Take an already aggressive Merc. Turn the volume up to 11. Cult digital artist the Kyza's restomod take on a 1990 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5 16 Evolution II is anything but subtle. Not much of the original Merc is visible beneath Kyza's hyper-real race-ready reimagining. Think track day, not supermarket run. Still, imagine the looks as you manoeuvre the week's shopping into what remains of the boot beneath that mammoth rear wing.
Fans will know the Kyza - real name Khyzyl Saleem - as one of social media's leading digital imaginers of modified cars. His own - real life - modded car business has done work with the likes of Ken Block, while his digital renderings appear in video games such as 'Need for Speed' as well as the 'Fast and Furious' movie franchise. The Merc restomod is part of 'Rendered with Kyza', his new online series with the insurers Hegarty, and it's a jaw-dropping winner.
The Kyza's signature style - slam, widen and be-wing - is very much in evidence. The Merc is now a two-door and all the more mean for it. Colourway is more than a nod to that on Mercedes Formula One cars and: just look again at that rear wing, big enough on the donor car, now of a height and heft more usually found on competitors in the German DTM racing series.
Wheel arches get what amounts to a double bulge and extension. Frontal treatment is uncompromising. The radiator is unprotected by a grille and is flanked by double stacks of LED lights. A dual exhaust exits centrally at the rear, flanked by businesslike diffusers. Rims are bespoke - of course - while echoing those on the original car.
Using the latest advances in digital art the Kyza has created in this Mercedes 190 a restomod that is - if anything - more real than real, particularly given the extravagances of the real world restomods that have made this a booming high end niche market.
The Kyza's 880,000+ followers on Instagram - among them former Formula One world champion Jenson Button - will be waiting with baited breath for his next project. There remains a hope: will anyone make this extraordinary car and, from the Kyza himself, a further thought: "Question is, would it be electric?"
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