If one photo could sum up the entirety of 80s German tuning, you're looking at it. It's the interior of a Mercedes 280TE by Zender, and amazingly not a single Smurf was harmed in the process.
If I'm honest, I kinda love it. It's hard not to. Every single surface is coated in blue alcantara, from the headliners to the Recaro seats to the dash. Even the lambswool carpets were dyed to match.
Then there's the "tech". Mixed in with all those buttons and knobs and dials is a 200-watt Uher stereo mounted inside a custom center stack, along with a dial pad just ahead of the shifter to control the roof-mounted (!) cell phone.
But from the outside, there was no hint of the madness within. It's simply a subtly reworked 280TE extended wheelbase wagon, with the brightwork painted deep blue and the AMG-fettled inline-six bumped from 180 to 215 hp. But that didn't stop Zender from charging a 100,000 DM to convert a 30,000 DM car.