One of only around 350 examples converted
Acquired by its current owner directly from Chris Hahn, founder of SGS
Wonderful colour combination and exceptionally comprehensive specification
A splendid period piece from the 1980s
When the new W126 Mercedes-Benz S-Class appeared in 1979, it was about as far removed as one could imagine from a car in need of subsequent improvement. In Sindelfingen, Mercedes had created a large, elegant and technically sophisticated saloon that served as its owners’ automotive calling card around the world. There was just one thing it did not offer: a Cabriolet.
This was precisely where Styling Garage in Pinneberg near Hamburg spotted an opportunity. The company of Ralph Engel and Chris Hahn, better known by the initials SGS, was among the most flamboyant German car customisers of the early 1980s. Its customers were often to be found in the USA, Japan and, above all, the Middle East. There, buyers were prepared to spend sums on automotive extravagance that made the price of a new S-Class little more than the starting point.
SGS built stretched saloons, gullwings, estates and all manner of other creations. Among the most elaborate, however, were the Cabriolets based on the W126. Mercedes itself had never envisaged an open S-Class, so SGS first had to turn a four-door saloon into something Stuttgart was unwilling to provide. The roof and B-pillars disappeared, the body had to be reinforced accordingly, and the entire rear section, including the hood mechanism, required extensive modification. Depending on the version, the result was either a two- or four-door open car, each requiring a considerable amount of skilled craftsmanship to produce.
Naturally, none of this came cheaply. Such a conversion could easily push the price of an already expensive donor car into territory where ordinary luxury cars suddenly began to look positively sensible. In return, the customer received something Mercedes did not offer in its catalogue and which was guaranteed not to go unnoticed outside the grandest hotel.
The great era of SGS was comparatively brief. By the mid-1980s, the company had run into financial difficulties, bringing this particularly wild chapter of German automotive customising to an end.
Today, the open W126s in particular are fascinating period pieces. They tell of an era when even the “Sonderklasse” was simply not exclusive enough for some customers. The solution was straightforward: buy one – and then have the roof cut off.
This Mercedes-Benz 500 SEC Cabriolet has an unusually direct connection to its own origins. The elaborate conversion was carried out by SGS Styling Garage, with May 1986 documented as the date of completion.
The starting point was a 500 SEC delivered through the Mercedes-Benz branch in Hanover in 1985. Finished in Blue-Black (199) with Anthracite leather (271), the Coupé was already exceptionally lavishly equipped before SGS made it more exclusive still by turning it into a Cabriolet: automatic climate control with electric windows (588), electrically adjustable front seats with memory (241, 242), an electrically adjustable rear bench seat (223), burr-walnut trim (731) and plenty more besides. The electric sunroof (410), however, is conspicuously absent today. Since the conversion, the Mercedes has rather more sky to offer.
In 2021, the current owner acquired the Cabriolet directly from Chris Hahn, founder of Styling Garage. Prior to that, the Mercedes had even been registered to SGS itself.
This is precisely what gives the 500 SEC such remarkable provenance. Many of the special creations once produced by SGS went all over the world, and their subsequent histories have often become lost somewhere between multiple owners and continents. With this Cabriolet, however, the trail leads directly back to the very company that once relieved it of its roof.
The Mercedes has remained with the current owner since 2021, having been acquired directly from Chris Hahn. It therefore combines one of the more spectacular W126 conversions with an unusually traceable recent history, as well as the sort of direct connection to Styling Garage that could hardly be better documented in an SGS Cabriolet today.