VLZ-P-004
Project Kaiser
The owner wanted one of the twelve-cylinder R129s. Finding one in the right condition, at a price its condition justified, was not realistic. So the decision was to build one instead.
That decision determined everything about how the base car was chosen.
The governing idea
Buy for the parts you are keeping, not the parts you are replacing.
Once a V12 was going in, the base car’s powertrain stopped being relevant to the purchase. What could not be bought back cheaply was a good interior and a straight body — so those became the only two criteria the search ran on.
Assessing this car the ordinary way, on how it drove, would have ruled out the right car and let through the wrong one.
The search
Several cars were looked at before this one and turned down. The asking prices did not match the condition of the cars, and there is no version of this project that starts by overpaying for a car that then needs everything.
This one was priced sensibly and was worth having. It runs and drives, and until the build starts it is being used and enjoyed as it is.
Powertrain
Replace the original engine with a V12 sourced from an S-Class half-cut.
The owner wanted a twelve-cylinder R129. Buying a finished one in the right condition, at a defensible price, was not realistic. Building one was.
Made the base car’s powertrain irrelevant to the purchase decision — which is what allowed the search to be run on interior and body condition instead.
The car as acquired
Photographed before any work, so there is an honest record of what it was when it arrived. Every project should have this set, and most do not.
Documentation
The build has not started. The full write-up follows the work.
Each project is written up the same way once it is complete: the brief, the constraints, the governing idea, the key decisions by system, what was deliberately retained, the trade-offs, who executed what, and how it was validated. That needs the owner’s agreement and a proper record, so it follows the work rather than leading it.