof mechanism was almost identical to that of the SGS Biarritz. In total, the Styling Garage produced over 70 Biarritz convertibles.

Relations with Daimler-Benz

Daimler-Benz initially distanced itself from the renovation of the styling garage and prohibited the company from using the Mercedes star , as the changes were too great for the manufacturer compared to the series product. Peter J. Viererbl, press spokesman at Daimler-Benz, commented on this in 1982 as follows: “ We don't want the customer to believe that Daimler-Benz is holding hands over the construction of the long sedans. We don't know the cars better and are therefore not responsible if problems arise. (The refinement) shows, however, that our basis is good. ” The SGS was then regarded as the manufacturer of the cars and was given its own manufacturer number by the Federal Motor Transport Authority ( KBA ). The Mercedes star was nevertheless supplied by SGS in the glove compartment and could be attached again by the customer.

literature

  • Peter Vann, Dirk Maxeiner: The most beautiful cars in the world. 2nd Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-87943-964-8 , pp. 16-19.

Web links

Commons : Styling Garage  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Commercial register of AG Pinneberg , HRB 1451
  2. ↑ a b Karsten Bauermeister: Styling Garage 1979 - 2007. traumautoarchiv.de, accessed on February 25, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Protztausend: SGS Gullwing (Mercedes 500 SEC): 84er C126 styled as a winged luxury liner - Mercedes-Fans.de presents the SGS Gullwing exclusively at Mercedes-FanWorld - Car of the Week. Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  4. ↑ SGS / Auto Mobil / VOX. In: Auto Mobil / TV show. VOX, November 30, 2008, accessed on February 25, 2020 (German).
  5. ↑ Bild (newspaper), September 6, 1983, p. 13
  6. ↑ MB-EXOTENFORUM - special bodies / modifications / tuning - beautiful colorful Easter eggs. Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Máté Petrány: Inside the Rainbow Sheikh's Surreal Car Pyramid. January 8, 2019, accessed February 25, 2020 (American English).
  8. ↑ “Styling Garage Wille Karosseriebau”. www.1000sel.com, accessed December 10, 2014 .
  9. ↑ Andi Mustmar: Tanpa spesialisasi, ya merugi . Ed .: Intan Motor. tape VI , no. 114 . Yayasan Beraya Press, Jakarta November 2, 1992, p. 44 (Indonesian).
  10. ↑ a b Frank B. Meyer: The god of the wing doors . Ed .: Auto Bild Klassik. No. 12 . Axel Springer Auto Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 2018, p. 54 ff .
  11. ↑ Michail Hengstenberg, DER SPIEGEL: Extreme Tuning - DER SPIEGEL - History. Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Strohbücker / Frey / Luckner: The pain threshold is often exceeded . Ed .: Auto Motor Sport. No. 10 . Motor Presse Stuttgart, Stuttgart 1986, p. 229 ff .
  13. ↑ a b New start at the age of 67 - Chris gives you wings! Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  14. ↑ a b SGS "Gullwing" (Mercedes 500 SEC): Classic Cars. Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  15. ↑ The 1000SEL Story - What's a 1000SEL Mercedes? Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  16. ↑ a b Styling Garage - SE / SEL "1000SGS". Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  17. ^ A b Automobile Club of Germany: Styling Garage Schenefeld. February 18, 2020, accessed February 25, 2020 .
  18. ↑ a b An introduction to Mercedes 500SEC Gullwings. Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  19. ↑ MB-EXOTENFORUM - special bodies / conversions / tuning - W126: 600 SGS Royale. Retrieved May 11, 2020 .
  20. ↑ SGS 600 Royale: a Mercedes W126 dopée aux hormones de croissance. Retrieved May 11, 2020 (French).
  21. ↑ MB-EXOTENFORUM - special bodies / modifications / tuning - Scar Panther2? - Isn't that an SGS Arrow? Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  22. ↑ An introduction to Mercedes 500SEC Gullwings. Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Cult tuner SGS joins SCHÖNE STERNE®: Styling garage at SCHÖNE STERNE®: Mercedes tuner SGS is back! - News. Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  24. ^ SGS Monte Carlo Cabrio, Revell 7199 (1992). Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  25. ↑ Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC Cabrio, Revell 7182 (1990). Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  26. ↑ MB-EXOTENFORUM - special bodies / conversions / tuning - A124: 124er SGS convertible "Biarritz" from 1985 a W124 ?! Retrieved May 11, 2020 .
  27. ↑ a b Peter Vann, Dirk Maxeiner: The most beautiful cars in the world . 2nd edition Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-87943-964-8 , p. 16 ff .
  28. ↑ auto motor sport (ed.): Long Mercedes . No. 15 . Motor Presse Stuttgart, Stuttgart 1982, p. 96 .
  29. ^ Directory of manufacturers of motor vehicles and motor vehicle trailers. Kraftffahrt-Bundesamt, January 15, 2020, accessed on February 26, 2020 .