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IrelandAn '80s Mercedes SEC with AMG muscle beneath the bonnet
Top Gear's Tom Ford drives Mechatronik's rebuilt coupé, where carbonfibre bodywork meets a cabin that keeps its classic character.
Top Gear
Story of Why this story? One of the most watched videos since yesterday, with 409,824 views.
New Mercedes SEC: ‘80s Super-Coupe Reborn! | 4K
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- 0:54Carbonfibre bodywork, paint choices and altered lighting update the SEC's familiar exterior.
- 2:50The bonnet opens on an AMG M156 V8 paired with a 7G-Tronic automatic transmission.
- 3:45Restored cabin trim meets custom Recaro seats, digital instruments and modern infotainment.
- 6:26Ford drives the green comfort-spec car, finding relaxed torque and a balance between GT comfort and sports-car responses.
- 9:40The silver GT adds a sportier exhaust, lighter bucket seats and a rear-seat delete.
- 10:39A workshop and showroom tour leads into Mechatronik's other classic Mercedes restomods.
The shape says old-school Mercedes. The engine says something rather less restrained. Mechatronik's M-SEC puts modern AMG muscle inside the big coupé's familiar outline, and Tom Ford's Top Gear review has drawn roughly 410,000 views since yesterday.
This isn't a factory Mercedes revival. It's a restomod: an existing SEC stripped to its bare shell, then rebuilt with carbonfibre widebody panels, updated running gear and a naturally aspirated AMG V8 producing 500 horsepower. Ford's introduction calls it "an Olympic athlete wearing old people clothes."
But the appeal isn't simply how much performance can be squeezed into an older car. Inside, restored trim and custom Recaro seats sit alongside discreet digital instruments and modern infotainment. The door still supplies the reassuring punctuation. "When you slam the door, it's like pulling shut a bank vault," Ford says.
The road test begins more than six minutes in, with the green comfort-spec car on winding country roads. Ford describes an engine whose torque lets the driver make easy progress without constantly chasing power. His verdict puts it between a fast grand tourer and a sports car, rather than treating the rebuild as an excuse to make everything harder and louder.
There is a more assertive alternative. He also drives the silver GT version, with a sportier exhaust, lighter bucket seats, paddle shifters and no rear seats, before touring Mechatronik's workshop and its other Mercedes rebuilds.
Viewers keep returning to the restrained interior, the deep green paint and one surprisingly small exterior detail: several want the Mercedes three-pointed star put back on the grille. For all the engineering underneath, the badge is the finishing touch they're missing.
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- Channel
- Top Gear
- Subscribers
- 9,560,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 5,641,456
- Channel views, pace per day
- 227,642 (on a normal day: 932,486)
- Video published
- November 6, 2026
- Video views so far
- 409,824 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 594,747
The numbers
The SEC review has collected more than 400,000 views since yesterday. Here is how that audience sits alongside Top Gear's wider viewing.
💡 Test your knowledge
Who drives the Mechatronik M-SEC in this Top Gear review?
Tom Ford presents the feature and tests both the comfort-spec M-SEC and the GT variant.