DTM, or Germany’s very own race series, is often referred to as the Golden Era of touring car racing. The series only lasted from 1984 to 1996, but it gave petrol heads some of the closest racing ever, making heroes out of the men that piloted the cars, and the cars themselves.

The cars were massively modified versions of everyday sedans, which really was why DTM was so popular in the first place. It gave anyone the dream of owning their favorite race cars. The racing was hard and fast especially between the three biggest German manufacturers – BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. The rule book essentially gave us road-going homologation specials with screaming race-tuned engines! The Mercedes-Benz 190E (subsequently Evo I and Evo II) dominated the series when it entered in 1985 but only won the 1992 championship thanks to fierce rivalry from Audi and BMW, making it one of DTM’s most feared racers.

And the team at FCP Euro, an auto parts store in Connecticut, is building a tribute to it based on a regular Mercedes 190E six-cylinder, the C-Class of the time. But with a difference. This car is reimagined with a modern AMG powerplant – the world’s most powerful four-cylinder motor, the 2.0-liter M133 out of a Mercedes-AMG A45 hot hatch! What’s even more special is that the car will feature a manual swap, making it the first of its kind.

Follow along for the special DTM-tribute build, transforming a regular Mercedes-Benz 190E to DTM-race spec and beyond.

The Mercedes 190E DTM-Tribute Begins With A Full Disassembly

The team starts the build with a careful teardown of the car. Being the Euro car specialists that they are, all the interior parts and stock parts that they won’t be needing will be going to enthusiasts who do. Considering the rarity of the 190E models, this is a good thing.

Related: Here's What Made The Mercedes-Benz 190E Evolution I And II So Awesome

Even the entire wiring harness is pulled out, as this is going to be a full motorsport build. The team had an especially tough time removing the heavy sound-deadening material (essentially tar) that Mercedes installed over the entire floor of the car. But the age-old trick of using dry ice to super cool the tar and then pry it away, worked a charm.

This 190E Gets Fitted With An AMG A45 Motor

While a four-cylinder motor would’ve found place in the lower-end race cars of the DTM era, technology has moved on quite a bit. The M133 2.0-liter, four-cylinder motor developed by AMG and hand built at Affalterbach is a great example of just how far. It’s the most powerful four-cylinder engine in the world, with more power stock than the 190E racers had back in the 90s.

For the DTM-tribute build, it’s the perfect powertrain to bring the 190E into the modern era. But that’s not the end of the story. Because the FCP Euro team decided to take a six-speed manual transmission out of one their earlier Mercedes C300 race car builds and drop it into the DTM-tribute!

Related: 10 Times Engine Swaps Were Great (And 10 That Made No Sense)

Now this isn’t a common swap, because the M133 was never offered with a manual transmission. What the team realizes however is that syncing up the flywheel of the M133 to the transmission isn’t the end of the world, and a relatively simple solution is all it takes. What does need to be done is swap the oil sump on the engine to suit the rear-wheel drive application in their case. The M133 was front-wheel drive only but again, they manage to find a fix from the oil sump from another engine (M274) that shares a similar engine construction, but with a RWD configuration. Custom engine mounts round up the fitment process.

Even fitting the modern drivetrain into the engine bay of the 80s Mercedes doesn’t take too much effort. It does involve some cutting of the sub-frame but as anyone who’s ever attempted an engine swap will tell you, that’s the least of the worries. More complex is fitting a modern steering system to the car, which still allows for ideal steer geometry on the DTM-tribute.

AMG, Volvo, BMW Parts Make Their Way Into The Build

Using suspension components from a C63 AMG, and without the restrictions of DTM rules, the team could really push the boundaries of what the 190E platform is capable of. They even source intercooler components from Volvo, and then use a BMW steering rack and tierods. This makes the DTM-tribute a mix of some of Mercedes DTM rivals from back in the day, so we guess this really is a fitting tribute.

Mercedes-Benz 190E Evo II DTM build FCP Euro
via FCP Euro

The 190E then got a brawny Evo II body kit, Rotiform wheels, a full paint job, and to wrap things up, a bespoke livery inspired by DTM-racers of the time. We haven’t seen the build rolling under its own power yet because the FCP Euro team is still tying up loose ends. The build is ongoing but judging by the attention it got when it was showed off at Grid Life recently, it’s going to inspire more people to go down the DTM-build path. And we're definitely not complaining!