Kaido racers are no strangers to repurposing parts from other cars for their own. The most common examples of this are likely OEM vents, tail lights, and headlights. That said, I’d like to highlight the Mercedes Benz grille swap which became popularized first through an aftermarket FRP part and then the 190e grille.
The first example I found of a Mercedes grille swapped onto a kaido racer was from Tuning Car Maximum 1984 which featured a pre-facelift LA4 Mazda Luce out of Yamagata Prefecture. As noted by the article, the owner wanted to emulate the look of a vertical headlight Mercedes, which was rarely seen on the roads of Japan even in ’84. The grille used for this swap was likely from a W115 or W126, with a Luce badge replacing the Mercedes logo.
Moving forward, it wasn’t until 2 years later in Tuning Car Maximum 1986 the next examples of a Mercedes Benz-inspired grille swap would pop up in my search. Surprisingly rather than using the OEM part, aero manufacturers replicated this look using FRP, selling “Mercedes Mask” for the F30 leopard. According to the text associated with the featured cars and parts ads, the manufacturers for this part were credited as Motor Trend, Change Up Racing, Auto Styling Products, and TSS.
By 1987 the FRP Mercedes Mask was also being produced for GX61 Mark II. With the price ranging from ¥18,000 to ¥27,000 through the late 80’s and not requiring modification, this part would become very popular with Haiso cars.
Enthusiasts would also create custom grilles inspired by the “Benz-Mask” as shown with the following Mark II’s built by 19-year-olds, featured in Young Auto 1988-11.
After a few years of the FRP part gaining popularity, things came full circle with builders utilizing the OEM Benz grille on their cars by 1989. The Mercedes grille of choice used at this time was from the 190e (W201), which had a long-running production date of 1982-1993 which likely made this part easier to come by. Noted in the 9th issue of Autoworks 1989, the following Mark II from Nagano “aiming for a haiso look, replaced with a 190e Mercedes Benz grille. Simple yet eye-catching”.
This specific Autoworks also features some different bases implementing this look. The first is an S110 Crown with FRP Mercedes Mask, and the second is a 1987 Mira TR-XX with a 190e grille.
By the 1990s the Mercedes mask/grille swap became very popular. The following are some of my personal favorites, mainly sourced from the “Champ Road Extreme Car Photos Collection 1991”
While the FRP part is likely difficult to come by these days and genuine 190e grilles have become quite expensive, remanufactured/replica 190e grilles are affordable and plentiful. A great example of this grille swap in North America can be seen on @lowrydointhangs X6 Cressida.
